Doomscrolling During COVID-19: The Negative Association Between Daily Social and Traditional Media Consumption and Mental Health Symptoms During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Clinical Impact Statement The results highlight the detrimental effect of regularly viewing social media during the midst of an ongoing traumatic event such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Alternative coping strategies that do not involve social media exposure should be are recommended to reduce the potential impact of "doomscrolling" on mental health. Objective: Consumption of traditional and social media markedly increased at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as new information about the virus and safety guidelines evolved. Much of the information concerned restrictions on daily living activities and the risk posed by the virus. The term doomscrolling is used to describe the phenomenon of elevated negative affect after viewing pandemic-related media. The magnitude and duration of this effect, however, is unclear. Furthermore, the effect of doomscrolling likely varies based on prior vulnerabilities for psychopathology, such as a history of childhood maltreatment. It was hypothesized that social and traditional media exposure were related to an increase in depression and PTSD and that this increase was moderated by childhood maltreatment severity. Method: Participants completed a baseline assessment for psychopathology and 30 days of daily assessments of depression, PTSD, and pandemic-related media use. Results: Using multilevel modeling, social media exposure was associated with increased depression and PTSD. This association was stronger for those with more severe maltreatment histories. Furthermore, those with more severe baseline psychopathology used more social media during this period. These relations were not observed for traditional media sources. Conclusions: These results suggest that regular viewing of pandemic-related social media is associated with increases in psychopathology for those with existing vulnerabilities. Those with such vulnerabilities should adopt strategies to limit social media consumption.