Doomscroll Detox
How I trained my social media feeds to stop ruining my day.
While I know that doomscrolling—which, in case you’ve somehow avoided the term, is the compulsive consumption of distressing news that leaves you feeling anxious and depleted—can feel unavoidable in this political climate, I promise you there’s a better version of the internet out there.
I know because I’ve found it.
By intentionally searching for and engaging with content that inspires and comforts me, I’ve managed to train my algorithm to serve me something gentler. Stories that don’t set off my fight-or-flight. Clips that make me feel more connected than alone. Posts that restore a little faith in people. Or at the very least, ones that don’t make me tense up. (Though many do make me tear up!)
Which isn’t to say I don’t actively seek out information about current events and global affairs by reading the news elsewhere. I do. I just don’t consume it through platforms that also serve me shopping hauls and interior design inspo. I want Instagram and TikTok to remain places of escape—not a carousel of horrors filtered through infographics some twink with acrylic nails is monetizing.
Since shifting how I engage on certain platforms and by training those algorithms to skew positive, I’ve been rewarded with a renewed sense of faith in the people around me. (Groundbreaking stuff when I know full well that 49.8% of this country voted a fascist spray-tanned nutsack into office.)
I don’t have hard data to support this, but I wholeheartedly believe the widespread erosion of trust in strangers is by design. It’s no accident we’re all angry at and isolated from one another. And social media has played a massive role in it. Mainly: Facebook.
Pre-2012, people had hope. (Shout out Obama!) But ever since our parents logged on en mass, the world’s felt… different.
People stopped talking to their neighbors.
Coworkers stopped introducing themselves to new hires.
Kids stopped playing outside.
And we all lost touch with something fundamental. Our human compassion.
Still, I believe we can course-correct. And I think we should do so by fighting fire with fire. (i.e. technology with technology.)
Social media may have chipped away at our empathy, but I think it also has the power to restore it—if we engage with it with more intention.
And I’m not talking about the Meghan Markle brand of performative optimism, or the hollow virtue signaling that happens in the comment section of any left-leaning news outlet. I’m talking about honest moments documenting the magic of raw human (and sometimes animal) emotion.
Small things. But not nothings.
To help get your algorithmic cleansing journey started (if you so wish), I’ve pulled together a few of the videos that have made me feel more grounded lately:
Let’s heal together. x
not too much on meghan markle now
Thank you Maxwell! this is such a straightforward warm article and an answer to exactly what i looked for in my search bar as a last cookie to stop scrolling.
The loneliness part is sad times, recently Ive bern trying to pay more attention to people around me, saying hi and maybe just the small talk- and since i started doing that you can not imagine how clearly i see what u articulated. it’s heartbreaking specially in soulless cities like the one im at, and probably all cities towards to the same direction. Anyways have a good one!