It’s a tough balance right now. Do you stay informed and know every single move your government is making? Or do you switch off and stay away from news to avoid being triggered by it? And then there is also “doom-scrolling” that happens without you even realizing it. Where you go online to scroll through the latest updates on the current situation, even though you don’t really want to. But it happens anyway… So why does doom-scrolling happen?
Your fear response is working overtime. With uncertainty about the future, your stress level starts to rise. Your instinctual drive to protect yourself takes over, and in your heightened fearful state, you are trying to find certainty in a world that feels incredibly uncertain. Your brain tells you that by reading more and more, and scrolling through all the platforms, you will find more certainty in a feared situation that you currently have. Because your brain is trying very hard to protect you, it can’t stop and won’t stop. And you get caught in a vicious cycle of knowing way more about your area’s death tolls, how many days the virus stays on paper vs steel, and what a lack of human touch does to one’s sleep routine, etc. The updates are endless, and you can often feel more overwhelmed after reading it than really being able to protect yourself like the articles promise.
Remember that your brain is trying to calm the fear and worries with more information. Your brain is looking for control in a world that feels uncontrollable. If you want updates, choose one or two sources, and allocate 30 minutes a day to read them during that time. If you find yourself doom-scrolling after this allotted time, put your device down or leave it in another room. Ask yourself what you can do to calm that stress response – can you go for a walk, take some deep breaths where you breathe out for longer than you breathe in, or go eat a healthy meal? What is one thing you can do to take your stress from a 9 or 10 out of 10, to an 8? Just one thing. You can do this…
