Its begun. Or has it ever stopped? I’m of course talking about the seemingly unending political posts on social media. For some reason, certain people just can’t help but drag politics into everything.
Why have politics infiltrated every facet of our life? Even issues that are in no way political, are somehow made that way by political hacks and ideologues — you know, those people who make it all about politics. Just the other day a friend posted something on social media about helping rescue abandoned animals and right on cue, someone commented “you should start with Biden.” Huh? Of course, he is that person who bores everyone to tears by always talking about politics.
Of course, a lot of people see this annoying phenomena and vow to scroll passed or to ignore it, but inevitably, sometimes, we all get unintentionally caught up in what is being termed “doomscrolling.”
The trend known as “doomscrolling” is the habit of endlessly scrolling through negative and “dire” news or social media feeds, and its causing feelings of fear, anxiety, depression, helplessness and even hopelessness. Despite vowing to ignore it, people seem to get sucked into the darkness and end up doomscrolling their way right into a foul mood. Sadly, its easy to get drawn into it, because it seems to be everywhere — fear mongering and manufactured crises sell and our news and social media conglomerates are only interested in clicks and views.
“Doomscrolling or doomsurfing is the act of spending an excessive amount of time reading large quantities of news, particularly negative news, on the internet and social media. Doomscrolling can also be defined as the excessive consumption of short-form videos or social media content for an excessive period of time without stopping. The concept was coined around 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.“ (Source)
Something has really gone wrong in our world, when bad news is more valued that good news — when people skip over a feel good story, to read the one about doom and gloom. And we all know that politics plays a big role in that doom and gloom, because each party and the politicians themselves, know that they only way to raise money and get votes, is to create fear and hysteria. We’re literally drowning in politics as the news media sees that particular topic as their cash cow — so, they push it on us every chance they get and some people fall prey to their tactics, becoming obsessed with making every subject a political one. Between mainstream news and social media, is there any way to avoid doomscrolling?
Fortunately, there are ways to stop doomscrolling.
Admit the problem: If you hate doomscrolling, why do you do it? The way to not get pulled into it, is to simply stop scrolling through all the negatives and instead, focus only on the positive — that also means being open to posting/sharing as much positivity in our own social media feed.
Limit your screen time: rather than always reaching for your device when you first get up, or are bored…don’t. Do something else. Part of the problem is that too many of us are addicted to our devices and we reach for them constantly.
Avoid politics: is the meme your friend posted really going to change who you vote for? Will you really be able to get them to vote for your candidate? Probably not. So on election day, go vote for you who you like and leave politics off social media. Simply avoid it and just scroll passed it.
Be an active participant: We can avoid politics on social media, but still be more involved by contacting elected representatives to express our opinions — their job is to vote according to the will of the people. Let them know how you feel and track how they vote on the issues.
Do something else: People are not only on their devices too much, they’re on news sites and social media sites too much. Get your news summary and then do something productive, like exercise, read, volunteer, etc.
Doomscrolling is a negative habit and one which we need to break as soon as we can. Life is tough enough without actively immersing ourselves in negativity, so we should find more productive and meaningful ways to spend our time.
