Doomscrolling during COVID-19: The negative association between daily social and traditional media consumption and mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic

• DOI: 10.31234/osf.io/s2nfg
• Publication Date: 2021-03-30T12:32:02Z
• Authors: Matthew Price; Alison C. Legrand; Zoe M. F. Brier; Katherine van Sto...; Kelly Peck; Peter Sheridan Dodds; Christopher M. Da...; Zachary W. Adams
• Keywords: Depression; Pandemic; Association (psychology); Media Consumption; Consumption

Consumption of traditional and social media markedly increased at the start COVID-19 pandemic as new information about virus safety guidelines evolved. Much concerned restrictions on daily living activities risk posed by virus. The term ``doomscrolling'' was used to describe phenomenon elevated negative affect after viewing pandemic-related media. magnitude duration this effect, however, is unclear. Furthermore, effect doomscrolling likely varies based prior vulnerabilities for psychopathology such a history childhood maltreatment. It hypothesized that exposure related an increase in depression PTSD moderated maltreatment severity. Participants completed baseline assessment 30 days assessments PTSD. Using multilevel modeling 1,117 observations, access associated with This association stronger those more severe histories. during period. These results suggest increases existing vulnerabilities.