What’s the Opposite of Doom Scrolling?

Cleveland Clinic describes doom scrolling as “our societal tendency to take in a torrent of bad news while mindlessly scanning social media.”

Do you doom scroll? Is that habit bringing you down? I have a suggestion for you.

One of my friends and an Art Words and Yoga student does something that is pretty much the opposite, and I've made up a new term to try to describe what Shari does: bloom scrolling. 

The idea of bloom scrolling came about in part because Facebook was so insistent that I create a new page for Art Words and Yoga. When I finally caved and did that, I found my new feed was FILLED with awful news stories and shocking revelations from very unreliable-looking sources. It was very intense click bait, designed to enrage and upset me or thrill me with some unbelievable event. Some of it was politically left and some of it was to the right and all of it reminded me of the tabloids that used to draw my eyes at the grocery store checkout stand. 

My mother taught me long ago that, although the fascinating tabloid stories and photos were tempting, it’s best not to gaze at the two-headed cows or the alien encounters that were made up whole-cloth. Whenever I would ask her about those stories in the Sumner Thriftway checkout line, she would firmly shake her head and tell me they were all lies or enough of a lie that we weren’t going to waste our time on them. And we certainly were never going to buy those magazines and support the ones writing the lies while hurting the people like the royal family members who regularly had lies written about them. 

I suppose it was this early lesson I learned from Mom that helped me handle the awful feed on my new Facebook page. It took me several days of squinting in discomfort at the stories and images while I clicked the three buttons on the right to tell Facebook I was not interested. Not interested. Not interested at all. Occasionally I'd see something about an animal charity or an educational ad. I'd tell Facebook these were okay. I chose accounts I knew I wanted to follow like the Pierce County Conservation District, my yoga teaching instructor, and Yoga Alliance. 

Slowly, my feed changed into a place that looked less like a tabloid newsstand and more like my bookshelf. 

I was more than a little shocked at the things I saw before I plowed through that deliberate clicking. It made me realize that Facebook and the other social media places I visit could be much more upsetting places than they are for me. The experience helped me to better understand why studies have shown that social media increases anxiety and depression. 

I've had my personal Facebook page since 2008 when I went to visit China. Back then, I rarely saw ads. The vast majority of posts were from my friends who were telling me stories about their lives. We shared a few photos but nothing like we do now.

In all of that time, I have taught Facebook and its algorithms what I like. I’ve done this with a thousand tiny choices about what I choose to read and engage with. 

Once Shari told me that she was talking to her daughter about social media and how it wasn't that distressing to her. 

Tiny arrangement Shari made for me this summer

“That’s because all you look at is flowers, Mom.”

Shari had to admit this was probably true and as she told me about it, I decided that bloom scrolling may be the healthiest choice. 

I am not a fool. (At least I’m not one most of the time.) I know that there are serious issues in the world right now that need addressing. I know that it’s important for me to stay informed so I can advocate for things that matter to me and so I can vote wisely. I know that it’s important for me to engage with those who might disagree with me so that we can come to agreements about how we want our shared community to look and feel. j

But I am painfully aware that social media is not the best place to do this, just like I know that shooting off emails when I’m distraught is not a useful strategy. When I want to find reliable news and information, I go to sources that I trust. I even subscribe to my most trusted sources so that they can continue to function without having to rely too much on advertising that will talk me into buying things I don’t need.

I also think that my habit of bloom scrolling keeps me saner. After fifteen minutes of staring at flowers and cute kittens, I’m in a much better mindset and can better face the very real problems in front of me. 

Jim and Shari Duffin surrounded by fall color on a recent trip to Boston

Shari and her husband Jim have taken this strategy a step further and add considerable flower value to the feeds of their friends and neighbors. She grows a magnificent garden, with green leaves that overhang her paths and colorful blossoms that often turn into interesting seed heads and berries. Then she cuts and arranges these botanical gifts. After she finishes, Jim uses his considerable skill to photograph the arrangements, capturing the essence of their beauty.

Here are a few samples of their stunning work that I got Jim's permission to show you.

seed head close up

Together Jim and Shari share these photographs on Facebook all through the growing season. Anyone who has befriended them in real life or follows them can find these stunning photographs. If they’d like to buy prints, they can go to Jim’s website.

Much about social media is out of our control. It’s true that algorithms exist. They are monitoring our every click and gauging how many seconds we gaze at a story or the visuals that the computers decide to send our way. It’s true that this is a big money operation and I believe it's true that the creators of these programs are not taking our mental health into consideration when they create these algorithms. 

I respect people who choose not to use social media for these reasons. For me, it has worked reasonably well to make careful choices about what I want to see and to use the power I do have to guide the computer. Like so many of our ancestors who have lived through massive societal changes caused by technological inventions, we have both the burden and the opportunity to choose how we move forward in our own small ways. 

Here are a few more ideas to make social media a healthier place for you:

1. Make your own posts, reels, videos, and stories like Jim and Shari do rather than sharing so much that may not even be created by a human. I believe that there is something healing about being creative. What we make and how beautiful it turns out isn’t often the point. The act of making things can relieve an unbelievable amount of stress. 

   
   

And each time you share something made by others you don’t know, you risk

supporting hurtful lies just like my mother warned me not to do with the tabloids. Even happy or innocent-looking images and memes may be created by bots. When you click or share, you support the portion of the internet full of things not made by humans—or worse, the humans with bad intentions who often drive the bots. 

Stick to sharing your own creations and things you know were created by people and organizations you trust.  

2. Remember that the outraged people making comments on the posts you are reading may not be real people. And even if they are real people, they are struggling just like the rest of us with technological changes that are moving too fast for humans to handle. Responding back in anger is unlikely to help. If you really want to talk to them and you know them personally, consider doing that offline and out of the public eye. It’s harder than typing a quick response but infinitely more likely to be successful.

   
   

3. If flowers aren’t your thing, consider what does bring you joy. Maybe it’s motorcycles or old cars and you want to zoom scroll. Maybe you love good food. Maybe you love adventure, travel, and yoga. Whatever it is, spend more time on social media looking at what lights you up than at the world’s brokenness. I promise you that the algorithm will take note and show you more. 

Then you can carefully decide how often you need to read news and check in with your reliable sources, knowing that you will get much less biased and marketing-driven information. If a story comes up on social media and you need to know if it’s true, check with those reliable sources again.

4. Take regular and longer breaks from the digital world. For me this is every Sunday. 

   
   

Talk to your friends and neighbors in real life about things that matter to you while you your internet break. Read a book. Write a book. Look at art. Make art. Go for a walk. Practice yoga. All those things that feel silly for me to even say because they seem so obvious. But I’m saying them because they matter so much. 

I am going to continue bloom scrolling instead of doom scrolling. If you are out there with me on social media, I hope you do the same. Who knows? Together we might just transform the online world of tabloid sensations into a sea of flowers.