DOOMSCROLLING

Explored the phenomenon “doomscrolling” to design for our complex relationship with social media.

ABOUT

“Doomscrolling”, the compulsion to continuously scroll through bad news, was a recently coined phenomenon. There has been extensive research into areas of social media addiction, but due to the many facets of how news is consumed, it is important to explore this further. This project outlined the importance of making design choices within social media platforms that promote social and community building and discourage unhealthy behavior.

DESIGN PROCESS

This research started with problem finding, then conducted a survey, completed a diary study, and then analyzed those findings to discern design claims.

Problem Finding

Social media dependence, addiction, and misuse literature was reviewed.

Survey

Exploratory data about social media use was collected. This inspired the design of the diary study.

51 people

Diary Study

Deep qualitative insights into the needs of young news consumers was collected.

Participants reflected each day on their social media usage

Participants sent all content they read

Screen time statistics collected

Start and end interviews

Analysis

Interview transcripts were coded based on themes inspired by the survey results. The codes fell into the categories: Activity, Content, Doomscrolling, Habit, Self-Estimation, Design, and Platforms.

Result

9 Design Claims written based on insights

Literature was reflected on

Findings suggest design changes or guidelines for media

6 participants

3 Days

Long

FINDINGS

Scrolling and Searching themes in relation to Platforms

This Figure visually describes how themes found during the qualitative data analysis overlap. Specifically, how participants described their scrolling versus searching habits of different media.

Percent of Participants who Relate to each Statement

This Figure visualizes the
data collected by the initial 51 person
survey. Participants were asked if they
related to the term doomscrolling
as well as if they related to any of
the statements seen in the Figure.
These results show the percentage
of participants who related to each
statement and the differences between
those who identified with doomscrolling
and those who either maybe or do not
relate to doomscrolling.