What Happens to Your Brain When You Doomscroll, According to a Neuropsychologist

You don’t need me to tell you that there is an out-of-control amount of bad news out there. Every day it seems like we’re bombarded with a new disaster to worry about, and while we want to stay informed, spending too much time staring at bad news, or doomscrolling, can be super harmful. Neuropsychologist Dr. Sanam Hafeez, Psy.D, tells me, “Living in a constant stream of negative news can affect brain function as well as mental health.” I asked Hafeez about what’s going on in our brains when we doomscroll—and how to bounce back.

Dr. Sanam Hafeez, Psy.D, is an NYC-based neuropsychologist.  She is also the founder and director of Comprehensive Consultation Psychological Services. Hafeez received her doctorate from Hofstra University and went on to train as a neuropsychologist. Hafeez provides neuropsychological educational and developmental evaluations in her practice and also works with children and adults who suffer from PTSD, learning disabilities, autism, attention and memory problems, trauma and brain injury, abuse, childhood development and psychopathology.

• Increased Anxiety Levels: Per Hafeez, watching disturbing news  can trigger the amygdala, the brain’s fear center, by activating your fight-or-flight response. She explains, “That constant flow of bad news, especially negative stories about other people’s problems, can instill a sense of urgency, or even dread, making it harder to feel safe or relaxed.”
• Desensitization: If you’re consistently reading disturbing content, you might become desensitized to emotional stimuli, which can impair your ability to empathize and care for others.
• Negative Cognitive Messages: “Doomscrolling can cement negative cognitive messages, such as catastrophizing, where you predict the worst possible scenario, or all-or-nothing thinking, where you view things as black or white and don’t consider the middle ground,” Hafeez tells me. “These types of cognitive distortions can create a more pessimistic worldview, distorting reality and making challenges feel insurmountable.”
• Dopamine Dysregulation: Doomscrolling can also impact your dopamine levels, Hafeez says, since the anticipation of new information can trigger dopamine release, leading to a vicious circle of seeking out information that ultimately causes distress rather than satisfaction.
• Disrupted Sleep: Especially if you’re doomscrolling right before bed, your sleep can be negatively impacted by both the blue light from your screen and the stimulating content. Both of these can make it harder to fall asleep and reduce sleep duration, in turn exacerbating stress and anxiety.

I also asked Hafeez how long these negative effects last, to which she responded that it depends on who you are, what your past experiences were, the content you were looking at and how you cope with it. “If you use your phone to keep up with current events, for example, there is evidence that you heart rate goes up and you may experience elevated cortisol levels—a common marker of stress or anxiety—within minutes of viewing the media,” she tells me, adding that for some people, it can take 30 to 90 minutes to return to their baseline.

She does suggest ways to regulate your emotional state, from going for a walk, doing deep breathing exercises, meditating or any other calming activities. In the long term, though, ongoing exposure to stressful content can have more long-standing effects, from chronic anxiety to mood swings. “If you’ve been using your phone to keep tabs on the news, checking in with friends or following celebrities on social media, taking a break can help your body to recover and get into a better mental place,” Hafeez says.

The bottom line is this: Staying informed on current events is one thing, but it’s crucial to consume negative media as mindfully as you can. Hafeez concludes, “To mitigate the influence of bad news, people should limit their consumption of news, seek out more positive forms of content and engage in other activities that heal the mind such as exercise, mindfulness or meditation and maintaining social connections.”