Author Name: – Vedika Kapoor, Sakshi Khatri & Dr. Payal Sharma Date:- 24 March 2026
Background: The increasingly common phenomenon of doomscrolling, i.e., the continuous, unchecked, and unconscious consumption of negative news items that can be accessed on the internet, is a rapidly evolving threat to the psychological health of the undergraduate student population. While the preponderance of existing work has explored the relationship between doomscrolling, anxiety, depression, and stress, the role of doomscrolling in the promotion of student-level existential concerns remains a concern for which limited work has been performed. As a means of fostering a greater understanding of the role which doomscrolling plays in the lives of the undergraduate population, this article will perform a conceptual analysis of the trend, through the application of the perspectives which the existing body of modern science has to offer, with an exploration of the role which the concept of uncertainty regulation, the role of the search for meaning, the role of the concept of resilience in countering this, the function which the search for meaning plays alongside this, the manner through which doomscrolling represents a function of broader cultural changes, and the manner through which this represents an expression of a broader shift in the means through which human entities frame the individual level of existence. The implications for these areas, including higher education, digital well-being programs, and psychological literacy, address aspects such as the value of reflective involvement, tolerating uncertainty, and value-based living. This paper seeks further contributions towards an understanding of student well-being in relation to digital-saturated learning environments, firstly by exploring topics in relation to those of doomscrolling, but also in relation to an existing state of being in an existential manner, i.e., it is not an action or an activity in itself.
Keywords: doomscrolling; existential nihilism; meaning-making; resilience; undergraduate students; digital well-being.
