How to stop doomscrolling: what actually helps

Notice what pulls you in

For a few days, notice when you start scrolling and what keeps you going: a notification, boredom, a headline that made you angry, a story you felt you had to follow. You can’t change a habit you can’t see, and most people find two or three triggers do most of the damage.

Make starting harder

• Turn off notifications from news and social apps. Each one is an invitation to scroll.
• Move the apps off your home screen, or sign out so opening them takes a moment of thought. For a longer break, try a social media detox.
• Keep your phone out of the bedroom at night. Late-night scrolling is when bad news hits hardest.

Make stopping easier

• Set time limits with Screen Time on an iPhone or Digital Wellbeing on Android.
• Decide when you’ll check the news, say once in the morning, so you don’t feel you have to keep up all day.
• Pick a stopping point before you start: one article, ten minutes, the end of your coffee.

Change what’s in your feed

The feed decides how bad scrolling feels. Unfollow and mute the accounts that leave you worse off, use the platforms’ own controls (muting words on X, hiding channels on YouTube), and follow a few things that make you feel better. Rage-bait is built to keep you scrolling, so it’s worth cutting out first.

Replace the habit

Scrolling usually fills a gap: waiting, winding down, avoiding something. Have something ready for those moments, like a book, a podcast, a short walk or a message to a friend, so stopping doesn’t leave a hole.

If the news is weighing on you more than usual, it’s worth talking to someone you trust, or a professional.