Scrolling through bad news for hours on end has become a habit, especially for students. The endless feed of negative headlines, whether about global crises, politics or celebrity scandals, can feel impossible to put down.
“It’s like I’m looking for a piece of good news to balance it all out,” said Aspen Davis, a former student at the University of North Georgia. “But it never really comes, so I just keep scrolling.”
Toluwani Oloke, a social media professor at UNG, says users spend so much time focused on negative social media because of how the human brain is wired.
“Our brains have something called negativity bias, which means we’re naturally more alert to threats or dangers because, from an evolutionary standpoint, that’s what helped us survive,” Oloke said.
“Think about it: if you were living thousands of years ago and ignored a potential danger, it could mean life or death. Today, that same instinct kicks in when we see alarming headlines or breaking news, even if it doesn’t directly affect us.” – Toluwani Oloke, UNG social media professor
Students admit they struggle with setting limits. “On the daily, I probably spend four hours doomscrolling,” said Anna Barrett, a junior studying communications at UNG. “One rabbit hole leads me down another and the cycle continues.”
Oloke also said that because social media is designed to keep users engaged, content that sparks the biggest reactions is what is pushed the heaviest. “Let’s be honest, positive stories don’t spark the same kind of outrage or urgency as negative ones. That’s why you see outrage trending all the time,” she said.
Oloke also discussed the echo chamber effect. “People tend to follow and engage with content that aligns with their beliefs, which means they’re fed a steady stream of the same types of negative stories,” explained Oloke.
With social media taking over the younger generations’ news consumption, the challenge of consuming news responsibly rises. Over time, with too much negative content, the sense of constant danger appears everywhere.
However, there are students that spend almost no time on social media because of the constant negativity.
Oloke said the constant 24-hour news cycle is “like an IV drip of negativity straight into our brains.” Students often need to remember to take time away from social media and negative content.
Chris Hirschi, a senior English major at UNG, said, “I spend almost no time on social media. I only have Instagram and that is primarily for school and networking.”
Oloke shared, “At the end of the day, though, media companies and tech platforms are businesses. Unless we, as consumers, demand more balanced and constructive content, they don’t have much incentive to change.”
