How to Stop Doomscrolling: Scroll a Calm Feed, Catch the Loop, Add Friction

Scroll an endless, calm pretend feed. Gentle check-ins interrupt it, then you map your habit loop, choose a swap and add friction. Also: a reflection on time spent with AI chatbots.

AdultsGroupsLife situationsCBTGames
5–10 minutesIn person and on video
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Designed by Michael Thompson, MSc

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Not a diagnostic test.

More

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How to play

  1. Scroll the pretend feed like you usually would.
  2. When a check-in card stops you, answer it (or skip).
  3. Tap “I've had enough” or “Look at my scroll habit” when you're ready.
  4. Map your loop: cue, routine, reward.
  5. Pick one swap and some friction, then copy your plan.

About the technique

Doomscrolling is not a diagnosis; it is a habit, and habit research explains why willpower alone rarely shifts it. Habits are behaviors cued automatically by context, such as a time of day, a place or a mood, and once established they run with little conscious intention (Wood & Rünger, 2016). That is why changing the cues and the friction around a behavior tends to work better than resolving to stop. New habits take time to settle: in one study, they took weeks to months to become automatic, with wide variation between people (Lally et al., 2010).

Mapping the loop of cue, routine and reward, choosing a replacement and adding friction applies this research to phone use. Treatments for problematic smartphone use are still emerging. In a small randomized trial, letting people choose from simple nudges, such as disabling non-essential notifications and switching the display to grayscale, reduced problematic use and screen time and improved sleep quality compared with monitoring alone (Olson et al., 2023). Problematic use is also associated with anxiety and depression (Elhai et al., 2017), so heavy scrolling is often worth exploring as a way of coping with something else, such as low mood, loneliness or avoidance.

This suits adults, teens and groups, and fits naturally as an experiment between sessions rather than a test of character. With teens, plan any changes together instead of imposing them. Research on time spent with AI chatbots is very new, so treat any reflection on it as a conversation starter, not as evidence of harm. It is not a diagnostic test.

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For therapists: how to run it

Goal

Feel the pull of the feed, notice what you were looking for, and leave with one swap and two friction steps.

In session

  1. Send the client link so they scroll on their own phone, which feels most real. In person, hand over a phone or tablet.
  2. Stay quiet while they scroll. When a check-in appears, ask what they noticed in their body.
  3. Map the loop together. Ask: “When does the cue show up in a normal day?”
  4. Agree on one swap and one friction step to try before next session.

As homework

  1. Open the link the next time you catch yourself scrolling and keep going in the pretend feed instead.
  2. Answer the check-ins honestly, then make your plan.
  3. Tap Copy for my therapist, then paste it into your therapist's secure messaging (client portal) or bring it to your next session. Nothing you type is saved, so copy before closing.

With a group

  1. Share your screen and let one volunteer scroll while the group calls out guesses for how long it's been.
  2. Everyone writes their own cue, routine and reward privately, then pairs share one swap idea.
  3. Close with a group round: one friction step each will try this week.
Good to know

This tool never shames. Phones and AI chats meet real needs: connection, a break, comfort. The aim is to notice the cue and the reward, then make the routine you'd rather have a little easier and the scroll a little harder. The AI companions mode reflects on use next to time with people; research on AI companions is new and mixed.

Worksheets that pair with this tool

Behavioral Activation Worksheet

Behavioral Activation Worksheet

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Habit Breakdown Worksheet

Two pages that split one habit into four steps, from why it matters to the cues and rewards that hold it.Adults and teensGoals and habitsStress and burnoutBehavioralCBTPsychoeducational+3Free PDF 2 pagesAnger Coping Skills

Anger Coping Skills

Eight steps over two pages, from naming triggers and body signs to 4-4-4 breathing and a written coping plan.Adults and teensAngerCoping skillsBehavioralCBTPsychoeducational+3Free PDF 2 pages

Sources & credibility

Method
Habit loop analysis, friction and environment change, and CBT for problematic smartphone use
Developed by
Wendy Wood and colleagues (habit research); Phillippa Lally (habit formation); Jon Elhai and colleagues (problematic smartphone use)
First described
2009–2017
Approach
Behavioral science, cognitive behavioral therapy
Evidence
Supported by studiesHabit research shows that cues and context, not willpower, drive repeated behavior, so changing cues and adding friction is a sound strategy. Treatments for problematic smartphone use are still emerging: in one small randomized trial, simple nudges such as turning off notifications reduced problematic use. Links between heavy use, anxiety and low mood are moderate. AI companion research is very new and mixed.

References

  1. Wood, W. & Rünger, D. (2016). Psychology of habit. Annual Review of Psychology, 67, 289–314. Source
  2. Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W. & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998–1009. Source
  3. Elhai, J. D., Dvorak, R. D., Levine, J. C. & Hall, B. J. (2017). Problematic smartphone use: a conceptual overview and systematic review of relations with anxiety and depression psychopathology. Journal of Affective Disorders, 207, 251–259. Source
  4. Olson, J. A., Sandra, D. A., Chmoulevitch, D., Raz, A. & Veissière, S. P. L. (2023). A nudge-based intervention to reduce problematic smartphone use: randomised controlled trial. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 21, 3842–3864. Source

How it was made

Built by the Mentalyc team from the original method and the published sources listed here. Nothing you enter is stored.

Questions people ask

Is doomscrolling bad for the brain?

Research links heavy consumption of negative news and social media to more anxiety and low mood for some people, and late-night scrolling can hurt sleep. It is a habit, not a diagnosis, and it can be changed.

What are things I can do instead of doomscrolling?

Swap in something short and easy: a walk, a text to a friend, a few pages of a book, stretching or a breathing exercise. Picking the swap in advance makes it easier to use in the moment.

Is doomscrolling a symptom of ADHD?

Doomscrolling is not an ADHD symptom, but people with ADHD may find it harder to stop scrolling because of differences in attention and reward. Adding friction, like moving apps off the home screen, helps.

How is phone addiction treated in therapy?

Therapists usually use CBT methods: map the habit loop (cue, routine, reward), add friction such as moving apps or turning off notifications, and plan replacement activities. Phone addiction is not a formal diagnosis, so the focus is on problematic use and what it costs the client.

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Your game designer
Michael Thompson

Michael Thompson, MSc

Michael's background combines doctoral training in clinical psychology with research on motivation, learning, and emotional regulation.

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Table Of Contents
  1. About the technique
  2. For therapists: how to run it
  3. Worksheets that pair with this tool
  4. Sources & credibility
  5. Questions people ask
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