How to help your teen stop doomscrolling

In 2020, The Oxford English Dictionary added the word “doomscrolling”. It was defined as compulsively scrolling through social media or feeds which relate bad news. The term has broadened since then to include any scrolling that leaves you feeling worse than when you started…

If your teen seems to lose hours staring at their screen but it’s not giving them any apparent joy, you may want to try helping them to understand the science behind the scrolling. Bitesize Parenting has spoken to experts for advice.

Understanding what you're up against

“When talking to teens about doomscrolling, it is important to recognise the multibillion pound industries, the tricks, and the millions of years of evolution they (and indeed all of us) are fighting against,” says Dr Simon P Hammond, who is an Applied Psychologist and Lecturer in Education at the University of East Anglia, where he researches how young people are impacted by the digital world.

“This doesn’t mean we are all ‘doomed’ to scroll, but understanding the tricks behind the swiping and scrolling can generate a sense of empowerment, which adults must role model for our children.”

Dr Hammond continues, “Devices and apps are designed to be ‘sticky’ – that is they are designed to keep bringing us back and engaging with them, they use several interacting psychological and physiological mechanisms.”

For example, "When using apps users are triggered – we get a push notification visually or audibly. This prompts an action (we open the app). The app then offers users a reward (new personalised content/ social validation), prompting an investment (creating a profile, curating a feed) or a reward (we know what the next video is or who liked our photo).”

But the apps are not only pushing us with rewards – they can also play on our insecurities. “Apps can also be programmed to generate frequency via stories that disappear, creating fear of missing out or 'FOMO'. Likewise, streaks generate a feeling of responsibility, often inducing anxiety if the streak is broken.

“This means we can become hooked in a loop and design features like endless scrolling want to keep us there,” says Dr Hammond.

Why doomscrolling is a soothing compulsion

So, is doomscrolling inevitably bad for us?

“Evidence highlights direct and indirect impacts which excessive doomscrolling relates to,” says Dr Hammond. “Doomscrolling can amplify feelings of anxiety, helplessness, feelings of isolation, stress and depression, and we know these risks are more likely to be harmful in those who already experience these challenges.”

“We also know that doomscrolling can have secondary impacts. These include lowering sleep quality, which again amplifies the direct impacts because sleep is a vital restorer for our bodies and brains.”

In Australia, under 16s have been banned by law from several social media sites, many of which are known for their potential for doomscrolling. These include YouTube, X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Twitch, Threads and Kick. The platforms have to require age verification and their parents are not allowed to override this law. France and Spain are following and now there’s plenty of debate in UK politics about whether a similar ban would be beneficial and a consultation is imminent.

So do the risks of doomscrolling apply more to children and young teens than to adults?

“There is no direct evidence that teens are more susceptible to scrolling making them feel bad than adults are,” says Dr Hammond.

“However, research from The University of Cambridge shows that the relationship between social media use and life satisfaction changes across adolescence, with estimates that social media use and life satisfaction ratings are most negative in younger adolescence. This is, however, an incredibly complex area. What I would say is that modelling begins at home.”

So if you want to help your teen to spend less time doomscrolling, where can you start?

1. Be conscious, selective and time managed

BBC Bitesize recently spoke to Dr Martha Deiros Collado, a clinical psychologist with over 20 years of clinical and academic experience. She advised parents to do three things:

a. Notice when they themselves are scrolling and to say it out loud. This shifts the brain from a fug-like state of mindless scrolling to an active one, where you’re more selective of what you’re watching.

b. Set a time-limit – if you enjoy the scrolling, set an alarm for 10 minutes and enjoy it, but don’t let it eat up your whole evening.

c. Say out loud what you’re doing, so your child sees a model of conscious, mindful online behaviour.

2. Understand the algorithm, then train it

All platforms are slightly different and generally don't share the exact science of how their algorithms work, but, as Dr Hammond explained, they’re all designed to make you stay with the platform for longer. They learn from how you interact with the content and serve up more of what they predict you will find the most engaging.

If you want to make your TikTok or Instagram a more wholesome and happy place to be, you can train your algorithm to show you more of what makes you feel good.

• You can tap the three dots on a post you don’t like and mark as “Not Interested”.

• You can also filter posts that contain certain words, phrases or emojis in their captions or hashtags.

Train the app to show you more of the content that makes you happy by:

• Watching videos you like and want to see more of to the end

• Use likes, comments, saves and shares to tell the app what it is you enjoy seeing

• Following accounts that regularly share that kind of content

You and your teen can help each other to get to a happy online algorithm by sharing this kind of content between you. You can even have a competition to see who can change their feed to feature, for example, more cute puppies or fields of flowers the quickest. This will also quickly teach them how the app works – it puts them back in control.

3. Turn the tech to your advantage

There’s a lot you can do practically to limit the time your teen (and the adults in the family if necessary) spend on their devices and on specific apps.

There are parental controls on most apps or devices which can be used to set time limits or set specific times when apps or devices can’t be used. You can also monitor or limit the kinds of content that can be accessed.

This guide to parental controls on the Internet Matters website covers all the common apps and devices, including how to get your broadband to turn off at specific times, so there’s no online access, e.g. an hour before bed.

See our article Five ways to help your teen to spend less time on their screens for more tips on setting up parental controls, and making the tech less attractive by turning the screen black and white.

4. Model good online behaviour

Both psychology experts we spoke to, Dr Hammond and Dr Collado, said the most powerful way to help your child change their online behaviour was to model good use of tech ourselves and to talk to our teens about what we’re looking at online.

Every family is different, but that could mean the whole family turn off the internet an hour before bed, no phones at mealtimes, everyone sets a timer when they start scrolling or that scrolling becomes a shared family activity where you look for things to watch together.

If you regularly talk about what you see online, your teen is more likely to come to you for advice if what they experience when scrolling doesn’t feel good.

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This article was published in February 2026