How to stop doomscrolling (without relying on willpower)

What doomscrolling is, and why it’s so hard to stop

Doomscrolling means you keep swiping through news or posts, often bad or upsetting ones, far longer than you meant to, even though it isn’t giving you anything. Its milder cousin is just mindless scrolling.

It’s more than curiosity. In 2022, researchers at the University of Florida built a scale to measure it and described it as a distinct behavior: it starts with wanting to stay informed, especially about bad news, and turns into compulsive scrolling. They linked it to fear of missing out and to being constantly connected through your phone. As one of the authors put it, it’s the combination of living through a crisis and having a newsfeed that never ends.

That never-ending feed is a design choice. Aza Raskin, who created infinite scroll in 2006, has said he built it to save people clicks and didn’t foresee how it would be used to capture attention. Without the end of a page, there’s no natural moment to stop: you have to supply the “that’s enough” yourself.

Is it bad for you? The research so far is survey-based and can’t prove cause and effect. One study of more than 400 people, published in Applied Research in Quality of Life, found that people who doomscrolled more reported more distress and lower life satisfaction. The authors note it may run both ways: feeling bad drives the scrolling, and the scrolling feeds the bad feeling. In practice it doesn’t matter much: if you leave your phone feeling worse than when you picked it up, it’s worth breaking the loop.

Signs you’re stuck in a doomscroll

You don’t need a quiz. These are the cues that help you catch yourself in time:

• You open the app without deciding to, almost on thumb autopilot.
• You’ve been reading things that make you tense and keep going “just to see what else”.
• You check the time and 40 minutes have gone that you can’t account for.
• You struggle to fall asleep because you’re on your phone in bed.
• You close the app more tired or more worried than when you opened it.

If two or three sound familiar, the changes below target exactly that: the automatic reach, the endless feed and the hours when stopping is hardest.

8 ways to stop doomscrolling on your iPhone

1. Move scrolling apps off your Home Screen

Touch and hold the icon, tap Remove App, then Remove from Home Screen. The app stays installed in the App Library (the last page on the right), but you no longer open it on reflex: you have to go looking for it. Those extra two seconds are exactly the pause your autopilot thumb doesn’t have.

2. Log out, or use the website

If the app asks for your password every time, you’ll open it less. Another option is to delete the app and use the website in your browser when you really need it: it’s usually clunkier, and for scrolling that’s a feature.

3. Turn your phone grayscale with a triple-click

Go to Settings › Accessibility › Display & Text Size › Color Filters, turn it on and pick Grayscale. So you don’t have to dig for it every time, add it to Settings › Accessibility › Accessibility Shortcut: from then on, triple-clicking the side button (or the Home button, if your iPhone has one) turns it on and off. Without color, the feed grabs less attention and is easier to put down. To make grayscale switch on only when you open Instagram or TikTok, see how to make your iPhone grayscale.

4. Set a limit that actually blocks

In Settings › Screen Time you can set a daily allowance for a category like Social or for specific apps. The key is that the app locks when you hit the limit, instead of showing a notice you dismiss with two taps. Here’s the step-by-step, including the iOS 27 changes: how to set app limits on iPhone.

5. Protect the last hour of your day

Night is when stopping is hardest: you’re tired and nothing interrupts you. Create a night schedule in Screen Time so those apps are covered from a set time, and if you can, charge your phone outside the bedroom. An old-school alarm clock removes the “I need it for the alarm” excuse. The steps for iPhone and Android are in how to stop using your phone before bed.

6. Decide how long before you open it

Infinite scroll has no end, so give it one: before opening the app, decide what you’re there for and for how long (“reply to my sister”, “ten minutes”). Set a timer if it helps. It sounds small, but it turns an automatic gesture into a choice.

7. Check the news at set times, not all the time

A lot of doomscrolling starts with the news. Pick one or two moments a day to catch up, using a source that ends (a newsletter, a briefing, a front page) rather than a feed. And mute the breaking-news alerts you don’t need: each one is a way back in.

8. Have a replacement ready

Taking something away without adding anything leaves a gap your thumb fills on its own. Keep two or three things on hand for that moment: a book on the nightstand, a downloaded podcast, a short walk, messaging a friend instead of watching what they post. It doesn’t have to be productive; it has to have an end.

Menu names can vary slightly by iOS version and region. If you can’t find an option, type it into the search bar at the top of Settings.

A 7-day plan to get started

Don’t make all eight changes at once: that’s an easy way to give up. Try this order:

1. Day 1. Check Screen Time to see how much you use each app. No judgment: it’s your starting point.
2. Day 2. Move the two apps you scroll most off your Home Screen.
3. Day 3. Set up the grayscale triple-click and use it at night.
4. Day 4. Set a daily limit slightly below your average, with blocking on.
5. Day 5. Create the night schedule and move your charger out of the bedroom.
6. Day 6. Pick your news time and mute the alerts you don’t need.
7. Day 7. Check Screen Time again, compare it with day 1 and tweak whatever didn’t work.

If you overdo it one day, that’s fine: tomorrow starts fresh. What matters is the trend, not a perfect day.