Doomscrolling (or doomsurfing) is a term used for negative news addiction that many of us are oh so guilty of. One more update, one more headline, one more little detail, another perspective on the same event, one more video… and before you know it, the day is gone. You may even notice that you are happier and more productive without doomscrolling, but you cannot stop anyway. Or you may be using it to distract yourself from your own personal disasters, or to postpone difficult tasks or decisions.
The test below is designed to assess your bad news addiction. It is not a diagnosis or professional advice, but it can help you see your own patterns. Let’s begin!
0–20: Low
Good job! You are not one of those people who scroll all day long. You might check the news and become curious, but it doesn’t hijack your attention in a way that affects your life in any significant way. Even when you do fall down a rabbit hole — that may happen occasionally — you usually notice it very quickly and stop.
21–40: Mild
Generally, you don’t have bad news addiction, but you might have your doomscrolling moments, when you kind of get hooked on a particular story or topic and end up wasting more time than you intended. Sometimes it may happen due to stress or boredom, or when you are confused about something and subconsciously looking for ways to postpone dealing with the problem.
Try setting boundaries for yourself: decide when you check the news and for how long, or apply small rules, such as “No news before bed.”
41–60: Moderate
Your result suggests that you might have a little bit of a doomscrolling problem. Perhaps you feel like you have to stay informed, or perhaps it is just a bad habit you can’t get rid of. You likely scroll longer than planned, even when your nervous system is clearly protesting. You are stuck in a pattern where you give in to anxiety, novelty, shock, and the need for constant stimulation.
If you want to interrupt this cycle, try the following:
- Make it harder to access the news by removing shortcuts, disabling news updates, and moving news apps off the home screen.
- Whenever the urge hits, try to distract yourself by doing something physical first: maybe a few pushups or squats, a short walk, some chores, or a quick cooking project.
61–80: High
This sounds like a real bad news addiction. At this point, news checking is actually a threat-scanning activity that ruins your mood, wastes your time, and deprives you of sleep. Realize that most news is not personally relevant to you and is not a direct threat. Being informed doesn’t require being overwhelmed and flooded with negative information.
If you want to break this pattern, try limiting the number of times you check the news, limiting sources (one is usually enough), and limiting duration. Making it harder to access the news is also a good idea: try removing shortcuts, disabling automatic notifications, and moving news apps off the home screen. Find an alternative activity when the urge hits, and avoid checking the news before bed when you risk staying up all night scrolling the news.
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