doomscrolling
/duːm.skroʊ.lɪŋ/
Very CommonEndlessly scrolling through bad news or distressing content even though it makes you feel worse.
Usually self-aware. People often use it to describe their own behavior with a mix of guilt and resignation.
Real-world examples4 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | it's 2am and i'm doomscrolling again someone take my phone | Late-night compulsive bad news reading, self-aware and asking to be stopped. | x, 2023 |
| 02 | spent three hours doomscrolling and now i feel terrible. great morning. | The person wasted the morning reading distressing content and is acknowledging the predictable outcome. | reddit, 2024 |
| 03 | i told myself five more minutes and that was an hour ago | Classic doomscrolling loop where the person loses track of time. | tiktok, 2024 |
| 04 | doomscrolling the news before bed is a great way to never sleep | Sarcastic commentary on how reading bad news at night disrupts sleep. | x, 2022 |
Use it when
- Someone is reading bad news compulsively late at night.
- Someone admits they spent hours on negative social media content.
- Someone describes the loop of checking news during a crisis.
- Someone talks about not being able to put their phone down despite feeling worse.
Do not use it when
- You just mean scrolling social media generally with no negative content.Use “scrolling” instead.
- You mean actively seeking out drama for entertainment.Use “rage-scroll” instead.
Variations and related forms
Doomscrolling vs rage-scroll
doomscrolling
Doomscrolling is passive consumption of bad news that creates anxiety or sadness.
VS
rage-scroll
Rage-scroll is actively seeking out content that makes you angry, often for the emotional reaction.
Origin and context
Coined by writer Karen K. Ho in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic to describe the compulsive habit of reading bad news online. Became mainstream vocabulary quickly as pandemic anxiety drove the behavior.
- First seen
- 2020
- Confidence
- high
Cite this page
Use this stable URL to reference the entry.
https://slang.fyi/doomscrollingUpdated: 2026-08-28License: CC BY 4.0