25/6 "Doomscrolling: When Is Negative News Too Much?"

The term “doomscrolling”, the habitual and excessive consumption of distressing news via digital platforms, has gained widespread attention in 2020 amidst the global coronavirus pandemic. A study published in 2024 further supports concerns that its psychological impact and behavior is strongly correlated with(~와 연관되어 있다) heightened levels of anxiety, distrust, and despair. According to lead researcher Reza Shabahang, repeated exposure to alarming news content on social media has evolved into a form of indirect trauma, wherein individuals internalize emotional distress from events they have not directly encountered. Shabahang stated ”Doomscrolling can negatively affect how we view the people and world around us.” However, some say it's important to keep up to speed on(~의 소식을 계속 접하다) current events, because the news focuses too much on suffering. In Addition, a digital well-being researcher named Joanne Orlando told The Guardian that the media "needs to think about redefining what it sees as news.” Furthermore, others believe it's more important than ever that we engage with bad news, because if we simply ignore terrible events, we may be effectively allowing them to continue. So what's the answer? Shabahang says we should first try to become cognizant of(~를 인식하고 있는) how much time we're spending on social media, and the impact it has on our emotions and need to cut back on our time scrolling the news if we realize that it's becoming a problem. Speaking to NPR in 2023, psychiatrist Arash Javanbakht said it's important to find balance. He suggested that we should educate ourselves about the major headlines only once every few hours, rather than constantly scrolling through a flood of negative stories. As for those feelings that come from reading bad news, we can turn them "into something productive," Javanbakht said we should find ways to volunteer, donate, or get in touch with your elected representatives, for example. He added that we should also remember there are billions of people "living in this world right now and there are a lot of good things happening.”

발행일 2025-06-01

reporter : Martin Seo