Listen: Dr Linda Papadopoulos on doomscrolling

Mindless doomscrolling – the compulsive habit of endlessly consuming negative online content – is costing us dearly with the average adult in the UK spending 96 minutes a day doomscrolling, which adds up to two full days every month.

Over a year, that’s almost 24 days lost. The figures among the Gen Z age group are even more stark, with daily scroll-time reaching 143 minutes.

As a result of the nation’s hours of daily doomscrolling, 28% become tired or drained, 22% anxious or overwhelmed and half admit it reduces their productivity (46%) and creativity (28%).

Furthermore, 52% say they wish they had more hours in the day and that cutting back on scrolling could help make time for the things they say matter most – from seeing family (40%) and spending time in nature (36%), to being creative (25%) or learning a new language (19%).

Ros spoke to psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulos.

Photo by William Hook on Unsplash