Many Gen Zs like me have fallen victim to The Doomscroll – the excessive consumption of short-form content on social media. TikTok is the champion of this marvel with its ‘For You’ page, providing infinite hours of content catered towards the user. The app is designed to keep you on by studying what you watch and feeding you more of it. This vicious cycle debilitated me.
My doomscrolling addiction had a severe impact on my mental and physical health. It kept me up all night, sending me into just a few hours of unhealthy sleep that I would rise from at midday. I neglected my favourite hobbies like reading and journaling. University became less of a priority as I slept through morning lectures and procrastinated my assignments. Phone addiction is proven to cause higher levels of anxiety, and I noticed this in myself. I couldn’t read a book or watch a movie without an all-consuming urge to check my phone creeping in. What if I had missed something on TikTok?
University became less of a priority as I slept through morning lectures and procrastinated my assignments... I couldn’t read a book or watch a movie without an all-consuming urge to check my phone creeping in.
I decided enough was enough when even placing a screen-time limit on TikTok wasn’t working. I quit cold turkey. At first it was tough. I reinstalled the app a few times. But soon it got easier. And my anxiety was diminishing.
Don’t get me wrong, deleting TikTok cannot completely eradicate anxiety. However, I found myself able to function better. I had a healthy sleep schedule. Attending University didn’t feel like a burden, and I looked forward to working on my assignments. Reading was a joy. Movies were a joy. And if you want a stat – deleting TikTok cut my screentime by 60%.
If, like me, doomscrolling filled the silence, and you don’t want that silence to drown you again, try podcasts., long-form video essays on YouTube, the radio. Your attention span is worth more than you know, and it should not be held over your head by tech giants.
I know it is hard – I have tried and failed so many times to delete TikTok. Failure is part of the journey. However, if I could give you one piece of advice – Delete it. Delete it now. Do not let your phone dictate your mental health, your routine, your humour, or your language. Delete it, and you'll see (and feel) the difference it makes.