What's the best way to stop doomscrolling?

Firstly, it's important to think of your attention as a limited resource. We make a vote everyday for the things that are important to us. As discussed in our article on doomscrolling, it can impact the positive, protective things in our lives, such as connections with others, hobbies, and sleep.

Consider

Keep in mind your emotional state. Emotions like anixety can cause us to use our phone as a distraction. In the case of anxiety, other activities can be a helpful distraction but activities that reduce anxiety can be more useful, such as exercise, or enjoying a funny movie.

Identify

It can be useful to identify times of day that you may be vulnerable to doomscrolling, for example hopping into bed at night. Once you know what times you're vulnerable, find alternatives to distract you, like read a book or do something artsy like drawing.

Activate

Have a few activities handy that you can reach for instead of doomscrolling. Some suggestions we have are colouring in a colouring book whilst listening to a podcast, walking, running, puzzles, board games - there's plenty, all you have to do is find one that you enjoy.

Move

Move your apps off your home screen. It can help place a bit of a distance from automatic doomscrolling behaviours. Creating a bit of friction to access can slow down the need to open apps that cause us stress.

Connect

Prioritise connecting with others, whether its through a phone call, over a walk, or spending time together doing a shared activity. We're social creatures and staying social and connected to others helps us enormously.

De-notify

Remove notifications that can cause you to go back into apps and platforms that cause you to doomscroll. Often notifications are a gateway into further doomscrolling as they pull us back into using our phones.

Remove

Consider getting an alarm clock and intentionally keeping your phone out of your room at night. This sets you up for a better nights sleep, and creates a large amount of friction to start doomscrolling by reducing access to your phone. If you require white noise to fall asleep, consider a speaker for your room, with white noise playing from your phone in another room.

Remember that we're always here to help. If you're a young person or if there's a young person in your life you're concerned about, give us a call or use our Live Chat in the bottom right of your screen to have chat. You can also head to our booking page if you think you're ready to get help.