What We Keep Looking For

Section Editor Tanisha Shah reflects on doomscrolling by peeling back the layer of cynicism to peek at the troubles lying underneath.

There’s something comforting about the glow of your phone screen at 1:26AM. 

It’s soft, almost gentle—like sunshine slipping through the gaps in a canopy—until you realise you’ve been staring at it for three hours. Swiping. Scrolling. Laughing, but only on the inside. 

Every Gen Z-er knows what doomscrolling is. It’s how we spend our evenings, our “wind-down” time. It’s the habit we deny on first dates: “I like to read before bed. I just can’t with the constant scrolling. So unproductive, omg.”

But let’s be honest. We’ve all done it.

Even you. 

Even me. 

Attending an e-safety workshop made me stop and ask the real questions: Why am I doomscrolling? What’s keeping me from just closing the app? Why do I keep reaching for my phone every five minutes? 

Every now and then, I get served those helpful videos about turning doomscrolling into micro-learning—how I could be learning new skills during that time instead of mindlessly scrolling. But those ads miss a huge point: people don’t doomscroll just because they are lazy or unmotivated. They doomscroll because they are tired, mentally drained, because social activities are too costly, to avoid feeling overwhelmed, anxious, lonely, or something entirely unique and harder to name. 

So, rationally speaking, can you really blame yourself for not wanting to read a book at night after studying the whole day? Doomscrolling gets a bad rep, but it’s not always this evil, productivity-killing monster. If watching cat memes before bed helps you decompress, why beat yourself up over it? 

Talking to people my age made me realise how much our lives shape this habit. I started noticing patterns—how I’d scroll more when I was down, when I needed that quick dopamine hit. Or when I felt overwhelmed, and scrolling was the one thing I could control. Sometimes, I’d just had a long, productive day and didn’t want to do anything else but brainrot with funny videos. And every time I caught myself mid-scroll, that same little question would pop up: Why am I doing this?  

It hasn’t made me stop. But it’s made me pause and wonder if I really need this brainrot moment, or if I’m just procrastinating. 

And honestly, why is “brainrot” such a big issue anyway? It’s not new. You’d know that if you watched movies or series from our parents’ generation (special callout to the old brainrot bollywood movies I grew up watching). The only difference is that this new brainrot is much more easily accessible and addictive. Because algorithms. 

A little honest truth; algorithms are not your friend. They’re designed to keep you in the loop. To keep you scrolling, even when it doesn’t feel good anymore. And quitting cold turkey? It’s complicated. Social media is how we stay connected. Logging off can feel like cutting ties, which sometimes makes things worse.

The real issue with doomscrolling is the feeling of being stuck, unable to move. And the answer isn’t always “just do something else.” 

What did help me—and might help you too—was talking. Having a real, non-judgemental conversation with someone. A friend, a sibling, a partner. Talking about why we doomscroll, why we feel like we can’t stop, and why we want to; and doing it with someone who won’t shame you for it.

 A little self reflection never hurt anyone, you know?