Doom definition12/2/2023 When a person engages in doomscrolling, the brain may feel under threat and shut off its "bad news filter" in response. In the IFG, the brain "selectively filters bad news" when presented with new information as it updates beliefs. ![]() The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) plays an important role in information processing and integrating new information into beliefs about reality. By frequently monitoring events surrounding negative headlines, staying informed may grant the feeling of being better prepared however, prolonged scrolling may also lead to worsened mood and mental health as personal fears might seem heightened. Many think that will be helpful, but they end up feeling worse afterward." Brain anatomy ĭoomscrolling, the compulsion to engross oneself in negative news, may be the result of an evolutionary mechanism where humans are "wired to screen for and anticipate danger". As per the clinic director of the Perelman School of Medicine's Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety: "People have a question, they want an answer, and assume getting it will make them feel better. Social media algorithms heed the content users engage in and display posts similar in nature, which can aid in the act of doomscrolling. Īs opposed to primitive humans, however, most people in modern times do not realize that they are even seeking negative information. One psychiatrist at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center notes that humans are "all hardwired to see the negative and be drawn to the negative because it can harm physically." He cites evolution as the reason for why humans seek out such negatives: if one's ancestors, for example, discovered how an ancient creature could injure them, they could avoid that fate. Jeffrey Hall, a professor of communication studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, notes that due to an individual's regular state of contentment, potential threats provoke one's attention. Negativity bias is the idea that negative events have a larger impact on one's mental well-being than good ones. The act of doomscrolling can be attributed to the natural negativity bias people have when consuming information. ĭoomscrolling became widespread among Twitter users during the COVID-19 pandemic, and has also been discussed in relation to the climate crisis. Capitol, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, all of which have been noted to have exacerbated the practice of doomscrolling. presidential election, the 2021 storming of the U.S. The term gained popularity in the early 2020s through events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the George Floyd protests, the 2020 U.S. The Macquarie Dictionary named doomscrolling as the 2020 Committee's Choice Word of the Year. ![]() chose it as the top monthly trend in August 2020. Though the word "doomscrolling" is not found in their dictionary itself, Merriam-Webster is "watching" the term-a designation for words receiving increased use in society that do not yet meet their criteria for inclusion. In the early online days, " surfing" was a common verb used in reference to browsing the internet similarly, the word " scrolling" refers to sliding through online text, images, etc. In common parlance, the word "doom" connotes darkness and evil, referring to one's fate (cf. Studies show that seeing upsetting news leads people to seek out more information on the topic, creating a self-perpetuating cycle. The practice of doomscrolling can be compared to an older phenomenon from the 1970s called the mean world syndrome, described as "the belief that the world is a more dangerous place to live in than it actually is as a result of long-term exposure to violence-related content on television". In 2019, a study by the National Academy of Sciences found that doomscrolling can be linked to a decline in mental and physical health. Compulsive consumption of large quantity of negative online newsĭoomscrolling or doomsurfing is the act of spending an excessive amount of time reading large quantities of negative news online.
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