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Doomscrolling: Why You Can't Stop and How to Break the Loop

Doomscrolling is scrolling bad news long after you meant to stop. Why it's hard to quit, what the research says about mood and sleep, and what to try, especially in bed.

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Doomscrolling: Why You Can't Stop and How to Break the Loop

Doomscrolling, or doom scrolling, is when you keep scrolling through bad news and upsetting posts long after you meant to stop. It's easy to do in bed. You check one story before sleep, then the updates, then the replies, and an hour later you may feel worse and be no closer to sleep. There are several likely reasons the habit is hard to break. Below: why it happens, what the research says about mood and sleep, and changes worth trying, with the evidence on each.

What is doomscrolling?

A 2022 research team defines doomscrolling as a media habit in which you keep your attention on negative posts about crises, disasters and tragedies in your feed. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the word to 2018, when it first appeared on Twitter, and its use took off in 2020, during the pandemic.

A typical example: a frightening headline appears at 11pm. You read it, then a live blog, then a thread of reactions, then related stories, and you keep refreshing in case something changes.

It differs from ordinary scrolling in two ways. The content is mostly negative, and you carry on past the point where you wanted to stop. The same 2022 team built a questionnaire to measure doomscrolling, and a Turkish study has also tested it. In the team's validation survey of 502 people, doomscrolling could be considered its own concept, closely related to problematic social media use and fear of missing out. It was less common than the researchers expected, but it varied a lot from person to person.

Why can't you stop?

Nobody has pinned down a single cause. These are explanations that fit the research on bad news, plus one about how feeds are built.

Bad news is processed more thoroughly. A well-known 2001 review of psychology research concluded that "bad is stronger than good" across a broad range of findings, including that people process bad information more thoroughly than good.

Watching for threats can feel useful. Paying attention to bad news can be adaptive, because it alerts you to risks. One suggestion is that getting all the facts gives a sense of control when a situation feels uncertain.

Most feeds never end. There's no last page to tell you you're done, and a refresh usually brings something new.

It goes with weaker self-control. In survey data, people who doomscroll more also report poorer self-control and more habitual, passive use of social media.

What doomscrolling does to your mood

The clearest evidence comes from a 2021 experiment. Researchers randomly assigned adults to view either a live Twitter feed of COVID news, a feed of posts about kind acts during the pandemic, or nothing. Just 2 to 4 minutes of the news feed lowered people's positive mood straight away compared with no feed, and a second study found the same drop with a YouTube reaction video about COVID news, plus a dip in optimism. The kind-acts feed didn't have that effect. The first study analysed 299 adults (average age 29, 74% women).

Over the longer term the evidence is from surveys. In a Turkish survey of 460 adults aged 18 to 55, mostly young women, more doomscrolling went with more psychological distress and lower wellbeing. In a national survey of US adults, people whose news habits were severely problematic, 16.5% of the sample, reported more mental and physical ill-being, even after the researchers accounted for personality and overall news use. A later two-wave study by the same team found a smaller group, 7.5%. The link with poorer mental health held over time, but the link with physical health didn't.

Surveys can't show that doomscrolling causes distress. People who are already struggling may scroll more. What the experiment does show is that a few minutes of COVID news lowered people's positive mood in the moment. It tested COVID news, not every kind of bad news. If the scrolling feeds a loop of worrying thoughts, our guide to overthinking covers that side.

Phone use in bed and sleep

One survey did measure doomscrolling. In a 2025 cross-sectional study of 663 Turkish adults aged 18 to 77, mostly young women, more doomscrolling went with poorer sleep quality, partly through nomophobia, a fear of being without your phone. The three studies below looked at phone use more broadly, not doomscrolling.

In a survey of 844 Flemish adults aged 18 to 94, six in ten took their phone into the bedroom. Texting or calls after lights out went with worse sleep quality, including taking longer to fall asleep and more disturbed sleep. Using a phone at bedtime went with later wake times, more insomnia symptoms and more fatigue overall, but the pattern differed by age: the later wake times and fatigue were in people under about 41, while people over about 60 woke earlier. It was a 2016 survey, when half the sample owned a smartphone, so it shows a link rather than cause.

Screen light gets most of the blame, but the picture is mixed. In a small Harvard lab study of 12 young adults, about four hours of reading on a light-emitting e-reader before bed for five evenings, compared with a paper book, meant taking about 10 minutes longer to fall asleep, a body clock shifted later and less alertness the next morning. That was a long dose of screen light. In a later trial, 167 adults aged 18 to 24 were randomly assigned for a week to use their iPhone in the hour before bed with Night Shift on, with it off, or not at all. Sleep didn't differ between the three groups. In an exploratory look at people who usually slept more than 6.8 hours, the no-phone group slept best.

So light may not be the whole story. A later bedtime and the content itself are possible costs, but none of these studies tested them. The NHS still advises against using devices like smartphones right before bed, because the blue light makes you more awake. If you lie awake worrying once the phone is down, our guide to sleep anxiety is a better next step.

