The Rare High-Value Trait People Who Doomscroll All Day Don’t Realize They Have
It's still important to reduce your screen time though.
fizkes | Shutterstock Do you ever feel guilty for all the time you spend on your phone doomscrolling? I mean, that's hours upon hours simply gone when you could've been doing something much more productive. One woman who goes by theefolio on TikTok doesn't actually believe that excessive screen time is wasted, however. There's actually a valuable trait hidden within the personalities of chronic doomscrollers that they don't even realize they have.
As a marketing company founder, theefolio understands the value of being online all day. She argued that people who spend hours doomscrolling have the uncanny ability to identify trends as they emerge, a skill that's highly profitable in the marketing world. Her entire company, in fact, is founded on curating a vibe for companies that are about to launch — in a recent video, she asserted that the best marketers are chronic doomscrollers because they have the natural gift for curation.
People who doomscroll all day are likely unaware of the high-value creative talent they have.
"If you are doomscrolling on Pinterest, if you're a maladaptive daydreamer, if you're doing any of these things, you have something what I like to call, 'curator traits,'" theefolio said. "You can always make something out of nothing."
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She went on to say that while not everyone has this ability, girls are usually effortlessly good at curation. When you have a huge imagination, you are able to create things in your mind easily and know how to appeal to others like yourself.
"You're a [expletive] curator; you know how to create a scenario out of nothing — I'm going to keep saying it because it's kind one of the most insane [expletive] things that a lot of people have and don't make money off of it," she said. "I make money off of it. My marketing agency is based in curation — I curate for a [expletive] living." She concluded her video by encouraging doomscrollers to take action and use their own curation skills to get paid for their marketing talents.
It still might be a good idea to reduce your doomscrolling time.
Since you've discovered the upside to an otherwise detrimental habit, it may be good to reflect on your screen time habits and decide if it's too much or just enough doomscrolling.
The term "doomscrolling" typically refers to consuming news and social media content about negative and distressing things. Still, many use it just as theefolio used it — to describe the act of simply scrolling on social media and consuming any type of content for long periods of time. Regardless of which interpretation applies to you, you can't deny that excessive screen time has negative implications for health and wellness.
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According to Stanford Lifestyle Medicine, increased screen usage among adults may impede learning, memory, and mental health and negatively disrupt sleeping patterns. “The negative effects of screen time are insidious because you can’t see what’s happening in your brain as you’re staring at the screen,” said family and marriage therapist Maris Loeffler, MA. “If you scrolled on your phone in bed for an hour just one morning, the negative impacts would be minimal. But if it becomes a habit, day after day, month after month, this behavior can take a toll.”
It's time to take action and minimize screen time.
Now that you know that your expansive imagination has given you the ultimate power of curation, it's time to take action and use your newfound ability to earn money. You have an aesthetic perspective that others don't possess, and just because it's fed by a habit that has negative connotations attached to it doesn't mean you should downplay the rare gift.
That being said, if your love of scrolling the day away is impeding other parts of your life, it may be beneficial to your health if you reduce the amount of time you spend staring at your screens. That doesn't mean cutting it out of your life but making space for other hobbies and activities.
Life is about balance. Even if doomscrolling fuels your creative spirit, you need time away from the activity to truly be your most productive best self.
Sahlah Syeda is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news, and human interest topics.