The term doomscrolling first emerged in 2020, at the height of lockdown, when the world seemed to be on pause but the internet never stopped talking. The word quickly made its way into the Oxford English Dictionary and became a global trend.
Also known as doomsurfing, the term described something millions of people were doing unconsciously: staying glued to their phones, endlessly scrolling in search of negative news, as if the next update might finally bring a sense of relief—when in reality it only left us more anxious. The concept combines two ideas: doom (fatality, tragedy) and scrolling (the act of swiping the screen). And although it was born during the pandemic, when we were hypervigilant in the face of chaos, the truth is that the habit stuck.
Now, in 2025, it remains one of the most common digital behaviors, especially among young adults and people deeply engaged in politics, who often feel that disconnecting means missing something important.
Why Is Doomscrolling So Addictive?
Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, a professor in Harvard’s Division of Global Health and Social Medicine, explained it best:
“Stress fuels our primary need to scroll. We’re hypervigilant and searching for threats. The more you scroll, the more you feel you need it.”
In other words, doomscrolling hooks us because it activates a very primitive survival instinct. Thousands of years ago, this impulse kept us alert to predators or signs of danger in our environment. Today, the same mechanism kicks in when we spend hours reading threads on X (formerly Twitter) about political crises, international conflicts, natural disasters, or local tragedies.
The problem is that the internet never ends—there’s always one more update, one more headline, one more comment that feels relevant. And while what we’re really looking for is to “feel safe” by staying informed, what we end up with is the opposite: being trapped in an endless loop of anxiety.
What Does Doomscrolling Feel Like in Daily Life?
If you’ve ever promised yourself you’d “just check the news for five minutes” and suddenly it was 3 a.m., you already know the feeling. Your body feels exhausted, but your mind won’t shut off, leaving you in a constant state of alert—as if what’s happening on the screen could spill directly into your room.
The effects go far beyond insomnia:
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Generalized anxiety, because the brain interprets so much negative information as a real threat.
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Pessimism, as the flood of tragedies overshadows the good things that also happen.
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A sense of helplessness, since knowing everything happening in the world doesn’t mean we can do much about it.
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Emotional burnout, because that “survival mode” never fully switches off while we keep scrolling.
Why Does It Affect Gen Z and Young Adults More?
The answer lies in how these generations relate to the internet. For many, the phone isn’t just a tool—it’s literally the window through which they understand the world. Being connected means being present, and disconnecting sparks the fear of being left out of the conversation.
What’s more, Gen Z is a generation deeply involved in politics and social issues. While that has a positive side, it also makes them more vulnerable to doomscrolling, which often hides under the guise of being “useful.” But the line between staying informed and becoming obsessed is a thin one—and crossing it can leave us living in a constant state of alarm.