Lol semantics is interesting. I always thought doom scrolling was just focusing on negative aspects so you believe the world is coming to a end basically.

Oxford defines it as.

continually scroll through and read depressing or worrying content on a social media or news site, especially on a phone.

They call it "doom scrolling" but really its just opening your eyes and paying attention.

If you have half a clue what is happening, of course its depressing as hell, especially when your struggling with shit in real life. Its very easy to let this consume you and it can have very real mental as well as even physical problems associated with it.

wikis description is a mix of all three actually.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomscrolling

This though talks a little more in depth about why and the how of it.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/doomscrolling-dangers

The behavior is rooted in our brain's limbic system — often referred to as the lizard or reptilian brain — that's dominated by a structure called the amygdala. It promotes self-preservation and drives the fight-or-flight response to danger, fueling us to troll for threats.

"Stress stokes our primary urge to scroll," she says. "We're hypervigilant and scanning for danger. The more you scroll, the more you feel you need to."

But two key groups are especially vulnerable: women and people with a history of trauma, Dr. Mollica says. Women are hit harder by doomscrolling because "most of violent media is about hurting women and children," he says.

Again, the truth is depressing, seriously. Sometimes I get jealous of normys and how they dont see nefarious reasons everywhere. But man this world is just rotten to its core it feels like.

When you feel like its to much, taking a step back from the screen and focusing on your mental wellbeing when you need to is always a good idea. It really will make you feel alot better.

I think alot of people have come to this conclusion on their own as well, its why were not just seeing drops in participation on this site, but across all major social platforms. They just try to frame it as being solely a problem with bots but there really is just less participation now. Either that or the dead internet conspiracy theory is real and were all just roped off in our ai instances lmao.

I also think that the wordpress was just doomscrolling too, most of what was printed was about how you were going to hell if you didnt listen and donate your money to the church.