How often do you catch yourself doomscrolling? I didn’t think I even did it, until I until I watched a fantastic video essay by Struthless called “The Hidden Cost of Doomscrolling.” I’ve been wrestling with a YouTube addiction for a while and as it turns out, this addiction is rooted deeply in–surprise!–doomscrolling.

But what exactly is doomscrolling? According to Dictionary.com, it is “the practice of obsessively checking online news for updates, especially on social media feeds, with the expectation that the news will be bad, such that the feeling of dread from this negative expectation fuels a compulsion to continue looking for updates in a self-perpetuating cycle.”¹ Struthless’ video expounds on that, labeling it as an addiction to negativity and exposing its different forms and costs on you.

This video couldn’t have been published at a more perfect time for me.

I’ve been struggling with burnout since July of last year, and that burnout evolved into other issues that I didn’t realize until just recently. I finally got the help I didn’t know I needed, and now my desire to write is back! But there’s one catch… all the stamina and muscle I built up for writing and writing-related tasks is gone. And during that year when I didn’t know what was wrong with me, I turned to YouTube to numb myself from what I was experiencing, instead of using it like the tool it is. It eventually took a mental and emotional toll on me and I have since struggled to break the cycle of just watching YouTube, even though I know I feel better when I’m not falling down a scroll hole. But I haven’t been able to stop the impulse.

You Are Not Subtracting, You Are Adding

In the video, Struthless talks about his time as an alcoholic and a drug addict. He frequently heard during his recovery from alcohol that he wasn’t subtracting alcohol from his life; he was adding sobriety. 

That sentence was a lightning bolt to my brain.

I’m not struggling with an addiction as intense as substance abuse, but that doesn’t mean I can’t use that same phrasing to reframe the things I wrestle with daily. YouTube has been my biggest problem at the moment, so I wrote a sticky note for my desk that says, “You are not subtracting YouTube, you are adding peace of mind.”

The difference that phrase made was immediate. The next day when my YouTube habit triggered, the phrase came to mind, and I was able to stop the impulse. I have never been able to cut off an urge like that before. It was incredible! And it carried through the rest of the day! It made it so much easier to avoid the bad habit I had grown dependent on (yes, I know that sounds dramatic, but that’s been my reality). I decided to explore the concept more to see what else I could apply it to.

Motivational Reframing: Putting the Goal First and Focusing on the Gain

I’m not going to bore you with the details of the discussion I had with myself on the subject, but here are my main takeaways. 

Yes, I can apply this reframing to anything!

For my difficulty getting back to the habit of writing daily: I am not subtracting sleep to write, I am adding time for my passions and dreams. 

For rebuilding my habit of exercise: I am not subtracting time from other tasks to exercise, I am adding stress relief and a clear mind.

For my crutch of emotional eating: I am not subtracting treats and comfort food from my diet, I am adding more vegetables, self-confidence, and comfortable satiety.

When I phrase these issues like this, they seem easier, and more possible. I feel more motivated to do it. But why? Why does it work?

I think it works because it puts the goal or the reward for completing the action at the forefront. I have a cycle of relapsing on bad habits. I do well for a little bit, but once that sneaky urge or impulse takes center stage, the pain and energy drain of resisting inevitably becomes too much. However, placing an emphasis on the reason why I’m staying off YouTube, the reason why I’m making time to write, and so on, helps me move past the discomfort of breaking a habit. 

I also think it works because this phrasing has an inherently additive feel to it. Nobody likes to feel like they are depriving themselves of things. For me, this feeling of deprivation gives goal setting and habit-cracking a real negative light. It’s so much easier to just give in if it feels like I’m eliminating a negative force in my life. Focusing on what I’m adding with these changes makes it completely different. Everyone likes receiving things, right? Receiving things feels so much better than having them taken away. And I’m not taking away YouTube…I’m receiving peace of mind. What feels like a net negative quickly turns into a net positive. 

The Test

Since relapsing while breaking a habit is one of my greatest weaknesses, I really wanted to see if reframing would work long term. If I could use this strategy to help me overcome and resist the temptation to relapse, it would be a game changer.

The Method

For the past two weeks, I applied this reframing to a habit I wanted to break and a habit I wanted to start: the YouTube impulse, and getting up early to write every day. I put a reminder up where I’d habitually watched the ‘Tube and reminded myself I was getting up to write before I went to bed. I also tracked how often I mindlessly scrolled on YouTube, how often I got up to write first thing in the morning and how I felt on a scale from 1-5, with 5 being best.

The Results

I absolutely face planted the first couple of days in my experiment. 

It was miserable.

I had major withdrawals, and I spent time justifying a YouTube scroll to myself. It even went so far as to take down the reminder note for sanctioned “scroll time” in an ill-advised attempt to escape the effects of withdrawal. 

That made it so much worse. 

On the third day, things improved. The biggest difference was I got myself up early to write for the first time in ages. Now that I’m looking back at the data, it’s almost as though getting up to write was a magic switch that made staying off the YouTubes easier. It was difficult, and I had to frequently remind myself I wasn’t subtracting sleep, I was adding writing time. But I’m feeling motivated to continue ‘cause my days go so much better. 

Conclusion

This method of reframing works well for me! However, I do think I need to allow it to work. I chose to remind myself what I was gaining by getting up to write, and my day was much better for it. But I also chose to remove the reminder to stay off YouTube and sabotage myself. Now that I’ve seen and tracked the impact both these actions have on me, I’m definitely inclined to keep using it to help me start habits I want and cull habits I don’t.

What do you think of motivational reframing? Do you think this is a strategy that will work for you? I highly recommend you take a gander at Struthless’ video and see if there is something different that stands out to you. Let me know in the comments what you think!

Until next time!