What is Doomscrolling? (and how to stop doing it)

What Is Doomscrolling?

Doomscrolling refers to the habit of spending an excessive amount of time consuming online, short-form content, often in a continuous, uninterrupted way. The term originally described reading large amounts of negative news, but it has since expanded to generally include social media feeds, short-form videos, and other endless streams of content that keep updating as you scroll.

The behavior is typically driven by a combination of curiosity, habit, and the feeling that you might miss something important. People keep scrolling to see what comes next, especially when the content feels urgent or emotionally engaging. Over time, this can turn into a loop where each piece of content leads directly into the next, making it difficult to stop even when the experience is no longer enjoyable.

Modern apps play a big role in reinforcing this pattern. Features like infinite scrolling and personalized recommendations are built to keep new content flowing without clear stopping points. Because of this, what starts as a quick check can easily turn into a much longer session than you planned.

The Effects of Doomscrolling

On the surface, doomscrolling can feel harmless as it often starts as a way to relax or pass time. Over time, however, it can have a real impact on how you feel and how you spend your day.

One of the most noticeable effects of doomscrolling is time loss. What was meant to be a quick check can turn into hours, often without a clear memory of what you actually watched. That time has to come from somewhere, whether it’s sleep, work, or time with other people.

Doomscrolling can also affect focus. Constant exposure to short, fast-paced content makes it harder to engage with slower or more demanding tasks. Reading, working, or even having a conversation can start to feel less engaging by comparison.

There is also a mental component to taking in information in this way. Endless streams of content, especially when mixed with negative news or comparison-driven social posts, can leave you feeling drained, distracted, or unsettled.

How to Stop Doomscrolling

Breaking the habit can start with adding friction back into the experience.

One way to do this is by setting boundaries around how and when you use social media. This could mean limiting usage to certain times of day, turning off notifications, using your phone’s screen time settings, or removing apps from your home screen so they aren’t constantly within reach.

It can also help to replace that time with something more intentional. Swapping idle scrolling for activities like reading, going for a walk, or reaching out to someone makes it easier to shift the habit over time.

For most cases, you don’t need to remove social media completely. These apps can still be useful for staying connected, learning new things, and keeping up with the world. The goal is to use them in a way that feels more intentional.

A Better Way to Use Social Media

For a lot of people, the challenge isn’t whether to use social media, but how to use it without getting pulled into endless scrolling.

That’s exactly the problem that led us to build Pants. We didn’t want to delete our social media and lose access to messages, updates, and the people we care about. At the same time, we kept running into the same scrolling loops that are hard to avoid on these platforms.

Pants changes how social media apps behave so you can keep the parts that matter and remove the parts that don’t. Pants is an app that completely removes the short-form content from platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, allowing you to be more intentional with your time and energy.

If doomscrolling has become a daily habit for you, it’s worth trying a different approach. Small changes to how you interact with these apps can make a noticeable difference in how you spend your time and how you feel afterward.