Doomscrolling, the repetitive and obsessive consumption of negative social media (SM) content, has been linked to wellbeing outcomes, yet its impact on broader cognitive processes (e.g., attention) remains unknown. Our study proposes a direct experimental manipulation of doomscrolling, in which participants engage with a realistic SM feed followed by a visual search task. Attentional performance will be compared within and across groups. Additionally, we will examine associations between psychophysical and self-report measures.
We expect doomscrolling to have a negative impact on the attention span. This study will provide novel insights into the effects of digital media consumption on human cognition.

Team:

Dr Akanksha Gupta Supervisor
Emmet Bellew Literature Review and Writing manager; Data Collection officer
Madalena Brandão Communication Officer; Literature Review and Writing manager; Data Collection officer
Manal Abbasi Data Analysis officer, Survey and Experimental Design officer
Pablo Sandri Data analysis officer, Data collection officer
Sofia Konstantinidou Survey and Experimental Design officer; Data Analysis officer