Why do missile alerts and war updates trigger Doomscrolling

The missiles also crossed In the Persian Gulf this weekend, as explosions were reported across the region, millions of people did the same thing: reached for their phones. Within minutes, social media feeds were filled with videos, breaking news alerts and speculation about what might happen next.

The strikes followed US-Israeli attacks inside Iran earlier in the week, sparking a wave of retaliatory missile launches and air defense interceptions across several Gulf states.

Moments like these are when social media can quickly turn to doom — the compulsive consumption of bad news delivered through endless updates, alerts, and algorithmically amplified crises. A quick check of information can easily turn into a stream of updates on war, political instability, cyberattacks, and constant crisis coverage.

In the days following the first strikes, this flow intensified. Videos of missile interceptions, airspace closures, and cyber incidents (as well as a lot of misinformation) circulated online within minutes of each new development. With confirmed information slowly emerging but updates arriving constantly, many users find themselves refreshing feeds frequently, trying to piece together events in real time.

What seems like staying informed can quickly become a feedback loop between the brain’s threat detection system and platforms designed to keep users engaged.

Not all scrolling works the same way. Alexander TR Sharp, associate lecturer at the University of Chichester, distinguishes between the death scroll and what some call the “dopamine pass.”

“Doomscrolling refers to the frequent consumption of negative or crisis-related information,” he says. “It’s less about motivation and more about staying locked into the threat material.”

Why can’t we look away?

Cognitive scientists say this pattern is no coincidence. Humans are hardwired to prioritize threats, which makes ignoring negative news particularly difficult.

“Human memory, as a component of the cognitive system shaped by evolutionary pressures, is biased toward prioritizing information related to danger, threat, and emergency situations in order to support survival,” says Reza Shabahang, a researcher in media psychology.

“Thus, memory processes are particularly effective at encoding and retaining negative news content, making such information easier to remember. Thus, negative information and associated memories tend to be particularly salient and durable.”

A 2026 study by Sharpe found links between rumination about doom, emotional exhaustion, and intolerance of uncertainty. Participants who reported frequent bereavement also showed higher levels of anxiety, depression, and stress, along with lower resilience.

This behavior can resemble a form of vicarious exposure to trauma, Shabahang says. “Trauma is not only experienced through direct personal exposure,” he says. “Constant exposure to images or reports of traumatic incidents can trigger acute stress responses and, in some cases, symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress.” The result is not always the shock itself, but rather a nervous system that struggles to return to a calm state.

The brain keeps checking

Experiments show that people will tolerate physical discomfort to resolve uncertainty. In moments of crisis, updating your feed can feel responsible, even protective.

A 2024 Shabhang report found that prolonged exposure to negative news is associated with increased anxiety, insecurity, and maladaptive stress responses. The problem is not that the news itself is harmful, but that repeated exposure to news without resolution seems to keep stress systems activated.

Educational research suggests that emotional activation without closure strengthens stress responses rather than dampens them. Hamad Al Muhairi, founder of BrainScroller, an app that replaces microlearning, describes the effect viscerally: “The amygdala remains sensitive. Even without physical danger, the brain responds as if the danger is ongoing.”

However, Sharpe urges caution about overestimating neuroscience. “The apocalypse literature has not yet done classic work on biomarkers,” he says. “But we see consistent links to hypervigilance, rumination, and difficulty tolerating uncertainty.”

How to feed a scroll engineer

Doomscrolling does not occur in a neutral environment. Social feeds are optimized to keep users engaged.

At a behavioral level, swiping operates on the same principle as a slot machine: unpredictability. Each update might reveal something new — a headline, a breaking update, or a shocking video. This uncertainty is exactly what makes people check again and again.