Doomscrolling is the habit of compulsively scrolling through negative, distressing, or alarming news and content, even when doing so worsens a person's mood or anxiety.
Quick facts
- Also known as: doomsurfing
- Category: Internet culture
- Applies to: X · Instagram · Facebook · TikTok
- Origin: usage spiked sharply in 2020 amid COVID-19 and major news events, and the word was added to Merriam-Webster's dictionary that same year
What is doomscrolling on social media?
The behavior describes a specific, recognizable loop: someone opens an app to check one thing, encounters distressing news or content, and keeps scrolling for more instead of stopping, driven less by genuine interest than by an anxious pull to stay informed about a worsening situation.
It isn't just reading bad news, plenty of people encounter upsetting headlines without doomscrolling, the term specifically describes the compulsive, extended continuation of scrolling well past the point where it stops feeling useful or good.
Though the word itself became mainstream in 2020, tied to the anxiety and constant news cycle of the COVID-19 pandemic and the events surrounding it, the underlying behavior, and platforms' feed designs that make it easy to keep scrolling indefinitely, predates the term and has continued well past the specific moment that popularized it.
Why does doomscrolling happen?
Feed algorithms are generally built to maximize time spent in an app, and content that provokes a strong emotional reaction, including anxiety, tends to hold attention more effectively than neutral content, which creates a structural incentive for distressing content to surface prominently.
On top of that, infinite-scroll feed design removes the natural stopping points (the end of a newspaper, the end of a broadcast) that used to cap how much bad news a person consumed in one sitting, so what starts as checking on a situation can continue well past the point of getting new, useful information.
Frequently asked questions
When did the term doomscrolling become popular? Usage spiked sharply in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the surrounding news cycle, and the word was added to Merriam-Webster's dictionary that same year.
Is doomscrolling the same as just reading the news? Not exactly. The term specifically describes compulsive, extended scrolling that continues past the point of being useful or informative, often worsening mood, rather than simply reading a distressing headline.
Why do social feeds make doomscrolling easier? Infinite-scroll design removes natural stopping points, and algorithms that prioritize emotionally engaging content, including alarming or negative content, can keep surfacing more of what triggered the scrolling in the first place.
Related terms: What is the ick? · What is a lurker?
By Arif Akdoğan, reviewed by Altuğ Altuğ. Last updated 2026-08-23.
