“Doom scrolling” is a term for the compulsion to scan negative stories on social media.
There are lots of theories as to why we voluntarily wander into the quicksand of bad news. We have evolved to be vigilant for danger. We know there are problems in our world and by fixating on the threats we may feel we are preparing ourselves to better cope with them. But simply dwelling on threats does not address the root problems, and may actually weaken our ability to cope.
Some have suggested that we set a time limit for scanning negative news and then turn to solution based information. In other words after we have a sense of the problems, it can be helpful to look up activist groups working to correct the problem.
Ross Perot might have been wrong about a lot of things, but he was right on target when he said, “The activist is not the (one) who says the river is dirty. The activist is the (one) who cleans up the river.”
Molly Ivins gave similar advice, “Listen to the people who are talking about how to fix what’s wrong, not the ones who just work people into a snit over the problems. Listen to the people who have ideas about how to fix things, not the ones who just blame others.”
Sometimes we just have to remind ourselves that reality is offline. The internet can become an echo chamber for every issue imaginable. Grassroots community organizations have the advantage of focusing on solutions and also giving us a community that supports us in the real world.