How to stop doomscrolling

Why it sticks

The cue is a gap. The queue at the shop, the ad break, the minute after you lie down. The routine is a thumb movement you stopped noticing years ago. And the payoff is the chance that the next post is the one that matters, which is the same variable reward a slot machine pays out. Bad news makes it stickier, because a threat feels like something you ought to keep watching.

How to stop doomscrolling

1. Find your two worst windows

   Open Screen Time and look at when you scroll, rather than how much. For most people two windows, in bed and the first ten minutes after waking, cover most of the damage. Fix those two and leave the rest alone for now.

2. Charge the phone outside the bedroom

   Bed is the window with no natural end, so give it one. A charger in the kitchen and a cheap alarm clock take the phone out of the hour it does the most harm. You decide once, when you move the cable, and never again.

3. Bury the feed apps

   Move every feed app into a folder on the last home screen page, or delete it and use the browser version, which is worse on purpose. Those two extra swipes are the second in which you notice what your thumb is doing.

4. Read news that ends

   Get the news from one source with a finish line: a morning newsletter, a print paper, a single daily podcast. When it ends, you are informed and done. A feed never sends that signal, so pick a format that does.

5. Turn the screen grey at night

   In Settings, Accessibility, Display and Text Size, Color Filters, switch on Grayscale, then add a Shortcuts automation to turn it on at 10pm. Colour is part of the pull. A grey feed at eleven at night is noticeably duller.

6. Give your thumb something that runs out

   The gap still needs filling. A paperback on the bedside table, a podcast queued for the commute, a word game with one puzzle a day. Pick something with a last page.

What to track instead

A row that only records the habit not happening gets a tick on the days you were never tempted, and tells you nothing on the day it mattered. Give the row to the replacement:

• Phone charged outside the bedroom
• 10 pages before bed
• One news check a day
• First 30 minutes phone-free

Print a tracker with these 4 habits or open them in a spreadsheet.

Your first week

1. Day 1. Open last week's Screen Time and write down your two worst windows.
2. Day 2. Move the charger out of the bedroom and set a separate alarm.
3. Day 3. Put every feed app in one folder on the last home screen page.
4. Day 4. Pick one news source that ends, and unfollow two accounts that only make you anxious.
5. Day 5. Set the grayscale automation for 10pm.
6. Day 6. When you catch yourself scrolling, write down what you were doing just before.
7. Day 7. Compare Screen Time with day one. Keep what worked and drop the rest.