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Hey there! We're briefly interrupting our time off to bring you a special, "hope"-filled edition of Reliable. We're still away for the week, but we look forward to returning to your inboxes after the Labor Day holiday.

Doing away with doomscrolling

"Doomscrolling," a term popularized by journalist Karen K. Ho right at the start of the pandemic in 2020, doesn't just deprive us of sleep. It shapes "our reality," turning our phones into "misery machines" and making us think "that the world itself is miserable," Texas A&M comms professor Jennifer Mercieca wrote.

"Consuming miserable content leads us to feeling miserable about the state of the world, which makes us more likely to scan our environment for threats, and so we continue to doomscroll," Mercieca observed. "It's a win-win-win situation for the misery machines and a lose-lose-lose situation for us."

That's why, last semester, Mercieca challenged her students to "hopescroll" instead — "looking for positive news, not threats," to "balance some of the negative effects of doomscrolling."

In this essay for Zócalo Public Square, she shared the results. "Intentionally focusing on solutions journalism once a week helped some students to cope with the daily torrent of doom in their feeds," she wrote. Many said "the experience was both illuminating and healing."

That's what motivated me to ask a question earlier this summer about your own scrolling habits. Many of you replied — too many to quote here — which just proves how universal this sentiment is.

Some of you emphasized mindfulness, describing clear choices about limiting your news intake. Others wrote of discipline about how and when you use social media. (One Reliable reader values his good old-fashioned flip phone!) Still others said you haven't really figured out a digital detox strategy.

Marianne said "this barrage of 'everything, everywhere, all at once' since Trump came to power" has left her in a state of despair.

James said he tried "ignoring" the news, but still feels compelled to scroll around at night for multiple perspectives. "THEN I calm down — I play the ukulele and sing every night before I retire and read until sleep," he said. "It takes my mind off the disturbing news and calms me down. I wish I had learned to play the ukulele years ago!" 

With James and Marianne in mind, here are some elegant responses about coping with our Extremely Online world:

Calm videos, comedy, and cats

James said his "hopescrolling" began during the pandemic, and it continues to this day, through YouTube channels like "Soothing Relaxation" and live Earthcams of beloved places like Niagara Falls.

Jayne said clips of late-night comedians "make things more bearable and give me hope."

"My antidote for doomscrolling is to follow hilarious dogs and cats on Instagram and Bluesky," Tracy said. Several people recommended The Dodo.

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Janie said rewatching her favorite shows on streaming platforms helps: "Knowing the plot, the characters and how it ends" provides "a bit of closure in what is otherwise nothing but open-ended distractions of epic proportions."

Nancy: "I watch reruns of 'The Andy Griffith Show.' The first five years of the series; black-and-white, with Don Knotts. Funny; poignant; little life lessons; terrific acting. Sweet and simple and an antidote to social media."

Rick: "When I need to step away from doomscrolling and the chaos we're living in, my go-to choice has been to watch quiet, gentle and uplifting British and Irish TV home shows such as 'Cheap Irish Homes,' 'Money For Nothing,' and 'Escape To The Country.'"

Marya: "I check news headlines then go immediately to pet rescue and adoption posts and videos. The internet is a powerful tool for reuniting lost pets with their parents and lost animal souls with their forever humans."

Kathleen: "I try to detox after 'doomscrolling' by going to Facebook and looking for cute animal or baby videos. It's the only thing that seems to cleanse my 'psychological palette' and reset my good mood."

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Barbara said she plays word games, edits photos, or reads Carolyn Hax's column. "Better yet," she wrote, "I get off my phone entirely and go outdoors."

Alex recommended the same: "When you can get time, chase experiences in nature and wilderness with family, not scrolling something else: Go offline in woods, out on a paddle, during a long bike ride, dancing at a concert, watching live theater..."

Beth: "After learning what I need to know, I simply...do other things. I listen to music, I tend my deck garden, I read, I watch the birds, I write. It's really not difficult at all. I've found that I am much happier as a result."

The Pollan approach 

"Reading positive news about human achievements and advances in the sciences keeps me hopeful," Alexander Howard, founder of e-PluribusUnum.org, wrote. But "I'm not sure hopescrolling, per se, is an antidote to doomscrolling. Eating a ton of candy or cake won’t fix overconsumption of toxic food. That’s not true for a media diet, either. You need to eat spinach, broccoli, kale, and fresh fruit, either way."

He's in favor of a weekly digital detox — like a social media sabbath — for people who are online all work week. He adapted Michael Pollan's frame a decade ago for ways to digitally detox on vacation: 

"Access information. Delete social apps. Mostly maps.

Read books. Facts and fiction. Mostly print.

Cache email. Respond later. Mostly family.

Limit videos. Not too much TV. Mostly movies."

Mary Beth's related advice: "Set a time in the early evening, or periods during the day, when all devices are OFF and out of sight for hours. That means you, TV/cable, and your ridiculous ads."

Poetry, mystery, and public libraries

The "doing away with doomscrolling" callout in Reliable also introduced me to Denise, a broadcast interpreter who used to translate my English into Portuguese for CNN Brasil! What a small world. Denise said her most effective digital detox tool is crocheting: It "keeps both my hands occupied (no fingers left to touch screens) and it soothes my eyes, my hands – touching wool is fun – and my brain. And works miracles for concentration and focus."

Here are a few other submissions from readers:

Elizabeth: "I'm currently finishing crafts that were started last year, doing some home redecorating. Also paying more attention to my sweet kitties."

Mary: "How do I cope? I've started memorizing poetry: Yeats, Dickinson, Frost, Millay... Late at night when the news is running endlessly through my head, I recite them. It put something beautiful in my mind, instead of the darkness and rot that we're exposed to daily!"

Kiaran: "I sit in a comfy chair with a cool glass of crisp Rosé and read a good mystery. Fictional intrigue, murder and guessing who-dun-it takes me far away from our real life chaos."

Joy: "I use my local public library to read books on a wide variety of topics and different viewpoints including those I disagree with." 

Bob: "I have a very effective way of avoiding doomscrolling: I don't own a smartphone! I never have. I've been online 10 hours a day since 1996 but I use a computer (I can't doomscroll on my flip phone)."

Gaming the algos

Andrew Kirell writes: I've come to realize that I'll never fully log off. Instead, what I can do is game my algorithm to make it more tolerable. It took several weeks of deliberately engaging with specific content. The result: My Instagram scroll is now filled with so-called "#corecore" videos — collages of clips showcasing nature's beauty, the transcendence of everyday life, and the power of love, often set to melancholic music. All of them are nice reminders that life exists off the internet.

Brian's takeaway

A takeaway from all your emails: You're part of a very big club. If you're online, then you're on guard against the garbage and ghoulishness that pervades nearly every space. Phenomena like news avoidance flow from this barrage of bad noise. But there is also a deep hungering for happier, more wholesome content. For now I'll leave you with a peaceful sunrise view from my home away from home this week...

This edition of Reliable Sources was edited by Andrew Kirell and produced with Liam Reilly. Email us your feedback and tips here. We'll be on vacation for the rest of August, and back in your inboxes after Labor Day.