Doomscrolling or doomsurfing has become a popular term since the Covid-19 pandemic bumped the world.
UGM psychiatrist, Dr. dr. Ronny Tri Wirasto, Sp. Kj. said doomscrooling is a term that describes one's tendency to browse social media, especially reaching negative news regularly. Accordingly, during this pandemic, many people tend to have increased activity on the doomscrolling phenomenon.
According to him, the main factor that triggers doomscrooling during this Covid-19 pandemic is the necessity of isolation, both physically and socially. The isolation process prompts people to fulfill their needs, one of which is accessing social media (social media).
"They tend to do this because this isolation makes a person unwilling to lose what they had, both socially and physically. Therefore, to maintain those things, one of the ways is through social media, including scrolling or surfing," he explained on Friday (4/9).
Ronny explained that when someone is worried or feeling anxious, they tend to do doomscrolling to change their feelings.
"To stop anxiety with something more robust. Something terrible or negative will cover the feeling of discomfort," Ronny said.
Furthermore, Ronny said that doomscrolling harms health, both physically and mentally. This activity initially causes disturbances in the form of difficulty sleeping, where the disorder of sleep patterns will eventually cause disturbed physical health.
Not only that, but doomscrolling also causes mental fatigue. A person will feel excessively tired, become irritable, sensitive, and irritable. If this condition lasts, the most worrying thing is that mental disorders emerged due to this regular activity.
"Pay attention if there are signs of sleep disturbance, excessive fatigue, and suddenly feel pain throughout the body. If it feels disturbing, you should immediately ask for help from professionals such as psychologists or psychiatrists," he said.
To overcome the side effects of doomscrolling, Ronny emphasized the need to create restrictions on accessing social media. In addition to limiting the information accessed, you should also limit the time to stream and read the news so that you won't linger in doomscrolling behavior.
The next necessary thing is to realize the initial purpose of accessing information. Remind yourself of the reasons why you explore social media. Please don't get lost in reading information that is not relevant to your needs.
Author: Ika
Translator: Natasa A