At 1:30 in the night, everything is silent. You are in bed with your phone in hand, when a notification about rising crude oil prices flashes across the screen. You open the notification, thinking that it would take just a minute to read. But then, there are more headlines, one after the other, from issues between the US and Iran to geopolitics, climate change, economic instability, and all kinds of negativity.
Gradually, often without even realizing it, the intention behind scroll changes. It becomes a way of preparing oneself for what might happen instead of curiosity. This increasingly common behavior is known as doom scrolling. According to Satici et al., 2022, it is defined as the repetitive and compulsive consumption of negative or crisis-related online content despite the emotional distress it causes. Instead of being a source of certainty, it is a reinforcement of uncertainty.
When Being Informed turns into Anticipation
Over time, repeated exposure to negative news begins to influence the purpose of scrolling. People no longer engage with information simply to understand events; they begin consuming it in an attempt to anticipate and prepare for what might happen next. This behavioural shift is also described by Langer (1975) as the illusion of control. He defined the concept as the tendency to believe that greater access to information can reduce uncertainty and improve one’s ability to predict future outcomes.
This pattern became especially visible during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which there was immediate uncertainty about health and economic well-being. Due to lockdowns and other concerns, people were always checking the news in attempts to remain updated and safe from all the dangers.
- Within this context, a familiar thought emerged:
- “If I keep reading, I will be more prepared.”
Ironically, continuous information consumption does not always reduce uncertainty. A research byReferences + Grupe & Nitschke in 2013 suggests that anticipation itself can increase vigilance, keeping individuals engaged in repeated monitoring of threat rather than providing reassurance. This cycle is further reinforced by an always-on digital environment. According to IAMAI & Kantar, 2023, in India, constant monitoring has increased as the internet access has expanded rapidly and smartphones have become the primary source of news for millions.
The Digital Environment: An Amplifier of Anxiety
Doomscrolling is not just an individual behaviour. The way digital platforms are built actually encourages it. According to the research by Vosoughi et al. (2018) information that is emotionally charged or new spreads much faster online than neutral content. As a result, feeds often priorities urgency, emotional intensity, and repetition. Such exposure can make uncertainty feel constant rather than occasional, this maintains a high vigilant state (McEwen, 1998). From this perspective, Doomscrolling behaviour is maintained not only by individual behaviour but also by the digital environments. (Montag & Walla, 2016).
When Threat Feels Rewarding
Digital platforms are particularly effective because they understand the brain’s reward and threat systems. Schultz (2016) argues that dopamine is strongly linked to uncertainty and reward anticipation, making unpredictable streams of information especially engaging. As a result, continuously updating news feeds keeps users returning in search of potentially valuable information (Schultz, 2016; Berridge & Robinson, 1998).
At the same time, negative or crisis-related content activates threat-detection systems associated with vigilance and emotional arousal (Öhman & Mineka, 2001). When reward anticipation and threat monitoring operate together, individuals may feel both compelled and unsettled. The very information that produces anxiety continues to capture attention, making disengagement difficult and reinforcing the cycle of doomscrolling (LeDoux, 1996; Arnsten, 2009).
The Self-Reinforcing Cycle of Uncertainty
One reason Doomscrolling is so difficult to stop is that it rarely provides a sense of closure. Instead of reducing uncertainty, it compels us to dive deeper into such news. Henceforth a clear relation of doom scrolling with uncertainty could be seen by the psychologist. When answers feel incomplete, the mind naturally continues searching for them (Carleton, 2016). Over time, what begins as an attempt to stay informed gradually turns into a habit, where the search for certainty ends up creating even more uncertainty (Seligman et al., 2016).
GenZ in India: Awareness Without Control
Consider A., a 19-year-old undergraduate student in Delhi. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he began checking news updates frequently to stay informed. Initially, this behaviour felt necessary and responsible. Over time, however, it intensified. He found himself repeatedly checking news apps throughout the day, losing focus during online classes, and experiencing persistent worry about global crises.
A.’s experience reflects that an intention for awareness gradually turned into a compulsion. In a high-exposure digital environment, awareness does not always lead to understanding or action. Instead, it can lead to continuous monitoring purposelessly. For Gen Z, particularly in the Indian context, endless doom scrolling is not an isolated behaviour but part of a larger socio-digital condition.
Why is Gen Z More Vulnerable?
Several interconnected factors make Gen Z particularly susceptible to doomscrolling and its psychological consequences.
