The internet and our digital devices continue to expand their functions. One product of this expansion is the concept of ‘doomscrolling.’ In early 2020, the word “doomscrolling” was used to describe a trend on digital media that became more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic and social withdrawal (Barabak, 2020).

According to Slaughter (2020), doomscrolling is a maladaptive way of using media. It involves people constantly scrolling through their social media newsfeeds. Simultaneously, they look at upsetting, sad, or otherwise negative content.

This piece will try to look at doomscrolling from a psychological point of view.

To do this, we must first figure out from study what kinds of things are linked to doomscrolling and other related habits, especially personality traits.

I will try to build upon this psychological meta-complex to explain doomscrolling.

Understanding the Personality of A Doomscroller

To understand the personality of a doomscroller, it is important to review the literature of personality and addictive habits. Since, doomscrolling is a repetitive habit, comparing it to other habits and how traits correlate to it, is very important.

In case the literature review is hard to follow, skip over to the “Summarizing” or “Psychodynamics” section, a few scrolls down!

Personality Traits in Addiction

Alcohol use problems are linked to neuroticism in a positive way and to agreeableness and conscientiousness in a negative way (Martin & Sher, 1994).

Another study found that people with any kind of substance use disorder scored lower on extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness compared to people with other mental disorders (Trull & Sher, 1994). People with substance use disorders also scored higher on neuroticism and openness.

When it comes to social networking addiction, Wilson, Fornasier, and White (2010) found that excessive social networking use was linked to extraversion and negatively linked to conscientiousness.

Another study, however, on Facebook addiction found that it was linked to neuroticism and extraversion more than to conscientiousness (Andreassen, et al., 2012). According to some studies, video game addiction is linked to higher levels of neuroticism (Charlton & Danforth, 2010) and Extroversion (Huh & Bowman, 2008). It is also linked to lower levels of extraversion, agreeableness, and Conscientiousness (Peters & Malesky, 2008).

Personality Traits in Doomscrolling

A study that tried to figure out what psychological traits are needed to engage in doomscrolling had important findings.

Satici and colleagues (2023) found that doomscrolling was linked to less conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness. Age and socioeconomic level were also linked to worse doomscrolling. On the other hand, neuroticism was linked to doomscrolling in a good way.

In the same way, being careful, polite, open to new experiences, and emotionally stable were all bad indicators of internet and social media obsession. But low results on extraversion were a sign of internet addiction but not social media addiction.

However, an interesting finding of another study was the negative association of independent self-construal with social media addiction (Hawi & Samaha, 2019). People with higher independent self-construal perceive themselves as separate from others. They are more characterized by individualism with a weaker sense of connectedness with others (friends, family, colleagues, society, etc.) and a weaker sense of belonging to groups and their roles in these groups.

Hence, individuals who have a higher sense of integration with society are less likely to use social media excessively.

Summarizing the Personality of a Typical Doomscroller

The studies that are listed above clearly indicate that there is a major correlation of personality traits, especially neuroticism, conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness.

Generally speaking, individuals who are high in neuroticism and low in conscientiousness and agreeableness are more likely to be involved in addiction. Conversely, a person’s degree of extraversion relates to the situation or substance or object that person is addicted to.

To be even more particular, internet addiction was associated with lower levels of extraversion. Moreover, in Huh & Bowman’s (2008) paper, they have distinctly mentioned that extroverts will engage in internet and video-game related behaviors, but more in an environment where they are interacting with other people.

Psychodynamics of Doomscrolling

Setting the Scenario

Based on the personality profile above, one could infer that doomscrolling would first of all require a device and for the individual to be able to spare time.

Once they turn the social media app on, they will scan their newsfeed. This could be done both passively and actively. If they actively scroll down their newsfeed, they are most probably in a state of vigilance. Vigilance is a major factor of anxiety and, hence, neuroticism.

However, it could also be the case that the individual might not have time to spare. Regardless, they engage in doomscrolling, in some ways moving their attention away from more important things. One could understand the influence of non-conscientiousness. They might have work pending, but their ambitiousness or sense of attaining genuine achievement is significantly impaired.

Sympathetic Response and Hypervigilance

The individual scrolls through their newsfeed and pays some attention to certain news, while paying more attention to other content. He/she is selective in what they view, which could be understood according to their interests. If the individual is introverted, there is a high possibility that the content they attend to is less ‘energetic’ and less interactive.

However, they would tend to focus more on content which has negative underpinnings.

For example, the individual might read or watch news about catastrophes or content related to their worries. When they view this content, if they are moderately suggestible, they would then look at other content related to that. This sifting through content would in some ways activate a minor sympathetic response.

Even though this sympathetic response could further increase their anxiety, it would also cause them to be more hypervigilant. This would enable them to search for more evidence that could confirm or negate their beliefs.

As a consequence, doomscrolling will become more elongated.

A Dangerous Cycle Emerges

The individual might end up scrolling through the newsfeed or searching for disturbing content for one hour.

Simultaneously, they will also be paying much less attention to other information. These bits of information could be related to work, social situations and other functions of their life.

Slowly, doomscrolling would take up more time. Moreover, this drive to increase information intake would motivate them to continue their behavior. The individual’s levels of dissatisfaction with life could increase which leads them to perceiving doomscrolling as a respite from the other anxieties of life.

Conclusion

Doomscrolling is a maladaptive behavior that is generally shaped by multiple psychological factors. These include personality, life experiences and habits – both prior and current. With the current levels of social media usage, this behavior can only be expected to grow further.

However, to what extent do we allow this to grow?

This question is for the moral theorists to decide.

References

• Andreassen, C. S., Torsheim, T., Brunborg, G. S., & Pallesen, S. (2012). Development of a Facebook addiction scale. Psychological reports, 110(2), 501-517.
• Barabak, M. Z. (2020). Quarantini. Doomscrolling.” Here’s how the coronavirus is changing the way we talk. Los Angeles Times.
• Charlton, J. P., & Danforth, I. D. (2010). Validating the distinction between computer addiction and engagement: Online game playing and personality. Behaviour & Information Technology, 29(6), 601-613.
• Hawi, N., & Samaha, M. (2019). Identifying commonalities and differences in personality characteristics of Internet and social media addiction profiles: traits, self-esteem, and self-construal. Behaviour & Information Technology, 38(2), 110-119.
• Huh, S., & Bowman, N. D. (2008). Perception of and addiction to online games as a function of personality traits. Journal of Media Psychology, 13(2), 1-31.
• Martin, E. D., & Sher, K. J. (1994). Family history of alcoholism, alcohol use disorders and the five-factor model of personality. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 55(1), 81-90.
• Peters, C. S., & Malesky Jr, L. A. (2008). Problematic usage among highly-engaged players of massively multiplayer online role playing games. Cyberpsychology & behavior, 11(4), 481-484.
• Satici, S. A., Gocet Tekin, E., Deniz, M. E., & Satici, B. (2023). Doomscrolling scale: its association with personality traits, psychological distress, social media use, and wellbeing. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 18(2), 833-847.
• Slaughter, G. (2020). How to know if you’re “doomscrolling” and why you should stop. CTV News.
• Trull, T. J., & Sher, K. J. (1994). Relationship between the five-factor model of personality and Axis I disorders in a nonclinical sample. Journal of abnormal psychology, 103(2), 350.
• Wilson, K., Fornasier, S., & White, K. M. (2010). Psychological predictors of young adults’ use of social networking sites. Cyberpsychology, behavior, and social networking, 13(2), 173-177.