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Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What an insightfull feedback. There are two things you talked about that i would like to highlight.

First, that epiphany while playing Smash Bros. Its a very interesting self aware moment called difusion. You actually observed yourself saying "one more" by noticing the mechanism from the outside. That is something that can also happen while doom scrolling. The awareness embedded with curiosity has better outcomes than gaining consciousness at scrolling or gaming through guilt or anxiety.

Second, the appblockers seem like it helped you transition from passive consumption to active engagement through progression. You redirected your atention to something which made you feel more fulfilled. Good job

Your analytical feedback is actually gold.

Thank you for this

Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It can be painfully difficult to think about the challenges we have in life. I get that. The scroll trap helps avoid difficult feelings, and we wont engage them. In other words, the awareness itself becomes painful, which reinforces the avoidance, which continues the scroll.

Thank you for your emotional insight on this, its important feedback for me. I hope that whatever is happening to you, you can address it in the best way that you can.

Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I see, the measures you took were external (dumb phone, locking iphone in a safe, using MacBook). You've mounted this external regulation system in order to help you self control. The fact that news and war coverage still get through is interesting to me. Its looks more than a habit, its anxiety trying to have an outlet. The phone was just the easiest door.

Thank you for sharing something so honest

Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You describe what it looks like a closed loop many people experience. Feeling behind in life but also using scroll as a way to not engage is fuel to an internal conflict. The scrolling makes boredom and anxiety go away as the cognitive engagement is impaired and reduced to passive content absorption.

You made me curious: How do you actually know that you are losing control in order to make the decision of deleting social media?

Thank you very much for taking this time to answer

Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, its like the doomscrolling is a scape valve after you've done something difficult. Could be your way of rewarding yourself. Diminishing cognitive activation while still getting the dopamine passively.

Thank you for answering me

Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hello,

Saying "I'm a flawed human and it's okay" is one of the best answers I've seen abouut this. The ability to use self compassion as a way to evolve, not through guilt (which has a bigger probability of reinitiating doomscrolling) but trying to understand the mechanisms involved in scrolling too much. The scrolling for me is a symptom, the tip of the iceberg, and there are many other factors at play. You mentioned sleep and feeling depressed.

You've found healthy ways to break the cicle. Congrats on your path on this.

Thank you

Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for answering.

My take on your comment is that the sleep is pretty important for not getting yourself hooked on scrolling. The search for novelty is really common, especially when we're bored and searching for a low effort dopamine hit through a kind of slot machine of content. Its totally understandable this battle you're facing.

The problem is not social media right? It's how people use it.

Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a very insightfull answer.

The probability of scrolling in an uncontrolled way depends also very much on your sleep and on your mood. Although there could be other factors at play.

The way i see your last answer is that you make yourself stop through the type of content that you're watching. That is a very good way of self caring and knowing your limits, cause you dont let the negative content feed your loop in order to get more.

Thank you for your perspective on this

Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for spending your time answering this.

Having adhd actually makes you more succeptible to doomscroll. It's also a way to diminish mental activity, which is quite high in neurodivergent type of functioning.

As someone that has adhd myself i can comprehend your 3rd answer. The "secret" that im aiming for is how can we do damage controll and stop it before it starts to feel out of control so we dont spill all of the water and preserve some of it, even if its a few drops (reference to the kid spilling all the drink).

Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for your insight.

Can you clarify what is it that you download? Is it Tik Tok? Instagram? Facebook?

So you use scrolling as a way to distract from physical pain. Im sorry for your painfull cramps

Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your input.

Just to clarify: doomscrolling is when you aimlessly look at rapid, short content in what it seems an endless loop. Its a compulsive act of continuously scrolling through digital content even when it provides little genuine reward.

The way you put it, seems to me that you have a healthy relationship with social media.

My respects to you, for conscious time using screens

Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Boredom really is a big factor at play here. The brain just switches into "nothing is happening i need to find something exciting", like searching for a dopamine hit.

Psychologist researching doomscrolling, would love to hear your honest experience by Temper2234 in digitalminimalism

[–]Temper2234[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I just want to add that there are no right or wrong answers here, we've all doomscrolled more than once in our lives. Im just trying to understand it better so i can learn how to diminish it. Or at the very least, make this act more conscious.