Doomscrolling. What a word.

It means spending too much time reading, watching, and swiping through bad news. The thumb keeps moving while the spirit sinks. We finish an hour with less energy, less hope, and nothing to show for it.

Why do we do it?

Often it starts with boredom. An empty moment, a lull, a blank space we can’t stand. The phone comes out, and the algorithm serves up alarm, because alarm keeps us hooked. Instead of sitting with the quiet and letting an idea arrive, we hand it to a screen.

Sometimes doomscrolling disguises itself as caring. We tell ourselves that staying glued to the news is what responsible, compassionate people do. But caring that only absorbs, and never acts, turns into helplessness. Doomscrolling is caring with nowhere to go.

The usual advice is to cut back. Set limits. Mute topics. Keep the phone out of the bedroom. All good. But habits rush back into empty spaces. We need something to fill the space.

Here’s the flip side of doomscrolling: doing work that matters.

Scrolling is consuming. Nothing goes out.
Creating is giving. Something goes into the world.

Scrolling is aimless. It ends only when we put the phone down.
Action has aim. “Write one page.” “Call one friend.” “Help one person.”

Seth Godin talks about shipping, putting your work out into the world. That’s the opposite of scrolling. The scroller waits for the next thing to appear. The shipper makes the next thing and offers it to someone who needs it.

When I lost my job at 58, the days suddenly felt very long and empty. I could have filled those hours with other people’s bad news or felt sorry for myself. Instead, I went back to school, started coaching, opened a business at 60, and published a book at 74. Not because the world was any less troubled, but because making something was my answer to it.

This matters even more as we get older. The world often tells us our productive years are behind us. Doomscrolling quietly agrees. Creating proves it wrong. You are not declining. You are deepening, and you still have work to do.

Try this:

For every ten minutes of news, give ten minutes to making. Write. Build. Teach. Reach out. Plant something. Do one small thing you’re proud of.

At the end of the day, don’t ask, “What did I see?”

Ask, “What did I make?”

From doom to do.

Thanks – Michael (he, him)

Please share this Daily.
This is also important – Your Work Matters.

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