IThere is a lot of negative news available to the public these days and people are eagerly accepting it. If you are one of them, did you know that it can have serious emotional and mental consequences? The results of a new study tell the tale.
…emotions such as anger, fear, disgust and sadness are cleverly used to create and maintain attraction.
Name your poison: Encounters with law enforcement, street violence, images of war, terrorist attacks, political violence, car accidents.
Name your provider: TV, movies, social media, YouTube, podcasts, websites.
And let us never forget the media mantra: “If it bleeds, it sells.”
Introduction
Before writing this article, I didn’t know what doomscrolling was. If we’re in the same boat, here’s what you’re looking for…
Doomstrolling is the compulsive and indiscriminate consumption of sad, scary or negative content through the providers mentioned above.
The study
A new study by researchers at Flinders University (Australia) reveals and analyzes the emotional and mental consequences of doomscrolling.
“Does doomscrolling evoke existential anxiety and foster pessimism about human nature? Evidence from Iran and the United States” includes contributions from 800 participating college students from two distinctly different cultures
As we move further into the study, it is important to note that lead author Reza Shabahang argues that our appetite for negative news is fueled by our negativity bias trends.
Please note: what you are about to read comes from the study narrative as well as the interpretation of the results.
Consequences
Not that they needed to tell us, but the study team emphasizes that negativity is one of the prominent features of the media (their “bleed/publish” mantra).
As you may have experienced, emotions such as anger, fear, disgust and sadness are cleverly used to create and maintain attraction.
Poor emotional and mental health
“I can’t take this anymore. It has taken over my life.”
The team goes on to say that negative news may be associated with adverse personal and social outcomes, including deterioration of social cohesion and trust in government.
But what is front-page news for us is that consuming negative news can contribute to poor emotional and mental health.
The list of possibilities includes: altered perspectives toward self, others, and existence, increased risk-taking, general psychological distress, compromised sense of well-being, fear of missing out, heightened future anxiety, and, of course, problematic media use.
Did you know it could be so intense?
Traumas and existential crises
As if the above-mentioned consequences were not challenging enough, doomscrolling can be a source of indirectly experienced trauma, which has the potential to trigger acute and post-traumatic stress.
As we all know, trauma can lead to anxiety and depression. So before we know it, we are faced with an unstable cumulative effect that can explode into existential crises.
If that happens, we will become obsessed with questions about what it means to be human, the nature of life and death, and what makes life worth living. Now, those are fine questions, if you think about them well, but they won’t be.
By the way, doomscrolling can have consequences that go beyond those that affect oneself. For example, misanthropy (hatred or distrust of humanity) is always a possibility.
Susceptibility
Personality variables may make some people more susceptible to doomscrolling.
To name a few, those with lower self-control, higher neuroticism, cynicism, generalized anxiety and political interest.
Did something catch your eye?
I may not have been familiar with the term “doomscrolling” before composing this piece, but I sure knew what it was, if you know what I mean.
That’s one of the cool things about writing these articles: it allows you to connect a lot of dots.
And you? Are you a doomscroller?
If you want to read the full study (theories, statistics, quotes), here it is: Does doomscrolling evoke existential anxiety and foster pessimism about human nature? Evidence from Iran and the United States
If you want to read more material, go ahead and read Chipur’s information and inspirational titles. You’ll be glad you did.
After a decades-long battle with panic, generalized anxiety, mood swings and alcohol dependency, Bill finally found the passion of his life and work: helping those in the same situation. At age 49, he began graduate school and earned his counseling credentials. And he continues his service through Chipur and other projects.
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