September 10, 2026

When Staying Informed Is Making You Anxious

Have you ever picked up your phone because you were worried about something happening in the world, only to put it down 30 minutes later feeling considerably worse? Congratulations. Your plan worked perfectly. You’re now much more informed and possibly much more anxious. We live in a time when there is always another headline, another notification, another opinion, and another breaking-news alert waiting for us. Staying informed is important. But at some point, gathering information can quietly turn into something else. It’s called doomscrolling, the habit of repeatedly consuming negative or distressing news online. And researchers are beginning to understand why some of us have such a hard time stopping. Why Do We Keep Scrolling? Here’s what’s interesting. You might assume we keep scrolling because we enjoy it. We don’t. Often, we’re looking for reassurance. When something frightening or uncertain is happening, our brains naturally want more information. We think that if we just learn enough, maybe we’ll finally understand what’s happening, know what comes next, and feel better. Except the internet never says, “That’s it. You’re completely caught up. Nothing else to worry about. Have a nice afternoon.” There’s always another update. A 2025 study published in Personality and Individual Differences found that anxiety, difficulty tolerating uncertainty, and doomscrolling are connected. People who struggle with uncertainty may be more drawn to consuming negative information, while psychological resilience appears to offer some protection.  In other words, sometimes we keep searching for information because we’re trying to make uncertainty go away. Unfortunately, we may…