Your life is determined by the negative things you see on your phone every day. Think about it. When was the last time you picked up your phone without opening TikTok or Instagram to mindlessly scroll through 60-second videos you won’t even remember watching in a couple hours? When was the last time you thought twice before letting a random stranger on the internet take advantage of your attention span to talk about some made-up theory that causes you to go into a downward spiral of doom? I can’t speak for everyone, but this is something that has, unfortunately, become a regular part of my life. I want to make a change.

It’s 2024, and it’s safe to say things have been better for our world. With the upcoming election and various conflicts dividing the country–and the whole world–down the middle, it can be hard to keep a positive outlook on current events. Even more so when a substantial part of most teenagers’ lives is social media. Something as simple as a minute-long video discussing the latest conspiracy theory can cause a domino effect of panic–panic that spreads through these platforms as easily as pressing a share button. Soon enough, it’ all anyone can talk about. Soon enough, you end up forgetting to enjoy your life because you are consumed with the feeling of impending doom. You’re probably thinking that’s a little bit dramatic, but honestly, negativity circulated through social media is a very real, important issue.

While I can acknowledge that this is a big problem, I admit I am also guilty of opening my phone and beelining to one of these platforms. Sometimes the infinite scrolling gets to a point where I’m spending multiple hours on one app. The worst part of it is, I never used to second guess it. It was just a normal part of my routine, much like it is for many people in my generation. I never feel like I’ve been productive after scrolling from video to video, chasing entertainment that I can never seem to fulfill. Yet I continue to do it, day after day. Now I realize that the negative effects outweigh the positive, without a doubt in my mind. Had I decided not to open TikTok and mindlessly scroll, I would be having a much better day. What would it mean for me if I decided to never open the app again? Would I be living a more positive life? Most of the negative things I’ve heard about were spread through these platforms. The root of my worries comes from these platforms. Would I be willing to make that change to my life? Would other people? It is a habit that has embedded itself into everybody’s daily life, and it is one of those things that is only harmful to people.

This habit is actually something that over 50% of teenagers in 2024 experience, and it’s been given a name. You may have heard somebody on the internet or in real life talking about “Doom scrolling.” It’s the process of scrolling through hundreds of videos without breaks, which causes a feeling of impending doom. Nobody on the internet likes to talk about current world events in a positive way. They always have to make it sound worse than it is so they can grab your attention and make money off of your view. It’s sad, but true. For a lot of these new “content creators,” that is how they make their living.

So let me ask you something. If you were trying to make money off of a video, wouldn’t you want it to draw people’s attention? These creators have discovered the way to do this: through fear. They use teenagers with the habit of doom scrolling to spread their negative ideas around and feed off of their fear–all for profit and 5 seconds of fame. This is not healthy. This is why so many people live their lives in such a negative light. If people stopped doom scrolling through videos for hours on end and turned to reliable sources for information, then everybody would be living a much more positive, happy life. Everybody would exist with a little bit more hope than before. The sooner people realize that, the sooner we can become known as something other than “the anxious generation.”