By Kevin Mitchell, PhD, MSW, RSW

You’ve probably experienced it.

You pick up your phone to check one notification.

Twenty minutes later you’re still scrolling through bad news, political arguments, disasters, or social media debates — even though none of it is making you feel better.

If doom scrolling often leaves us more anxious, exhausted, or discouraged, why is it so difficult to stop?

The answer has less to do with a lack of self-control than many people realize.

Your Brain Wants Certainty

We are naturally drawn to information.

When something feels uncertain, whether it’s a global crisis, your health, your relationships, or your future, your brain begins searching for answers.

That instinct is adaptive.

Staying informed has obvious advantages.

The problem begins when gathering information quietly shifts into searching for certainty.

Instead of helping us understand the world, scrolling becomes an attempt to eliminate the discomfort of not knowing.

Ironically, it usually has the opposite effect.

The Trap of “Just One More Post”

Every new article or video carries the promise that it might finally explain everything.

Maybe this one will make sense of the situation.

Maybe this one will make you feel prepared.

Maybe this one will help you stop worrying.

Most of the time, it doesn’t.

Instead, each new piece of information creates new questions, new uncertainties, and new reasons to keep scrolling.

Without realizing it, you’ve entered a loop.

Doom Scrolling Is About Emotion, Not Information

People sometimes assume they’re scrolling because they want to keep up with the latest news.

In therapy, a different question can be more useful:

What feeling am I trying not to have right now?

Sometimes doom scrolling helps us avoid:

• loneliness
• boredom
• uncertainty
• sadness
• fear
• difficult conversations
• our own thoughts

The phone becomes less about curiosity and more about distraction.

Not because we’re weak, but because uncomfortable emotions are difficult to sit with.

Why It Feels So Hard to Stop

The difficulty isn’t simply the phone itself.

It’s that stopping means returning to whatever was there before you picked it up.

The uncertainty.

The unfinished work.

The difficult emotion.

The quiet.

If scrolling has become your way of managing those experiences, putting the phone down can briefly make them feel even stronger.

That doesn’t mean you’ve made the wrong choice.

It often means you’ve interrupted a habit that has been helping you avoid discomfort.

Building a Different Relationship With Uncertainty

Breaking the cycle isn’t about never reading the news again.

It’s about noticing when information stops serving understanding and starts serving reassurance.

Instead of asking:

“How can I stop feeling anxious?”

it can be more helpful to ask:

“Can I make room for this uncertainty without immediately trying to eliminate it?”

That small shift creates space for choice.

You may still decide to read the article.

But you’re no longer being pulled automatically into another hour of scrolling.

Therapy Can Help Break the Cycle

Some habits survive because they solve an immediate problem, even if they create a larger one over time.

Doom scrolling provides temporary relief from uncertainty while quietly reinforcing the belief that uncertainty is something that cannot be tolerated.

Therapy helps develop a different capacity.

Not the ability to control every thought or emotion.

But the ability to stay present with uncertainty without automatically escaping into another distraction.

Over time, that flexibility makes it easier to put the phone down: not because you’ve forced yourself to, but because you no longer need it in the same way.

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If anxiety, overthinking, compulsive habits, or constant worry are making it difficult to stay present in your daily life, therapy can help. I provide online therapy for adults and teens across Ontario and Manitoba using evidence-informed approaches that help people build greater emotional flexibility and develop healthier ways of responding to life’s uncertainties.