Doomscrolling Is Making Me Anxious, How Can I Break the Cycle
Doomscrolling is the repeated consumption of worrying or negative news and online content even when it is making you feel more anxious.
Doomscrolling is the repeated consumption of worrying or negative news and online content even when it is making you feel more anxious.
It often begins with a reasonable aim: you want to understand what is happening. Then one update leads to another, uncertainty encourages another search, and the search for reassurance leaves you more unsettled.
The answer is not to become uninformed. It is to notice when staying informed has turned into repeatedly feeding the same anxiety.
Why stopping can feel difficult
Uncertain situations rarely provide a neat final update.
War, politics, health scares, crime, financial worries and breaking news develop over time. When your mind wants certainty, refreshing a feed can feel as though the next item might finally provide it.
Instead, each new detail creates another question. The information changes, but the feeling that you need to check remains.
Separate useful information from repeated exposure
Ask what you actually need to know.
If there is an event that affects you, choose reliable sources and decide when you will check them. Reading twenty versions of the same development rarely makes you twenty times better informed.
NHS-linked wellbeing guidance on news anxiety recommends limiting how often you check devices and recognising when repeated negative news is increasing anxiety.
Notice what happens in your body
Doomscrolling can keep you mentally alert long after you intended to stop.
You may notice tension, a racing mind, irritability or difficulty concentrating. If that happens, put the device down and move into a different activity rather than searching for one reassuring story to cancel out the previous ten.
A short walk, conversation, ordinary household task or something absorbing can help reconnect attention with the world immediately around you.
Create an end point before you begin
“I’ll stop when I’ve caught up” is difficult because a feed has no natural end.
Try deciding in advance what counts as enough: one news bulletin, one trusted article, or a set check at a particular point in the day.
You are not avoiding reality. You are choosing how much repeated exposure is useful.
When the news has attached itself to an existing anxiety
Sometimes the subject you are scrolling about connects directly with your own fears, health, money, safety, work or family.
If the anxiety persists when the phone is away, the underlying worry may need attention in its own right.
If you are struggling to cope or the anxiety is affecting everyday life, the NHS recommends seeking support, including from a GP or NHS talking therapies where appropriate.
Last reviewed
6 September 2026
General information only. This is not a diagnosis or a substitute for professional healthcare, legal or other specialist advice. If online experiences are having a persistent or significant effect on your anxiety, mood, sleep, confidence, relationships or everyday life, consider speaking to your GP, counsellor or another appropriately qualified professional.