Doomscrolling

Darling, it’s called DOOMscrolling for a reason.

Before you begin this article, I’d like you to check your average screen time and your most-used apps. I can bet it’s either TikTok or Instagram. Now, if you’re not an active creator on these platforms, you don’t need me to tell you there’s a problem — a huge one.

I’m not chastising you; I’m chastising us. Our parents were right. It’s the damn phone. We spend time scrolling through reels and posts with the initial intention of “just 10 minutes.” It escalates to 30, then an hour, then hours. We absorb a whirlwind of emotions from every piece of short-form content we consume. One minute it’s a compilation of kids doing the darndest things; the next, it’s Philip Olubakin preaching, then girls’-night-out content, then news on the Electoral Act, then some dark-humour reels — the options are endless.

These platforms are designed to keep us hooked. Creators are deliberate about evoking emotion, strategising not just to make you feel, but to make you feel at the extreme. That way, it feels relatable and real — not censored or manufactured. This is what pulls us in. We always want more of that high. We swipe and swipe and swipe — until our network provider warns us about data usage, until our phone battery dies, until sleep overtakes us, or until we can no longer avoid reality.

Short-form content does a lot of damage to our brains, and we don’t even realise how bad it is. Our attention spans are at an all-time low. We can’t read books anymore because it takes longer and requires more effort to reach that dopamine hit, and we’re too impatient with the plot to keep going. Watching a film without opening TikTok. Holding a conversation without the urge to scroll. These things now feel like a challenge.

If you can’t see it yet, I’ll spell it out. This is what addiction looks like.

You find something to relax with, reward yourself with, or use to escape reality. It works so well — or feels so good — that you just have to keep going. You return to it again and again, until a voice in your head starts warning you about overdependence and overuse. You begin to notice signs that maybe that voice is right. So you try to stop.

You stop. But life hits, or boredom sets in, and you tell yourself, “Oh, just 10 minutes.” Again, it escalates into hours. You feel bad afterward, but that doesn’t stop you from going back.

Doomscrolling delivers cheap dopamine. It gets you high and giddy, but the feeling doesn’t last long — which is exactly why you keep going back. Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder. It sounds serious because it is.

I was about to dive into a conspiracy theory about how the designers of these platforms want to turn our brains to mush so they can execute their other sinister plans, but we’re not ready for that. I’m not ready for it either. So let’s focus on reducing screen time significantly and engaging more with long-form content that has lasting value. I strongly recommend podcasts, books, and films — especially the old ones, the real classics.

Because, to be frank, most short-form content doesn’t provoke meaningful thought. There are endless GRWMs, OOTDs, and other personal-brand content. Before you come across one Ibukun Awosika video, you’d have scrolled past 10 GRWMs, skits, and memes. The traffic and engagement this type of content generates is what’s pushing everyone to become a creator — which is, honestly, a wise move. Very wise. But if you’re on these platforms purely for consumption and not creation, you need to rethink everything raised in this article.

If you genuinely want to reduce your screen time and intake of short-form content, I suggest setting app limits. It’s been over two weeks since I set limits on Instagram and YouTube (I’m not on TikTok, hehehe) — an hour and thirty minutes a day each — and it has been great so far. I can’t say too much because it’s still early, but the difference has been subtle yet noticeable.

I’ll write about podcasts, books, and films — especially older ones — that will draw you in from the very start, so you won’t struggle as much with boredom or staying engaged.

Also, I recommend spending time with people in real life — without screens, texts, or phones. It might be costly, but I still recommend it.

So yes. It’s called DOOMscrolling. The name was always the warning.

Put the phone down. Not forever, just for now. You’ll be fine. We’ll be fine. Probably.

— From the not-so-mushy mind of Aggy.