Revenge bedtime procrastination

Bedtime procrastination means going to bed later than you meant to when nothing is stopping you. Researchers in the Netherlands introduced the idea in 2014. In their online survey of 177 adults, people who put off bed more often reported getting too little sleep, and they scored lower on measures of self-regulation.

"Revenge" bedtime procrastination is a term that took off on Chinese social media. It describes staying up late to claim back some free time after a day that felt out of your control. That may be why late scrolling can feel like the only time that's yours, even when you know you'll pay for it in the morning. Doomscrolling could fill that hour easily, because most feeds never run out and the news can feel important.

How to stop doomscrolling

We found no trial that tested any of these steps on doomscrolling itself (PubMed, 16 Oct 2026). Each comes with what the evidence does show.

  1. Charge your phone outside the bedroom. It's the most direct way to stop scrolling in bed. We found no trial of this exact step, but bedtime phone use goes with worse sleep in adults. In an exploratory look at the Night Shift trial, people averaging more than 6.8 hours of sleep slept best with no phone at all.

  2. Set a news window or a time limit. Check the news once or twice a day at set times, or use your phone's app limits. In a 2018 trial, 143 University of Pennsylvania students who limited Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to 10 minutes each a day for three weeks reported less loneliness and depression than students who carried on as usual. That was general social media, not news, but it is trial evidence that a firm limit can help.

  3. Turn off news alerts. We found no trial of this on its own, but every alert is an invitation to start scrolling again.

  4. Try greyscale. In a study of 161 college students, the 73 who switched their phones to greyscale for 8 to 10 days used about 38 minutes a day less than at the start, mostly on social media and browsing. Anxiety and depression symptoms improved no more than in the comparison group.

  5. Change what's in your feed. Mute or unfollow the accounts that leave you most wound up, and follow some that don't. In the 2021 experiment, a few minutes of posts about kind acts didn't lower positive mood the way the news feed did.

  6. Replace the habit with a set wind-down. The NHS suggests relaxing for at least an hour before bed, with a bath or a book. Decide in advance what the last part of your evening will be, so there's something ready to do instead.

  1. Notice what sends you there. Tired, anxious and bored feel different, but they can all end in the same scroll. When you catch yourself reaching for the phone, name which one it is. That gives you a moment to pick something else from the list below. This one is common sense rather than research.

What to do instead of doomscrolling

If you reach for the phone because...Try this instead
You can't switch offA set wind-down: lights low, a bath, or a few minutes of slow breathing
Tomorrow is running through your headWrite a specific to-do list for 5 minutes
You want something to readA paper book or magazine
You want some good newsMessage a friend, or read something kind rather than the headlines
You feel you should stay informedSave it for your news window tomorrow

The to-do list has a small study behind it. In a 2018 Baylor sleep-lab study of 57 healthy young adults on their first lab night, those who spent 5 minutes writing a to-do list fell asleep faster than those who wrote about what they'd already done, and the more specific the list, the faster they fell asleep. For more evening habits, see our guide to sleep habits from morning to night.

When it's more than a habit

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Talk to your GP if:

  • worry about the news is with you most of the day, not just when you scroll
  • you can't sleep most nights, or you've had trouble sleeping for months
  • your mood has been low most days, or it's making daily life hard to cope with

For ongoing sleep problems, CBT-I (cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia) is the recommended first treatment. Ask your GP.

If you're struggling, talk to your GP. UK: Samaritans 116 123. US: 988.

This is general information, not medical advice. NSDR is not a treatment for any condition.

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FAQ

Is doomscrolling an addiction?

Doomscrolling isn't a recognised diagnosis (it isn't in the DSM-5-TR or ICD-11), and we found no study showing it meets criteria for an addiction. Researchers describe it as a media habit and a fairly new topic in mental health research. It does overlap with what they call problematic internet and social media use.

Why do I doomscroll before bed?

One likely reason you doomscroll before bed is that late evening is often the first time in the day that feels like your own. Research on bedtime procrastination links putting off bed with lower self-regulation, and the "revenge" version describes staying up to claim back free time. We found no study that tested this link for doomscrolling.

Does doomscrolling cause anxiety?

Doomscrolling is linked with anxiety, but cause hasn't been shown. In survey studies, people who doomscroll more report more anxiety and distress. In a 2021 experiment, just 2 to 4 minutes of COVID news lowered people's positive mood straight away. If anxiety is getting in the way of your days, talk to your GP.

How long does it take to break the habit?

There's no fixed time to break the habit. The best-known study looked at building a new habit, not breaking one. In that 12-week study, 96 volunteers each chose a daily action, and the researchers could fit a curve for 62 of them. For those 62, the action took between 18 and 254 days to reach 95% of the automaticity they'd eventually reach, and missing a single day didn't set them back. So pick your replacement habit and repeat it at the same time each night.

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