5 practical ways to cut back on doomscrolling

If you check social media as soon as you wake up, work online for a living, spend hours scrolling the internet after work, or fall asleep basking in the glow of your phone’s blue light, there’s a good chance you’re a doomscroller.

Doomscrolling is a fairly new term that gained popularity after people began quarantining to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. The term is used to describe the act of scrolling through social media feeds and consuming a seemingly endless amount of concerning news. If you’re anything like me, you enjoy being in the know at all times, and news-related FOMO makes you reluctant to unplug from social media. So doomscrolling can be a hard habit to break.

Wanting to stay informed is totally understandable, but there are ways to do so that don’t take as large of a toll on your mental health as doomscrolling does. In an effort to help our fellow doomscrollers cut back on the potentially harmful habit, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of practical steps you can take to stop doomscrolling. We hope these suggestions help, and remember: It’s OK to be offline every now and again.

1. Reorganize the apps on your phone

If you’re looking to start small, reorganizing the apps on your device is a simple way to put a little bit of distance between you and your social media feeds.

Rather than keeping popular apps like Twitter and Instagram (or anything you don’t want to use as often) on your homepage, move them to the third or fourth page of your device so you have to do some work to access them. I personally keep my Twitter app on the last page of my iPhone in a folder labeled “Don’t Touch,” and though I still use it often, the setup does makes me think twice before clicking and occasionally persuades me to reevaluate.

An editor of mine also suggested periodically deleting social media apps from your phone. Doing so will hopefully help you check the platforms less frequently, since you’ll only be accessing them on desktop.

2. Set usage limits and be aware of your screen time

If you’re not in the mood to reorganize your apps (or have done so and are now looking to take some extra steps) consider setting time limits for the usage of certain apps.

If there’s a specific app you’re looking to cut back on, see if there’s a way to add usage restrictions within the platform. For instance, Instagram lets you manage your activity. All you have to do is go to your profile on the app and click the three lines in the upper right hand corner of your screen. After doing so, select “Your Activity” and “Set Daily Reminder.” You