1 00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:06,880 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of I Heart Radio. Hey 2 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:11,119 Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Lauren boll Obam. Here, chances are you've done it. 3 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 1: Chase down a rabbit hole on your smartphone, compulsively scrolling 4 00:00:14,960 --> 00:00:19,120 Speaker 1: through posts and news feeds and videos and podcasts, lamenting, 5 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:23,200 Speaker 1: staggering gas prices, self serving politicians, or the next crippling 6 00:00:23,239 --> 00:00:28,319 Speaker 1: aspect of whichever pandemic we're on now. This obsessive time 7 00:00:28,360 --> 00:00:32,519 Speaker 1: sucking activity is called doom scrolling, and you might want 8 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:35,839 Speaker 1: to rein in your habit for The article of this 9 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: episode is based on has to Work. Spoke by email 10 00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:41,280 Speaker 1: with Jacob T. Fisher, Assistant professor in the College of 11 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: Media at the University of Illinois and an affiliate of 12 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: the Beckman Institute of Advanced Science and Technology and the 13 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 1: Illinois Informatics Program. He explained that the term doom scrolling 14 00:00:51,479 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 1: describes quote a state in which someone feels an almost 15 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: obsessive drive to continuously scroll through their social media feeds, 16 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: paying at ten and to distressing, depressing, or generally negative information. 17 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,759 Speaker 1: Wild doomscrolling could involve a mix of good and bad news. 18 00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:13,600 Speaker 1: It's usually the bad, negative, tragic, or sad news that 19 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:17,039 Speaker 1: keeps us scrolling How stuff works. Also spoke by email 20 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:21,640 Speaker 1: with psychologist Joshua Claypo, PhD. He said, quote, we will 21 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 1: bypass positive news when we are in a doomscrolling state 22 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: of mind. Coincidentally or not, the rise of the term 23 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: doomscrolling also coincides with the development of social media algorithms 24 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,600 Speaker 1: to better understand the viewing habits of users. A Fisher said, 25 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: it's pretty generally agreed on that it first started to 26 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 1: become popular on Twitter in the late twenty teens, but 27 00:01:44,959 --> 00:01:47,520 Speaker 1: the term didn't break out into general usage until the 28 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:52,920 Speaker 1: beginnings of the COVID nineteen pandemic. That said, doomscrolling is 29 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:57,480 Speaker 1: hardly a new concept. Remember nine eleven. If you remember 30 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,280 Speaker 1: nine eleven, millions of Americans sat glued to their televisions 31 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:05,200 Speaker 1: watching the terrorist attacks against the United States unfold. And 32 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: we've all seen the way traffic slows down to gawk 33 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,840 Speaker 1: at the aftermath of a car crash and play. Po 34 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,920 Speaker 1: pointed to the old headline news idiom If it bleeds, 35 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: it leads. But now we're not restricted to news hours 36 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,959 Speaker 1: or even seven news channels. Smartphones give us notifications to 37 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: tragedies in real time, providing both professionally produced news and 38 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:31,320 Speaker 1: running commentary from other media consumers at our fingertips. So 39 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:35,800 Speaker 1: what makes us so curious? Clay Post said, it's borne 40 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:39,239 Speaker 1: out of a very primal evolutionary behavior. We are drawn 41 00:02:39,320 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 1: towards sad, bad, dangerous, and tragic news because it serves 42 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:47,799 Speaker 1: a protective purpose. He explained that our brains are hardwired 43 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 1: to be inquisitive about things we perceive as bad so 44 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 1: that we can learn from them on a subconscious level. 45 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 1: Fisher said that social media companies know this and have 46 00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: created algorithms to keep people scrolling a The more you 47 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: look at a certain genre of content, the more likely 48 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:05,880 Speaker 1: you are to get that content in your feed as 49 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:11,800 Speaker 1: you keep scrolling. Doom Scrolling is rarely an intentional action, 50 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:15,120 Speaker 1: though Clay Poe called it quote more of an obsession 51 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: than an addiction. Obsessions are defined as ritualistic routines that 52 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: become a part of everyday life. They're generally rooted in 53 00:03:23,400 --> 00:03:26,639 Speaker 1: fear that if the routine isn't followed, something bad might happen. 