Have you heard of the term doomscrolling? It refers to scrolling on our phones through large amounts of negative posts and videos on the web and social media. We’ve all experienced it. You start with one post about something dire, which leads to another link, and before you know it an hour has passed and you are feeling pretty pessimistic about the state of the world.
The fact is, though, that we don’t need our phones to go doomscrolling. Our brains take care of that all on their own sometimes. Psychologists call it catastrophizing. One bad thought leads to another and another until we envision the worst case scenarios of future times or an overly exaggerated view of mistakes we may have made in the past.
The Bible is well aware of our tendency for doomscrolling. “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance” (1 Peter 1:14). And St. Peter has this advice for us: “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:12). Yes, there are bad things in the world because of the presence of sin, but our thoughts should always scroll to the hope, the grace, the presence of Christ that we have now and will have forever. In the end, our future is not doom and gloom, but light and love, peace and joy in Jesus our Savior. Think on those things.
