We all know that spending hours scrolling through social media can put you in a bad mood.
But scientists have now discovered why: they argue that it “traps” you in a cycle of poor mental health.
Doomscrolling refers to the digital habit of searching for negative information, even if it triggers negative emotions.
Scientists at University College London (UCL) found that people with poor mental health are not only more likely to search for and read negative content online, but it also makes them feel more depressed.
He investigationThe study, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, involved more than 1,000 people who underwent psychological tests for the first time to check their mental health status.
They were then tasked with browsing the Internet for 30 minutes before taking another mental health test and revealing their search history to researchers.
The findings showed that those with the lowest mental health scores searched the most websites with negative topics.
A follow-up experiment then aimed to establish whether the trend was cause and effect; in other words, whether the websites were to blame for participants’ increased consumption of depressing material or their mental state.
Scientists at University College London (UCL) found that people with poor mental health are more likely to search for and read negative content online and, as a result, feel worse because of it.
The researchers again conducted mental health tests before dividing the participants into groups: one browsed more positive content, while others were given “fatal scrolling” websites specifically.
They found that people who were given more negative content to read continued to find even more depressing content online.
While the study looked at participants’ browsing history, they couldn’t access password-protected website history, making it impossible to check their social media history.
But the study authors hope to find a way around this problem in future research.
Tali Sharot, professor of cognitive neuroscience at UCL, said the findings contributed to a long-standing debate.
“A lot of people say there’s a correlation between poor mental health and Internet use,” he told The Times.
‘We spend many hours online and, as human beings, we have only started to do so in recent years. Is it causing problems? he added.
Another UK study conducted earlier this year found that smartphone obsession could be harming teens’ health.
Experts found that teens who report a problematic relationship with their smartphones could be up to three times more likely to be anxious, depressed or suffer from insomnia.
About one in five older teenagers show “problematic smartphone use” and many are asking for help to reduce their use, said experts from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London.
In fact, nearly half of the teens who said they were preoccupied in an unhealthy way with their smartphones also reported having symptoms of anxiety and even more said they had symptoms of depression.