Stuck Doomscrolling? The Hidden Psychology Behind It, Expert Explains ‘It’s Not Your Phone, It’s Stress’

Doomscrolling isn’t just a bad phone habit, it’s an emotional escape. Expert explains that our endless scrolling isn’t about information, but about avoiding stress, pain, and uncomfortable emotions. The solution isn’t deleting apps, it’s facing what we’re running from.

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If you’ve ever caught yourself promising ‘just five more minutes’ on your phone, only to find an hour vanishing into the black hole of scrolling, you’re not alone. All of us are stuck in this. That endless feed isn’t about information- it’s about emotional survival. Every scroll, swipe, or notification delivers dopamine, serotonin, and adrenaline. And sometimes, even anxiety feels better than numbness. 

From the insights of Kapil Gupta, Mental Health Activist  and a Founder, Solh Wellness. We will explore the psychology of doomscrolling, a habit which may look like curiosity but it's much deeper, which is not simply about seeking information, it is about seeking emotional relief. 

It’s Not your Phone or Feed, It’s Your Stress

Gupta argues that stress itself has changed form. “Stress is no longer limited to traffic jams, angry bosses, or pending bills. It now hides inside tiny behaviors — things that look normal, even productive.” The endless checking of news, the compulsive scrolling of social media feeds, and the inability to pause mid-scroll are not harmless quirks. They are symptoms, they often go unnoticed as warning signs. It might look like you are trying to stay updated by staying on your phone but in reality, it's an escape, it’s an act of sedation and avoidance. It;s your way to avoid feelings. 

It's Not Just About GenZ

This is not just a GenZ problem. Not just teenagers, addicted and lost in scrolling reels. Gupta points out that it cuts across generations and professions. “It’s the mid-level manager scrolling LinkedIn during meetings, not out of ambition, but anxiety. It’s the 50-year-old dad watching political debates he doesn't even agree with, just to stay ‘plugged in.’ It’s the housewife falling asleep to a loop of health warnings and legal drama because that noise now feels safer than silence.” This isn’t a distracted generation, he says, but a dysregulated one. Our attention isn’t scattered at random, it is hijacked by emotions we have not processed or we are scared to face.

Deleting Instagram Will Not Help

And if you think that deleting the app will help you. All that ‘digital detox’ , deleting the apps, turning off the notification, these tactics may work for a few days but then it crumbles down. Gupta explains why. “The problem was never the phone. The problem is what the phone helps you run away from. You can log out of Instagram, but you can’t log out of your nervous system.” As long as the body remains in a state of survival mode, carrying emotional weight and stress, the mind will keep reaching for distractions, if not one then another. Your body will find something else, healing begins not by switching off, but by tuning in.

Gupta says that “Every community is affected, rich, poor, rural, urban, old, young. For some, it’s boredom. For many, it’s chronic avoidance. And for most, it’s the inability to process pain in a culture that romanticizes endurance and punishes vulnerability.”

Hence, ‘doomscrolling’ is not the problem, we don;t need to get rid of the phone, we don’t need to put timers on the apps, what we really need to do is ask yourself this one question- “What am I running from?” and that’s where the real change will begin, not with deleting but with pausing and reflecting.