Infodemic doomscrolling and the psychological well-being of Russians

The morbid tendency of users to scroll through negative content, which has intensified against the background of external threats and challenges, needs to be psychologically studied. The authors of the article have attempted to validate the doomscrolling scale and to find meaningful correlations between its manifestations and certain personality traits, as well as the psychological well-being of Russians. The study, which was conducted in October 2022 in the online survey mode using the Yandex.Toloka service, was attended by 804 Russians (49,4 % of women and 50,6 % of men, the average age of the respondents is M = 38,92; SD = 11,28). The methodological toolkit consisted of two blocks. The first block of techniques focused on the manifestations of doomscrolling, taking into account respondents’ dependence on social media and fear of missing something important (information neurosis); the second block focused on analyzing the psychological well-being and personality profile of respondents. The results of the study confirmed the close links between doomscrolling degree and social media addiction. Men and young people, emotionally unstable and too gullible personalities, turned out to be more susceptible to the influence of doomscrolling.