‘Doomscrolling’ Negative News: Are You Addicted to Anxiety, Depression and Fatigue?

There is such a thing as “screen neurosis” (or in more severe cases “screen psychosis”). The danger is that we don’t know what it’s doing to the younger generations, but we do know it’s having an effect and it is likely that at least part of the effect is negative.

I see this in young people all the time, probably because having become aware of it I’m actively looking for it.

For example, one of my grandsons is 21 years old (now) and crews on trans-oceanic yachts. Last October he was going to report to a yacht that would be in port very near my home so he came out a few days early to spend some time with “Grampa”. It was great seeing him and spending time with him but I noticed that he just could not sit still and converse. He would get up, pace around, stand up then sit down immediately, fidget with things, pretty much handled every bit of memorabilia and decor in my “shop” (my combination office/shop/radio shack/man cave and some of this was due to the fact that Grampa has some very cool stuff sitting around), etc.

He was never like that when he was younger, this is a new behavioral development that was obvious to me because I don’t see him for long stretches of time. This is a kid who given the choice between a new iPad and a full rig of climbing gear a couple Christmases past chose the climbing gear.

When I pointed out what he was doing (“Sit down, you’re making me nervous.”) he wasn’t aware he was even doing that.

No doubt some of this is just youthful energy, he’s extremely fit physically. Even discounting such things as top physical shape and Grampa’s cool stuff, the behavior was excessive and quite pronounced. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this kind of behavior.

There are other young male members of my family and they all seem to act this way. I don’t keep track of every minute they spend looking at a screen of some sort but it does seem to me that the older they get, the worse it gets.

I remember being young quite well. Young people already have a tendency to emulate Tigger and bounce around a lot. I remember that my dad told me I couldn’t go deer hunting with him until I learned to sit still and be quiet. It’s not like I’m not aware of and making allowances for that kind of thing, I certainly am.

The literature on this topic suggests that a constantly elevated state of stimulation results in this pin-ball like behavior. Screen time is so intense and rewarding that when not engaged with a screen a displacement behavior manifests itself as agitation and motion.

I have to wonder how many kids, especially boys, are diagnosed as hyperactive and dosed with drugs to medicate them into some semblance of normalcy — But are actually just affected by screen neurosis and not genuinely hyperactive at all.

Yes, I’m a grumpy old curmudgeon and I’m not denying that my age is a factor in my view of this kind of thing. However, I’m not the kind of grumpy old curmudgeon that thinks the problems of the nations youth would be solved by taking away their phones, computers and gaming consoles.

When I was a kid growing up in the rural Midwest, if I wanted to play with other kids I had to get on my bike and ride a couple miles to a neighbor’s house. This screen phenomena is an evolution of that situation, now they just log onto something and play with other kids without having to peddle a bike for miles nor worry about getting home in time for dinner/before dark. I’m not saying this modern situation is better or worse, but it is certainly different.

When I was growing up a lot of kids were hurt and even a few killed due to accidents when they were “out playing” somewhere. There were falls, drownings, machinery accidents and other situations where playing turned dangerous. We handled real guns, a lot. (Not shooting each other, we were all raised with a healthy respect for firearms, but there was still the occasional accident.) Pedophiles were always a worry for our parents.

These things are less of an issue when the youngster is in his room playing Minecraft with his friends online. When an online deviant wants to get at a kid he has to lure him outside the house, which provides opportunities for interdiction of the process and education of the kid. Too, there’s no doubt that it’s a lot easier for parents to have the kid home, to not be running him everywhere to play with his friends, not worrying about him in transit between there and home by himself and quietly banging away at a keyboard or game controller in his room.

My point in all of this is we don’t yet know what the effect of the information age being presented on screens readily available to young people is going to have. It’s a cautionary situation, if you don’t look for it you might not even notice what’s happening. The process is gradual and cumulative It’s also important to try to maintain some perspective and not just get the attitude that “Those dang kids just want to play games and run up the mobile phone bill all the time”.