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The Real Cost of Doomscrolling

Have you ever picked up your phone for a quick scroll—only to look up an hour later, still stuck in a loop of bad news? That’s doomscrolling, and it’s more common than you might think. This article explores how much time Americans spend doomscrolling, how it affects their mood and productivity, and what it’s costing them personally and financially. Using insights from a Payless Power study of 1,002 Americans, we’ll examine key trends, platforms, and impacts to better understand this digital habit.

Key Takeaways

• 64% of Americans described themselves as doomscrollers, with Gen Z being the most likely to do so (81%).
• 43% of Americans doomscroll daily, and 26% do so multiple times per day.
• On average, Americans spend 3.5 hours doomscrolling during the workweek, costing companies an estimated $5,600 per employee annually.
• Every generation has a preferred doomscrolling platform: Gen Z uses TikTok, Millennials uses Reddit, and Gen X uses Facebook.
• More than half of Americans (51%) say politics most often triggers their doomscrolling, while 42% pointed to brain rot content.
• Doomscrollers were four times more likely than non-doomscrollers to miss a deadline, meeting, or opportunity due to doomscrolling-related distractions.

How Often—and When—Americans Doomscroll

Study Findings:

• 64% of Americans describe themselves as someone who doomscrolls.
  • Gen Z is the most likely to identify this way (81%), followed by Millennials (67%) and Gen X (53%).
  • Low earners are the most likely to doomscroll:
    • $0-$50,000: 69%
    • $50,000-$75,000: 64%
    • $75,000-$100,000: 63%
    • $100,000-$150,000: 59%
    • $150,000+: 54%
  • Women (67%) are more likely to doomscroll than men (61%).
  • Marketing and advertising employees are the most likely to doomscroll (74%), followed by finance employees (70%) and retail/ecommerce employees (69%).
  • Hybrid employees are the most likely to doomscroll (68%).
• The most common time to doomscroll: right before bed (55%).
• 43% of Americans doomscroll daily, and 26% do so multiple times per day.
• On average, Americans spend 3.5 hours doomscrolling during the workweek, costing companies an estimated $5,600 per employee annually.
• 1 in 4 Americans have deleted a social media app due to doomscrolling, only to re-download it later.

Where We Doomscroll and What Triggers It

Study Findings:

• The most common platforms for doomscrolling are Reddit (43%), Facebook (41%), Instagram (37%), TikTok (31%), YouTube (21%), and X (formerly Twitter) at 21%.
• Every generation has a preferred doomscrolling platform: Gen Z uses TikTok, Millennials uses Reddit, and Gen X uses Facebook.
• More than half of Americans (51%) say politics most often triggers their doomscrolling, while 42% pointed to brain rot content.
• 24% of Americans admitted to following a content creator or influencer who made them feel worse about themselves—but kept watching anyway.
  • The most notable creators include Ben Shapiro (8%), “That Girl” TikTok/Clean GIrl aesthetic creators (8%), Kim Kardashian (7%), Kanye West (7%), Dave Ramsey (7%), and Andrew Tate (7%).
• A vast majority—88% of Americans—felt that social media platforms did not do enough to limit emotionally harmful content.

The Emotional, Financial, and Personal Toll of Doomscrolling

• Compared to doomscrollers, non-doomscrollers were 19% more likely to be satisfied with their overall life, 45% more likely to be satisfied with their mental health, and 37% more likely to be satisfied with their sleep quality.
• Americans waste an estimated $28.8 million in electricity each year doomscrolling at work—excluding the cost of lost productivity, mental health effects, and impulse purchases.*
  • Texans alone account for $2.4 million of that wasted energy.*

*Estimates based on smartphone power usage of 5 watts per active hour, with 64% of Americans doomscrolling 3.5 hours weekly at work, and 89% owning a smartphone.

• Over 1 in 4 doomscrollers (27%) have gotten into an argument or disagreement with a partner, friend, or family member about their screen time.
• 41% of doomscrollers made an impulse purchase in the past 30 days, making them more than twice as likely to do so than non-doomscrollers.
  • 1 in 4 doomscrollers often regret their purchases from social media.
• 1 in 2 doomscrollers said their habit makes it harder to focus during work or meetings.
• Doomscrollers were four times more likely than non-doomscrollers to miss a deadline, meeting, or opportunity due to scrolling distractions.
• 13% of doomscrollers reported making a major life decision after a doomscrolling session.

Methodology

For this study, we surveyed 1,002 Americans about their doomscrolling habits and its impact on their personal life.

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