The term doomscrolling came into popular terminology during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the behaviour itself presents it. This refers to a rolling negative or anxious disposition through online materials, often late at night. At first glance, doomscrolling looks like a simple bad habit, but a closer look reveals a deeper truth: This is the result of technical design and psychological weaknesses illuminated by professional models. This article examines dumb collection through three niche lenses: (1) the technical mechanism of infinitely rolling, (2) a case study at the company level of the recommended model of TikTok, and (3) its widespread impact on the news industry. Together, these approaches show how personal behaviour, corporate strategy, and systemic media have developed this digital phenomenon.
Why the human brain craves negative information.
From an evolutionary point of view, people developed a negativity bias — the tendency to pay oversight to dangers rather than neutral or positive events. Our ancestors needed to recognise the danger quickly to survive. Even today, the brain's amygdala reacts more strongly to negative sensations, increasing attention and memory to put information at risk. Doomscrolling utilises this bias. News of accidents, disasters, or political conflicts seems more important than neutral updates. Psychologists have described it as a form of information. Since early people discovered food, modern individuals mainly find risk information. The contradiction is that instead of reducing anxiety, continuous exposure to negative news increases stress, interferes with sleep, and gives the feeling of helplessness.
- Technical Solution: Eternal Roll and Limit Mechanics.
There is a design option at the core of Doomscrolling: Infinite Scroll. In 2006, the infinite roller was introduced by Aza Ruskin, with natural stopping points by loading new content as a user's web. Cognitive basis: Human meditation depends on the clues that will start and prevent tasks. In a physical newspaper, turning off the final side stops. The endless roller removes such a band, constantly creating a partial commitment position where the next piece of material always feels in access. Convertible Award: Anant Scroll acts as a slot machine. Sometimes the next title is shocking, other times it is slow, but unpredictable only increases the compulsion. Neuroscientific research suggests that dopaminurons shoot the most intensity when prices are guaranteed, but when they are uncertain. Time Deformation: Users often underestimate the time spent on endless roll feed. The design collapses the boundaries between "simple checks" and long-term consumption, which contributes to doomscrolling sessions in the late evening. From a design perspective, the endless roll is elegant. From a psychological point of view, it is utilised. It is very efficient in providing materials, becoming the mechanism that humans fall into the cycle with binding negativity. - The agency's case observes: TIKTOK and Algorithmic enhancement.
If there's an endless rolling motor, the set of rules is gas. Some companies describe it better than Ticket Chef, whose personal recommendation system has replaced how the media uses the media. Page (FYP) for you: TIKTOKS FYP is powered by a recommended engine that predicts that the user will maximise engagement. It measures micro-pauses, rewatches, likes, and adjusts the material distribution accordingly. Amplification of negativity shows that emotional videos (fear, resentment, anxiety) attract attention longer than neutral materials. As a result, users who interact with a single troubled clip often feed themselves a sequence of equally dangerous videos. Closed loop: The ticket booth algorithm creates a feedback loop. The more users have sex on negative materials, the more the system assumes that they prefer, and the more door-oriented their feed becomes. The individuals who dump for personal concerns, whether it is about politics, climate change, or global crises. Corporate incentive: TikTok’s business model depends on maximising "time on platform". While the company has introduced features such as reminders of screen time, the underlying recommendation is first, well, in second place for architectural engagement. The case suggests that dumb collection is not only random — it is structurally reinforced. TIKTOKS Design makes negative commitment favourable, which directly binds psychology to dumbing for corporate strategy. - Industry effect: Doomscrolling and Journalism
In addition to individuals and companies, doomscrolling has again shaped the journalism industry. News sales once competed to inform. Now they should also compete to maintain attention in the digital feed dominated by algorithms.
Change to negativity: Because doomscrolling users are most related to dangerous headlines, news organisations meet pressure to frame stories in more dramatic or frightening terms. This negative prejudice in media production is not new, but platforms increase it.
Financial pressure: Advertised revenue models reward clicks and shares. Sales that avoid sensationalism, avoid losing the visibility of the feed, and create a systemic incentive for the "substrate" framing.
Erosion of Faith: When viewers are saturated with negative stories, many reporters feel tired. The irony is that dumbing drives short-term engagement, but it risks long-term resolution from reliable journalism.
Results for public health: During the epidemic, Doomscrolling provided incorrect information with valid news. The blurry limit reduced confidence in institutions, indicating how app-fuelled scrolling can be unstable collective reactions to the crisis.
For journalism, doomscrolling is a lifeline and a danger: it promotes traffic in the short term, but destabilises trust and stability in the long run.
Duplicate system and alternative design
Identifying the drivers reveals the mode of intervention.
Technical Reforms: Features such as Finite Scroll, Visual Time Counter, or Mandatory "Brace prompts Text" may interfere with binding use. Some platforms have experimented with these, but adoption is inconsistent.
Business Responsibility: Companies can meet the ranking system to reduce the passing of negative materials. Nevertheless, changes in conflict with such engagement-driven business models.
User agency: At the individual level, it can reduce doomscrolling. While individual strategies help, they remain limited to systemic incentives.
Extensive implications
The psychology of doomscrolling reveals a contradiction of the digital age: the equipment designed to inform us also makes us busier, polarised, and distracted. For individuals, it manifests itself as stress and sleepy evenings. For companies, it runs profits, but invites moral probe. For industries such as journalism, it replaces both material and trust dynamics.
In this sense, doomscrolling is not just a bizarre thing, but a window into the political economy of meditation. This indicates that design options, corporate strategies, and industry pressure change to shape human behaviour on a large scale.
Conclusion
Doomscrolling is at the intersection of evolutionary psychology and digital design. Our brain causes the pipeline to seek dangers; Apps exploit it through infinite roles and algorithm privatisation; Industries such as journalism are compatible with their rhythm.
By focusing on the technical mechanism of the infinite scroll, the corporate strategy of TIKTOK, and the influence of the wave on journalism, we do not see doomscrolling as a personal weakness, but as a systemic event. It is an engine, mud, and reinforced on many levels.
Breaking this cycle will require more than personal will. This requires us to rethink design norms, challenge gain-driven algorithms, and promote media ecosystems that prefer balance against coercion. Until then, the simple task of swiping through a feed will be one of the most powerful and potentially harmful tools in our digital age.