The dark at the end of the tunnel: Doomscrolling on social media newsfeeds.

Abstract

Doomscrolling refers to a unique media habit where social media users persistently attend to negative information in their newsfeeds about crises, disasters, and tragedies. Given the potential prevalence of this practice and its timely but chronic relevance for user experiences, political perceptions, well-being, and other outcomes, this project aimed to develop and validate a self-report measure of doomscrolling. Participant focus groups and an expert panel contributed to the refinement of an item bank, assessed in two survey studies for item structure, reliability, and construct validity. The item bank was tested with survey panelists across the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development; OECD (N = 401) to develop a unidimensional, 15-item scale with good reliability. Doomscrolling was less prevalent than anticipated, but variable. Tests of validity with survey panelists (N = 502) indicated that doomscrolling can be considered a distinct concept, and that it was closely related to online vigilance, problematic use of the internet and social media, and fear of missing out (FOMO). Doomscrolling was also linked to passive social media use, habitual media use, anxiety, poor self-control, and several personality traits. Men, younger adults, and the political-engaged were more likely to engage in doomscrolling.

Current and Near-Term AI as a Potential Existential Risk Factor

“…During their 2016 information campaigns, for example, the Internet Research Agency (IRA) utilised certain features of the Facebook feed algorithm in order to create large-scale groups of like-minded users which were then gradually primed to be more vulnerable to disinformation [61]. Optimization of metrics such as 'time spent' and 'engagement' leads to the prioritization and artificial amplification of emotionally-charged, evocative content, often focused on negative emotions such as anger [29] and habits such as 'doomscrolling' [79], serving as a form of 'reward hacking' for the human mind, whereby the users are dehumanised and converted into mere inputs to the AI's profit machine [26]. Such optimizations may additionally lead the AI to shift the preferences of its users [49,52], whether to make them more easily predictable [73] or simply to better serve the company's profit motive [29].…”

Facing Others’ Trauma: A Role-Taking Theory of Burnout

“…“Burnout” was first introduced in the 1970s to describe the disaffection of social aid volunteers in New York (Freudenberger 1974) and has since extended to a broad range of occupational contexts (Demerouti et al 2001; Koopman and Hakemulder 2015; Maslach and Leiter 2017). Burnout has also expanded beyond professional sectors and been applied to family care (Mikolajczak et al 2019), news consumption (Boukes and Vliegenthart 2017; Mannell and Meese 2022), social media participation (Han 2018; Sharma et al 2022), social justice activism (Cox 2011), and many other settings. Burnout is defined by feelings of cynicism, detachment, and emotional exhaustion, with effects such as depression, anxiety, and withdrawal from burnout–inducing situations (e.g., paring back family duties, quitting a job, limiting news consumption, breaking from social media, reducing involvement in activist organizations; Boukes and Vliegenthart 2017; Cox 2011; Koutsimani et al 2019; Mannell and Meese 2022; Maslach and Leiter 2017; Mikolajczak et al 2019).…”

“…More recently, research shows similar patterns in nonwork settings. For example, studies find news–related burnout connected to COVID-19 coverage (Gottfried 2020; Mannell and Meese 2022), a range of burnout indicators associated with doom–scrolling through negative content on social media (Han 2018; Sharma et al 2022), and activist burnout during the Black Lives Matter and #MeToo movements, which concentrate attention on racial and gender violence (Gorski 2019; Richardson 2020; Strauss Swanson and Szymanski 2020). In each of these cases, trauma is present and prominent, with the potential for burnout to arise (Cohen and Collens 2013; Silver, Portnoy, and Peters 2015).…”

“…Characterized by emotional fatigue and detachment, burnout was traditionally applied to volunteer and workplace settings (Demerouti et al 2001;Freudenberger 1974), with particular hold on the social and humanitarian services (Bride et al 2004;Cummings et al 2021;Maslach and Jackson 1984;Maslach, Schaufeli, and Leiter 2001;Michalopoulos and Aparicio 2012;Sprang, Craig, and Clark 2011). Today, burnout has expansive reach with ties to 24/7 news cycles (Boukes and Vliegenthart 2017;Mannell and Meese 2022), social media ''doom-scrolling'' (Han 2018;Sharma, Lee, and Johnson 2022), and activist participation (Cox 2011), among myriad other sites. 1 The causes of burnout are complex and many, but one factor that spans multiple domains-from humanitarian services to social media newsfeeds-is the exposure of the self to other people's trauma (Boukes and Vliegenthart 2017;Cox 2011;Koutsimani, Montgomery, and Georganta 2019;Mannell and Meese 2022;Maslach and Leiter 2017;Mikolajczak, Gross, and Roskam 2019).…”

“…Vliegenthart 2017; Mannell and Meese 2022), social media participation (Han 2018;Sharma et al 2022), social justice activism (Cox 2011), and many other settings. Burnout is defined by feelings of cynicism, detachment, and emotional exhaustion, with effects such as depression, anxiety, and withdrawal from burnout-inducing situations (e.g., paring back family duties, quitting a job, limiting news consumption, breaking from social media, reducing involvement in activist organizations; Boukes and Vliegenthart 2017;Cox 2011;Koutsimani et al 2019;Mannell and Meese 2022;Maslach and Leiter 2017;Mikolajczak et al 2019).…”