“Doomscrolling” may sound dramatic, but it’s not an exaggeration for the many teenagers and young adults around the world experiencing mental health issues due to constant exposure of negative news online.
The popularity of social media platforms including TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, has given users complete access to information about current events and political news in recent years.
Although many reliable accounts provide credible and fact-checked media, cases of disinformation, sensationalism, and clickbait are extremely common. The impacts of regularly being bombarded with intensely amplified news, extreme opinions and theories, and dishonesty can be detrimental to any viewer. This is especially true for adolescents, with the National Institutes of Health reporting that up to 95% of teenagers aged 13-17 actively use social media.
Continuous exposure of negative news can have incredibly destructive impacts on teenagers, including heightened anxiety, stress, burnout, and signs of depression. This is due to a never-ending feed of intense deliveries of news crammed into short videos, bringing a new meaning to “doomscrolling”.
Taylor Zachary, a student at Mira Costa High School says, “I see stuff on TikTok; I follow a lot of credible news sources on there, as well as parody accounts like [Saturday Night Live].” Similarly, many other students stated that the majority of their feed has recently been focused on politics and the current administration. They also expressed how, although they try to stay relatively unaffected by constant negative news, it often impacts their mental health, causing them to feel worried and upset.
The accounts releasing these videos are credible and unbiased at best, and uneducated or hateful at their worst. Some online news-related accounts, especially political ones, often use tactics of viewer manipulation and disinformation to further inspire conflict and animosity online. Mira Costa student Brooklyn Reiss explains that “Oftentimes [the videos are] feeding you the wrong things from people who are uneducated and don't know what they are speaking about”.
Focusing on credible news sites, spending time offline, and leading intellectual discussions with others in a respectful setting are essential to break the common habits of hopelessness and self-isolation associated with the intensity of news on social media.
National Library of Medicine. “Social Media and Youth Mental Health.” Www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, US Department of Health and Human Services, 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK594759/.
“Sensationalism in News Coverage - (Television Studies) - Vocab, Definition, Explanations | Fiveable.” Fiveable.me, 2025, fiveable.me/key-terms/television-studies/sensationalism-in-news-coverage.
“The Hidden Mental Health Cost of News on Social Media.” Psychology Today, 2026, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/not-just-an-algorithm/202601/the-hidden-mental-health-cost-of-news-on-social-media.