1. Continuous Exposure with no time for Psychological Recovery
The young generation is not actively looking for information; rather, the information is seeking them. Due to news alerts, algorithmic recommendations, and endless news feeds, crises are constantly present in Gen Z’s life. Active involvement comes more naturally than disengaging, which requires conscious effort. This continuous exposure leaves no time for psychological restoration (Montag & Walla, 2016).
2. An Era of Compounding Crises
Unlike previous generations, Gen Z has to deal with many forms of uncertainty all at once. Academic pressures, career anxieties, increased expenses of living, and economic instability are now joined by climate change, geopolitics, pandemics, and disruptive technology. Instead of facing each individual challenge in isolation, youth have to deal with several crises at once, thus making psychological disengagement impossible (UNICEF, 2021; WHO, 2022; OECD, 2024).
3. Awareness Without Agency
Probably, the most important challenge of this era is not an absence of knowledge about the world but an absence of agency. The advent of digital media has made it possible for distant wars and crises to enter the sphere of everyday experiences, which means that people can follow updates about wars and conflicts thousands of kilometers away from them as if they are taking place in their own neighborhood.
As Trope and Liberman (2010) suggest, the decrease in psychological distance between ourselves and events taking place far away from us leads to an increase of relevance attributed to such events. In other words, the more we learn about these events, the more we feel their importance. However, even though people nowadays have unprecedented access to information, they have little possibility to influence those crises in any way. As a result, their awareness grows, while their sense of control decreases, leading to frustration, ongoing anxiety, and disengagement.
The Drift Toward Pessimism
Extended periods of exposure to crisis-related information result in changes in one’s expectations for the future. The constant interaction with unpredictable events leads to the perception that uncertainty is a permanent state, that negative outcomes are inevitable, and that personal agency is being undermined. Indeed, according to Silver et al. (2013), who conducted a longitudinal national study, the more individuals were exposed to distressing media, the more stress they experienced, and the less control they felt over their life circumstances.
Why the Loop Doesn’t Break
Digital environments tend not to offer natural closure opportunities, as endless feeds treat information as a constant flow of news, unfinished stories, and ongoing events, persuading the media sessions to extend beyond their initial plans (Rixen et al., 2023). Each piece of information does not imply the end of cognition but continues it. Therefore scrolling may continue not due to a lack of awareness, but for an underlying need: the need for certainty.
Research on the intolerance of uncertainty has shown that the feeling of the lack of adequate or notable information may cause a negative effect on the individual’s behavior: it may start searching for a way to resolve what is unknown. (Carleton, 2016). The mind can thus exist in a state of extended suspension, waiting for certainty to arrive yet never actually getting there; In this way, each new update promises certainty while simultaneously introducing another unknown, allowing the scrolling cycle to sustain itself.
Breaking the Cycle: Reclaiming our Cognitive Autonomy
If discouraging reports cycle consumption, structurally reinforcing it, addressing it cannot rely solely on one’s own discipline. It requires both behavioral awareness and systemic intervention. Globally, early responses to this challenge are already emerging. Countries such as Australia have introduced age-based restrictions on social media access for minors through the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act, 2024, while the European Union has moved toward regulating engagement-driven platform features under the Digital Services Act (European Commission, 2022), which places greater accountability on very large online platforms to mitigate systemic risks.
China has similarly implemented “Youth Mode” (Qingshaonian Moshi) regulations, requiring digital platforms to limit screen time, restrict content exposure, and promote age-appropriate online experiences for minors under the guidelines of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC, 2023). These approaches reflect a shared recognition: compulsive digital participation is not purely a personal failing, but a design-driven phenomenon. In the Indian context, where digital penetration is vast and youth populations are highly exposed, the need for intervention is particularly urgent. This includes:
- Developing age-sensitive access and verification systems
- Introducing greater transparency in algorithmic content curation
- Integrating digital literacy as a core educational competency
- Expanding mental health frameworks to include digital behavior
Conclusion: Beyond a Habit
Doomscrolling is not merely a digital habit; it is a convergence of cognitive tendencies, neural mechanisms, and structurally designed environments. What starts off as an attempt to keep informed eventually turns into a state of constant expectation where indeterminacy is perpetuated rather than resolved. In such conditions, awareness expands, but control does not.
Folks become extremely knowledgeable, but they grow less interested in taking significant action because they are torn between the urge to know and their incapacity to take action. Addressing this pattern, therefore, requires more than social media addict restraint. It necessitates reconsidering the creation, distribution, and use of information. Without these changes, people will still be responsible for handling apprehension systems that are built to support it.
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