Karen K. Ho: “The Future of Doomscrolling”
Talk Summary and Resources by Alex Turvy.
Talk Summary:
Art News senior writer Karen K. Ho isn’t the inventor of the term, but has popularized the concept of ‘doomscrolling’ - here, she talks us through the systemic causes of doomscrolling that will persist as social media platforms come and go.
Key Insights and Questions:
The causes of doomscrolling are systemic - e.g. job security, financial concerns
Doomscrolling is not going away, particularly for marginalized groups
Talk Notes and Related Resources:
The development and psychometric evaluation of the Internet Disorder Scale (IDS-15)
Perhaps doomscrolling is a subset of internet use disorder?
Doomscrolling linked to poor physical and mental health, study finds
“problematic news consumption, which we define as involving transportation, preoccupation, misregulation, underregulation, and interference.”
Self-Regulation Failure: An Overview
Underregulation occurs because of deficient standards, inadequate monitoring, or inadequate strength.
Misregulation occurs because of false assumptions or misdirected efforts, especially an unwarranted emphasis on emotion.
Surveillance and escapism gratifications were the most consistent predictors of news consumption behavior across these patterns. However, habit strength was the most powerful predictor of news consumption overall.
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
“Amusing Ourselves to Death is a prophetic look at what happens when politics, journalism, education, and even religion become subject to the demands of entertainment.”
“Future anxiety, fear of missing out on news, and interpersonal trust were associated with online news addiction. High future anxiety and fear of missing out on news predicted the tendency to consume news excessively. Contrarily, those with high interpersonal trust expressed lower online news addiction. Additionally, online news addiction was a significant predictor of problematic internet use.”