Has Doomscrolling Become Gen Z’s Coping Mechanism?

The other night, I wasn't feeling good. My project at work had been cancelled, and my friends had said something mean, and it felt nothing was going right. I felt I needed a break.

It starts with just five minutes. I tell myself: I’ve had a long day. I’ll just check Instagram, maybe watch one TikTok, maybe two.

Suddenly it’s 2:47am. I’ve watched five “what I eat in a day” videos, three breakup montages, and a guy in Ohio building a tiny cabin for his cat and twelve "AI doomsday" videos. I feel... weirdly empty. Not rested. Not entertained. Just... overstimulated and undernourished.

I hadn’t moved. I wasn’t even breathing right. My thumb was moving, though. Endlessly.

Welcome to the latest version of self-care. Except, it’s not really self-care. It’s avoidance. It's doomscrolling. And it’s kind of destroying us.

We call it self-care, but is it?

According to the American Psychological Association, over 61% of Gen Z adults say they feel nervous, anxious, or stressed just from consuming news. And yet… we keep consuming it.

We scroll like we’re looking for something, but half the time, we don’t even know what.

My friend Talia put it like this:

It’s like I’m trying to find one perfect piece of content that’ll make me feel okay again. But it never comes. So I just keep scrolling.

Relatable? Tragically. Even the successful ones are in on it. My entrepreneur friend is working on a startup and says:

I sometimes find myself scrolling past post after post on social media after social media, maybe my mind is trying to find that one piece of advice that'll make us profitable, that one VC who believes in us, that one savior co-founder who can build my app... even though obviously it has to be me doing the work.

When did doomscrolling start posing as self-care?

Doomscrolling is the habit of endlessly scrolling through bad news, anxiety content, breakups, “don’t text him” memes, sad girl storytimes, and the general dumpster fire of the internet.

Why? Because part of our brain thinks, “If I just keep watching, maybe I’ll feel in control.” Except we don’t. We just get numb.

It started trending during the pandemic, but let’s be honest, it never stopped. Maybe because there's so much content, so much bad content (even before ChatGPT).

Comfort or Numbness?

Just a couple years ago, we lived in a culture of overconsumption. A culture that sold us self-care as candles, skincare, and "you deserve this" scroll time. Which, yes, sometimes you really do. Sometimes you’re just tired, and you need to switch off. But sometime between then and now, that culture became just scroll time without the candles.

Scrolling isn’t me resting. It’s running. Running from thinking, from sadness, from self-care even.

And the algorithm? Oh, she knows. She knows I’ve been feeling anxious, so she shows me cozy book nooks, crying girl vlogs, or mental health infographics that are just vague enough to apply to literally everyone.

Maybe actual self-care became so much work that we started settling for the "illusion" of it.

But wait, it gets darker.

A recent study from University of Bath found that just one week without social media led to a 30% decrease in anxiety and depression scores among participants.

Let that sink in. One week off = noticeable mental clarity. But I can't even make it a day.

My friend Jake told me this the other day after an 11pm scrolling spiral:

“I felt like I was trying to distract myself from myself. But all it did was make my brain louder.”

Yup. Same.

The lie of “relaxing”

We’ve all said it: “I’m just chilling on my phone.” But are we really relaxing… or are we avoiding?

Because if your shoulders are tense, your eyes are twitchy, and you suddenly hate everyone who looks too perfect on your feed, maybe that’s not relaxation. Maybe that’s digital self-sabotage in cute pajamas.

I’ve started noticing how often I scroll when I’m too tired to think. Or too sad to journal. Or too lonely to sit in silence. I open Instagram like it’s medicine. But it’s more like... sugar. Quick rush, instant regret.

Should we delete our apps?

I’m not here to say “delete your apps” and become an off-grid forest fairy (though honestly, tempting).

But I am saying we need to stop lying to ourselves. Scrolling isn’t self-care.

What if we paused when we want to scroll? What if we made tea and sat with the discomfort instead of drowning it in dopamine hits?

What if we didn't get so scared of our brains just trying to think or overthink? Maybe trust the process of healing?

I’m learning to name the difference between comfort and avoidance.

And some days, that’s enough.

(Currently charging my phone in another room)

#MentalHealthMatters #DigitalDetox #Mindfulness #Balance #SelfCare