Screens: Is “doomscrolling” a worrying habit for teenagers’ mental health?

As soon as they wake up, on the way to school, in the queue at the store, in the comfort of a sofa... most young people are in the habit of throwing themselves on their phones to check notifications and social networks. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok... they scrutinize the news and tragic events: images of the war in Ukraine, figures of the Covid-19 pandemic, global warming...

This habit has an English name, which emerged on Twitter in 2018: doomscrolling, from "doom" which means fall, end or collapse and the verb "scroll" which defines the action of scrolling one's digital screen from top to bottom. Its particularity is based on the intensive search and exposure of sad and dark subjects, amplified by infinite scrolling, without pagination. By doing a Google search on a mobile, users no longer need to click on "next page". The further down the page you go, the more the results will appear by themselves. Recently, a study conducted by the British site Bupa, specialized in health, revealed that Google searches related to morning anxiety increased by 247% in 2022 .

Young people particularly affected by doomscrolling

Certain population groups are more at risk than others. Starting with... teenagers, who spend a lot of time on their favorite social media platforms, whether Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok. This has become even more true since the start of the health crisis, with the lockdowns.

According to a study reported by the Wall Street Journal and conducted on a sample of 1,000 people (500 teenagers aged 12 to 18 and their 500 parents), 70% of American teenagers check their phones 30 minutes before going to sleep, 40% do it even five minutes before and 5% say they wake up during the night to check their smartphone. For teenagers, this "scrolling" habit occurs mainly in bed before going to sleep .

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In France, the figures are just as telling. According to a study conducted byNordVPN among 1,000 French people, there are disparities in cell phone use in bed, depending on the generation. While 45% of French people scroll on their cell phone before even getting out of bed, 77% of 18-24 year-olds scroll through images or videos on their screen almost mechanically upon waking up in the morning. Scrolling aimlessly and mechanically for hours on end is said to have harmful effects on the mental health of young people .

According to David Nuñez, director of technology and digital strategy at the MIT Museum, "Social media algorithms emphasize negativity, which causes our bodies to produce stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol ."

This practice, combining the seemingly banal and harmless gesture of "scrolling" with the irruption of negative, anxiety-inducing news, has a direct impact on mental health and can become very toxic. The interconnected world, based on smartphone use, means that adolescents are constantly exposed to anxiety-inducing information and news. This tendency to consult anxiety-inducing content has a direct impact on mental health, leading to an increase in stress, anxiety among young people, and insomnia.

According to a recent study by Texas Tech University , a survey showed that among those surveyed who were most prone to doomscrolling, 74% had mental health issues, and 61% had physical health issues. When we don't scroll, we can sink into the fear of missing out: doomscrooling is also linked to the notion of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out), referring to the fear of missing out on things that happen online.

How then can we fight the “curse of doomscrolling” and try to regain control of our brains?

Banning smartphones is not the solution, as they are a tool for social integration during adolescence, and to demonstrate their independence, young people tend to break the rules. Rather than banning smartphone use, parents should prioritize dialogue by explaining the risks of doomscrolling.

Then, clear rules can be set in partnership with the teenager, such as: regulating screen time on the phone, for example, allowing time in the morning before breakfast and in the evening before dinner, in 10-minute sessions, in which parents allow their child to consult social networks. It is also possible to set app timers to block the smartphone if the predefined duration has been reached. Within the family, establish a morning routine by banning phone use.