54 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,959 Speaker 1: So what might doom scrollers be afraid of? According to 55 00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: a University of Florida study, doom scrolling is often associated 56 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: with the fear of missing out or FOMO, which results 57 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:42,000 Speaker 1: in a desire to remain constantly connected to one's smartphone. 58 00:03:42,680 --> 00:03:45,440 Speaker 1: They also found that men and young people were more 59 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: apt to be doomscrollers, as were the politically engaged, but 60 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: that left leaners and right leaners were equally prone to 61 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:56,240 Speaker 1: the obsession. The researchers weren't so much focused on the 62 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: emotional effects of doom scrolling, so they couldn't conclude whether 63 00:03:59,720 --> 00:04:03,800 Speaker 1: the action causes anxiety. However, they did suggest that doom 64 00:04:03,880 --> 00:04:09,000 Speaker 1: scrolling and anxiety may feed off of each other regardless, 65 00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:12,800 Speaker 1: Wallowing in negative information for hours on end can hack 66 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: away at your emotional well being. The clay Posts said 67 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: this can lead to quote negative affect, cynicism about the world, 68 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:24,159 Speaker 1: irritation and anger, and an overall emotional state of negativity 69 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: that often sticks for hours or days after doomscrolling. It 70 00:04:28,160 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: clouds our perception of the world by drawing us into 71 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,159 Speaker 1: the real world, but only one part, the negative part. 72 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: So how do we stop? Keep in mind that doomscrolling 73 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 1: is an unconscious behavior, a clay Post said, we need 74 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: to be snapped out of it. Sounds competing behaviors, changes 75 00:04:47,040 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 1: in our routine all will help prevent the situation where 76 00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:53,200 Speaker 1: we find ourselves an hour later having scrolled and scrolled 77 00:04:53,200 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: and scrolled. Some experts suggest setting an alarm that limits 78 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:00,680 Speaker 1: your scrolling time or leaving your smartphone in another room 79 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:05,040 Speaker 1: for a while. However, Fisher said it's important to remember 80 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,400 Speaker 1: that social media sites are painstakingly designed by some of 81 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:10,919 Speaker 1: the world's brightest and most well paid people to be 82 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,479 Speaker 1: attention grabbing and attention keeping, so it may feel like 83 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:19,279 Speaker 1: you're fighting an uphill battle. He continued, I believe social 84 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,320 Speaker 1: media and other big tech companies have a responsibility to 85 00:05:22,480 --> 00:05:25,400 Speaker 1: ensure that their users have the ability to structure their 86 00:05:25,440 --> 00:05:28,279 Speaker 1: digital lives in a way that lets them retain agency 87 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,200 Speaker 1: over their attention and focus on things that matter to them. 88 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: A doom scrolling, like other potentially detrimental information seeking and 89 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: sharing practices online, is often framed as individual responsibility, but 90 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,520 Speaker 1: it's important to see it as a natural outflow of 91 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:47,560 Speaker 1: the business model that powers social media. Here's another idea. 92 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: Add a couple of mobile games to the home screen 93 00:05:50,120 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: of your phone and reach for those instead of your 94 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: news or social media apps. A columnist for Wired found 95 00:05:56,240 --> 00:05:58,719 Speaker 1: that this cure in her doom scrolling and didn't turn 96 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: into another giant time Stuff. Today's episode is based on 97 00:06:07,000 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 1: the article doom scrolling is messing with your mind, but 98 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:12,000 Speaker 1: you can break the habit on how stuff works dot Com, 99 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,040 Speaker 1: written by Jennifer Walker. Journey brain Stuff is production of 100 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:17,400 Speaker 1: by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com, 101 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:20,480 Speaker 1: and it's produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from 102 00:06:20,480 --> 00:06:23,520 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 103 00:06:23,600 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.