How I Turn My Doomscrolling into Active Healing, and You Can Too
If your time on social media and news apps drains you more than it helps you or inspires you, you’ll want to read this. Especially if you’re a creative writer.
Taking a break from social media and news apps here and there is a good idea, especially when they are unintentionally eating up significant chunks of your day or are generally starting to make you feel horrible about yourself, the world, and all the people in it most of the time. I understand and believe that it’s normal and healthy to want to shut out things and content that make you feel miserable and encroach on your personal well-being.
But… What do you do if you need to be on social media regularly for your job, like so many of us do? Or what if social media platforms are where you connect with others who share similar hobbies or interests that spark joy and meaning in your everyday life— those social media pages and groups that do offer genuine connection and prevent you from feeling too isolated or misunderstood?
What if, in other words, your entire social media experience isn’t so horrible all the time, or you aren’t in a position to cut it out of your everyday life even if you want to?
Well, I can’t say what will work for everyone when it comes to managing healthy social media activity. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for how to regulate healthy social media consumption and engagement in the long run, though there are certainly a few guidelines to follow that may work for most people at certain ages.
Yet I can share some things I’ve been doing lately that have helped me and how I manage my relationship with social media in significant ways. Things that might help you too, especially if you’re a creative writer (Keep reading to see creative writing exercises you’ll want to do if you find yourself doomscrolling a lot.).
First, I always try to recognize when I’m starting to doomscroll— when I’m continually scrolling through and reading depressing or worrying content on social media, especially on my phone— so I can stop myself before I get too far in the weeds of misery.
I can usually tell when I’m starting to doomscroll when I feel a change in my body and mood, as they are interconnected and feed off each other. And I’ve found that being able to understand what type of content causes my body to have negative physical reactions before my brain has fully processed what I’m consuming on an intellectual level is a valuable habit to have.
I’ve noticed oftentimes my chest and throat feel tighter, and my breathing gets shallower, when I’m consuming content that’s stressing me out for too long, or when I’m starting to doomscroll. So, I try to notice when I’m consuming content that’s agitating me by noticing how and when my body tenses up or becomes more alert overall, or when my head starts to hurt or feel a little fuzzy as I scroll through various content.
I also always make it a point to pause for at least five to ten seconds and relax my body by breathing deeply three to five times before leaving a comment on a piece of content that’s upsetting me, which means I usually don’t end up leaving a comment when I’m agitated.
Second, I like to keep tabs on the content creators and pages in my social media feeds that generally make me feel worse in some way after I’ve come across their content— especially those creators and pages I fundamentally agree with on many issues and topics. And I will unfollow pages and scroll right past content that tends to make me feel more upset than uplifted.
For instance, I believe in fundamental human rights for all, and therefore understand anger toward inhumane actions and policies, and anger toward those who promote inhumane propaganda and practices. However, at a certain point, strong anger toward such injustice must be channeled into sincere and productive action, as well as the promotion of that sincere and productive action. Otherwise, it’s just stressful and unhelpful to keep consuming.
So, I actively try to avoid social media pages that simply regurgitate and promote feelings of worry and sadness and rage over and over and over again via their content and online presence, as they don’t wind up being very conducive to positive and effective change in the real world in the long run anyway, and offer no space for hope or actionable change either.
Of course, feelings like worry and sadness and anger can be useful motivators for content creators and consumers, but only when they’re ultimately channeled into productive, positive, and lasting change in the long run. Otherwise, they just make social media users like me feel stressed out and helpless.
Third, I try to be as intentional as I can be when scrolling through my social media feeds and news apps.
For example, I always keep the volume off when I’m scrolling through my social media feeds until I come across something I actually want to listen to and have a reason to turn it on. Doing this allows me to be more intentional and less passive about the content I’m paying attention to, as loud music or slogans won’t capture my attention before I’m ready to be fully aware of what I’m looking at. It allows me to consider whether I want to look at or engage with the content I’m being exposed to at all.
I also try to keep a timer going when I open a social media app, so I don’t waste more time than I have on them. Doing this also makes me more mindful of the content I decide to engage with and share, as I don’t have much time to mindlessly scroll. When I have a self-imposed time limit, I am much more aware of who I regularly engage with on social media, and why. And as a result, I tend to appreciate my time and connections on social media a lot more.
And fourth— this is where and how active healing via creative writing and social media can be achieved— I often rewrite or reword headlines and captions and ledes for certain news stories or content I come across. Especially those that were clearly generated to be clickbait or inspire superficial short-lived controversy.
Mostly, I complete these writing exercises for myself, to give myself a sliver of hope during dark times, though I have thought of creating more Daily Drafts & Dialogues posts that include this type of writing (posts similar to: Headlines.)
In fact, during my most recent break from writing posts, I was working on a project that entailed singling out certain news stories’ headlines and ledes to make them more factual, nuanced, less biased, and or centered around forgotten individuals’ narratives and perspectives.
For instance, I enjoy rewriting a lede or caption that focuses more on a victim’s perspective opposed to an assailant’s perspective. I also enjoy rewording headlines with overtly triggering and hyperbolic words, so they convey something that is more truthful and relevant to the text or stories they’re headlining.
And I especially enjoy searching for stories and narratives that are excluded from various viral or popular content. Those stories and narratives that are centered around those who are doing good in the world, or who are standing up for those who are doing good in the world, in very tangible and practical ways.
For every doom-and-gloom story I come across, I try to look for or write a story that is truthful, forward-looking, practical, and based in realistic hope. Stories that connect us instead of tear us apart.
Basically, to turn your doomscrolling into active healing you will want to:
Rely on your body to help you recognize when you’re beginning to doomscroll, so you can become more aware of the content that upsets you against your will, that content that gets you emotionally hooked and reacting in negative or passive ways.
Keep tabs on and unfollow pages with content that makes you regularly feel more upset than uplifted, which you’ll be more aware of when you pay attention to your physical body as you scroll through content—especially the content you think you agree with.
Be as intentional as you can be when scrolling through your social media feeds and news apps by doing things like setting self-imposed time limits and keeping the volume turned off until you’re ready to hear or engage with something on purpose.
Get creative and curious by rewriting or rewording headlines and captions and ledes for certain news stories, particularly those that were clearly generated to be clickbait or inspire superficial short-lived controversy. And do this to find or uncover diverse narratives in the real world that are more forward-looking, practical, and based on realistic hope.
Want to express your appreciation for this particular post?
Buy me a coffee one time, or become a free or paid monthly suscriber for less than the cost of a fancy coffee. Please and thank you! My writing and I are fueled by loyal readers, caffeine, and kind gestures.
