The constantly changing nature of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine has created a sort of information overload for anyone trying to understand and stay updated with the armed conflict.
A man sporting a ribbon in Ukrainian flag colours uses a smartphone. AFP
The constantly changing nature of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine has created a sort of information overload for anyone trying to understand and stay updated with the armed conflict.
The urge to stay updated and be informed about the often worrying situation has brought the return of ‘doomscrolling’ or ‘doomsurfing’, previously seen at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, back with a vengeance.
According to mental health experts, constant engagement with bad news while doomscrolling affects mental health in terms of increased anxiety and sleeplessness that should not be ignored.
Let’s examine what it is, why it has increased during the Russia-Ukraine conflict and its effect on mental health:
Origin
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, Doomscrolling and doomsurfing are new terms referring to the tendency to continue to surf or scroll through bad news, even though that news is saddening, disheartening, or depressing.
Even though the exact origin of the word cannot be traced, journalist Karen Ho popularised its use during the early days of the COVID pandemic as she would remind Twitter users to step away from their screens.
“Hey, are you still doomscrolling?” would be a typical post from her. She later traced it back to a post from 2018 which could possibly be the first time it was used.
She also developed a Doomscrolling Reminder Bot in May 2021 that does exactly what its name says, reminding users against doomscrolling.
Why it’s back
Weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine started, people were scouring social media feeds to learn more about why Moscow was at odds with Kyiv, what was happening and what might happen.
In the past few weeks, people have been wondering whether things might deteriorate to the point of nuclear weapons being used or World War III.
According to a report by CNBC, Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton, a psychology professor at UC Berkeley, says doomscrolling is essentially a coping mechanism referred to as “monitoring,” where you try to gain control over a situation by getting as much information as you can.
“Many of us have little to no influence on the conflict in Ukraine at the moment. “That doesn’t mean we’re not invested or that we don’t care. But the reality is, we’re not the ones making the decisions,” ,” Mendoza-Denton said, as quoted by CNBC.
How does it affect mental health? What can be done?
Speaking to NPR, clinical psychologist Dr Amelia Aldao warned that doomscrolling traps us in a “vicious cycle of negativity” that fuels our anxiety.
“Our minds are wired to look out for threats. The more time we spend scrolling, the more we find those dangers, the more we get sucked into them, the more anxious we get,” she said.
“Now you look around yourself and everything feels gloomy, everything makes you anxious. So you go back to look for more information,” Aldao added.
Professor Barbara Sahakian, from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Psychiatry, told The Guardian that many people had been dealing with chronic stress since the beginning of the COVID pandemic, and now the threats to global security have added to it.
“To some, it may seem that there is never any good news any more. This is, of course, not true but it is important that people do not spend time doomscrolling but instead show resilience and gain mastery over the situation,” Sahakian said.
With inputs from agencies
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