How to stop doomscrolling

I know a lot of people are struggling with doomscrolling so I want to share how I’m now able to limit my time here to a degree I prefer, and together we can grow our resilience.

For me, social media is a place where I have connected with important teachers, ideas, where art, activism and news reach me. At the same time, it is clearer than ever that I get overwhelmed and drained by social media. To function well, I have to digest every single thing I “eat” here. I want to be part, and I don’t want to fry my brain.

The middle path is limitation. 

And now that I'm approaching 100 days of an unbroken streak I feel the desire to share. I broke it down to three pillars, but even the first step, getting an app that limits time, is super helpful. I simply dive deeper into what makes it work for me. My working method so far to limit SoMe:

1. Systems (instead of willpower)

2. Intention 

3. Feel you feelings

1. Systems. I use ScreenZen to block my apps at certain times, in addition to limiting the time I'm able to be on. After every 10 mins it asks me again to unlock the app for a total of 40 mins. In the book “atomic habits”, I learned how systems trump willpower when it comes to building the life you want. Don't blame yourself, instead, be smart and find the ways where structure supports you. 
   

2. Intention. Even with a system, it needs a thought out intention behind it. Sit down and think though: how much time would you ideally want to spend here? What time would you ideally want to start using and quit using SoMe? For me, it's from 10:00 (after my morning routine) and until 21:00 in the night, in order to calm down for sleep. I NEVER lever my phone on during the night. I btw started by limiting my time to 1,5 hours but I’m down to 40 mins now!
   

3. The third one can be the hardest one. Even with an intention and a system, I can always break it, I can turn off the app or ignore the limitation. The third pillar is about what happens when you stop. There is a reason why you doomscroll in the first place, and this is not only because of algorithms. It is most probably to escape feeling a certain feeling. Maybe you want to calm down, maybe you are bored and want to be stimulated, maybe you have existential dread and want to be distracted. There are endless ways to run and you will always find something else if you rather run than feel.What to do instead? Well, this is an endeavour for a lifetime, and yet, I'm here to tell you it can be done. I used to be much more anxious, stressed and shut down than I am now. I’m getting better each passing week to sit with my feelings, but this has taken years! However, I’m doing it, and each time it gets easier. There is an abundance of teachers and methods and books and classes you can approach to learn more - one single post won't undo whatever wounds you are carrying that makes you cope like this. But maybe I can instill you with some care and patience. If you are ready for it… I would say… Get curious about the feeling. Just feel it, doing nothing. You can move with it or express it with sound. Perhaps place a hand where you feel it most. You can talk to it, ask what it wants and needs, ask if it has a message for you. Practice crying, allowing yourself to break, in small doses. You can also talk it out with no one listening (and be dramatic!) allowing yourself to be stupid and petty and scared. But my best tip is to contact a friend. Asking for support to just talk or be witnessed. Feeling my feelings by myself is level two, it's fully allowed to ask someone to be with you! You don’t have to be able to do this alone at first.

Let me know if this was helpful for you, if you are missing something or have insight you want to share yourself on this topic!

Tova / 2026-02-07