The Doomscrolling Health Impact Report

In recent years, the term doomscrolling has entered everyday language. It’s a description of endlessly scrolling through news and social media content on your phone, even when it can sometimes leave us feeling negative. From the pandemic and political instability to ongoing economic uncertainty, many people may find themselves trapped in a cycle of consuming news that could be taking a serious toll on their health and wellbeing. 

Health insurance comparison service, iSelect, has surveyed more than 1,500 Australians and Brits to reveal their social media and scrolling habits, to see how their wellbeing has been impacted. Some research suggests endless doomscrolling can heighten stress, disrupt sleep and affect mental health. Our Doomscrolling Health Impact Report reveals how widespread the behaviour has become in Australia and the UK. 

Which generation doomscrolls the most?

According to our research, Gen Z, those aged 18-24 in both Australia and the UK, spends the most time on social media platforms. With 44% of Gen Z Aussies spending three hours or more scrolling social media per day, as many as 8% of the age group said they spend more than five hours per day. Meanwhile in the UK, 49% of those aged 18-24 spend over three hours a day on social media apps, with 15% spending over five hours a day. 

Furthermore, 36% of Gen Z Australians and 26% of young Brits reported using social media for 2-3 hours a day. In Australia, only 3% of young Australians don’t use social media, while in the UK, all respondents aged 18-24 are scrolling on social media each day. 

These figures differ across all age ranges. In Australia overall, 24% of respondents said that they spend less than an hour per day on social media and 6% spend four to five hours a day. It’s similar in the UK, where 23% spend less than an hour a day and 16% spend four to five hours or more on social media.  

Australians spend an average of 1.88 hours a day on social media, while Brits report spending 2.18 hours per day. Australian men reported a lower social media usage, spending 1.65 hours a day, while women reported a higher screen time of 2.09 hours. When comparing generations, Aussies aged 18-24 spent an average of 3.08 hours a day on social media apps, while Brits of the same age spent an average of 3.22 hours a day. These times decrease with age. 

The most popular apps in Australia and the UK

Our doomscrolling health impact report revealed that social media is the most popular destination when spending time online, with 43% of people in Australia and 39% in the UK spending most of their time on Facebook, X and Instagram, among other platforms. 

The use of streaming platforms is another everyday activity, with a quarter (25%) of Australians and 19% of Brits spending most of their time on platforms such as YouTube, Netflix and Twitch. Unsurprisingly, the Gen Z (18-24 years) group was among the most likely to favour social media apps, with 60% of young Australians spending most of their time on them. However, in the UK, almost half (49%) of those aged 25-34 spent most of their time on social media platforms, more so than Gen Z.  

Relationships with social media

Despite younger people spending more time on social media every day, 69% of Aussies aged 18-24 expressed a positive relationship with social media, while only 9% reported a negative one.  

Across all generations, 61% of Australians reported a positive relationship with social media, with 17% describing it as very positive and 43% saying it is somewhat positive but with some concerns.  

At the other end of the scale, only 7% of Aussies expressed a negative relationship with social media, with 5% of those finding it somewhat negative and sometimes emotionally impacting, while only 2% stated that their relationship was very negative. Meanwhile, the remaining 32% said that their relationship was neutral.

As for the UK, 64% of respondents expressed a positive relationship with social media, with 25% of those reporting a very positive relationship and 39% said their relationship is somewhat positive but with some concerns.  

Similar to Australia, 7% of Brits shared a negative relationship with social media, with 2% of those finding it to be very negative. The remaining 29% said that their relationship was neutral.

The impact of social media on lifestyle

Over half (51%) of Australians aged 18-24 reported spending less time on hobbies and real-life activities due to excessive social media use.  

In Australia, 25% of respondents said that social media distracts them from work or study, and 20% admitted that it keeps them up at night. Meanwhile, 19% said that they choose scrolling on social media over spending time with loved ones, and 15% feel insecure when comparing themselves to others. 

In the UK, there are similar differences across generations. For example, the statement ‘it makes me question if I’m living life right’ is reported more by younger generations, with 31% of Gen Z, expressed this when using social media. 28% of both aged groups 18-24 and 25-34 said they spend less time on hobbies and real-life activities. 

Work-based doomscrolling

Work-related doomscrolling can impact Aussies and Brits, especially when checking on emails and team communication platforms outside of work hours. In Australia, 49% of respondents reported they regularly or sometimes finding themselves doomscrolling on work-related apps outside of work hours. This is slightly higher in the UK, where 55% of people said they check work-related platforms after work hours. 

However, these habits differ among generations. Those aged 18-24 were the most likely to scroll on work-related apps after hours, with 72% of Australians and where in the UK 84% of those aged 25-34 were the highest age group to regularly or sometimes doing so outside of work hours. 

The impact of doomscrolling on your health

According to our research, it is clear that young adults are spending a lot of their time on social media and their phones. Could the impact of digital overuse be affecting their sleep and general well-being? A recent study in the UK of over 1,000 people aged 18–30 found that 38.9% met their criteria for smartphone addiction; of those, 41% were likely to report poor sleep quality independent of the duration of phone usage. Among respondents, 68.7% of the addicted group experienced poor sleep, compared with 57.1% among non-addicted respondents. 

A study in the United States ran a trial involving university-aged participants (average age 22.7) found that reducing daily screen time to two hours or less for three weeks produced a small to medium improvement in their sleep quality, stress, depressive symptoms, and overall well-being. This suggests that even small changes in digital habits can lead to significant improvements in mental health. Together, these studies highlight that doomscrolling and excessive screen habits could be doing more harm to people’s well-being than they think, especially the younger generations.