consume in ways that make you want to create

not another “doomscrolling = bad". actually, the opposite.

Hi friends,

How are you today?
I’m doing great, thanks for asking x

I want to talk about a hot topic right now: “doomscrolling”.
And this is not another “you’re doomscrolling right now and this is why you should stop” piece. It’s actually, almost, the opposite.

Let me explain.

An idea I’ve been circling around for a while now is the relationship and online perception of consumption vs creating. And the more I think about it, the more I feel like the conversation is often framed as if one needs to win over the other.
As if creating is somehow morally better, more disciplined, more evolved — and consuming is something you graduate from once you’ve finally figured things out.

But I’m not sure that’s true.
Because don’t we need both?

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I’m Elin and this is our multi-passionate hangout spot. A corner of the internet where we nerd out about ideas and help each other pursue them.

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We need inspiration, insights, other people’s thoughts, different perspectives, experiences — almost as fuel — as we’re creating. And in today’s landscape, a lot of that fuel comes from what is often labelled as doomscrolling.

And I think rather than focusing so much on the action itself, on the scrolling, on the screen time, there should be more of a conversation around habit and quality.

Why are we consuming, and what is that leaving us with?

It sounds a bit funny to say this in an essay about doomscrolling, but I can genuinely find a lot of inspiration from scrolling Instagram for ten minutes. I’ll save a quote, write down a thought, stumble upon a video that articulates something that starts a train of thought.

Especially now, when I actually think there’s been a real uplift in high-quality content (there’s also an overwhelming flood of bad or repetitive content), but there are people out there producing thoughtful, generous, genuinely insightful things that I actively feel inspired by, or that offer me new ways of thinking. And I don’t want to pretend that doesn’t matter, or that it doesn’t count just because it lives on an app.

Another layer to this, I think, is time spent and intention.
Not just what you’re doing, but why and how.

Do you automatically reach for your phone whenever you struggle to concentrate?
Do you avoid tasks by putting on a show that you’re half watching?
What kind of information are you actually taking in? Is it planting a seed or just filling the space?

A rabbit hole I fell into for a long time was watching productivity videos. And to be fair, I did learn quite a bit. I picked up a few techniques I still use, a few frameworks that genuinely helped me understand how I work. But at some point, I realised that so many of them were saying the same thing, just with different voices, different hooks, slightly different phrasing.

And me continuing to watch them didn’t really add anything new.

It felt productive because of the topic, but in reality, I’d heard the same idea ten times already. I wasn’t learning — I was looping. It became a distraction masked as productivity.

Which is why I keep coming back to this thought: maybe the question shouldn’t be about consuming versus creating at all. Maybe it should be about quality.

So how do you find “quality”, and what even is it?

For me, it’s rarely about how polished something is, or how confident the person delivering it sounds. It’s more about what it leaves me with. Does it spark ideas? A train of thought?

“High-quality consumption”, for me, usually does one of a few things. It gives me a direction or starting point for an idea of a topic I’ve been circling. It introduces a perspective I hadn’t considered. Or it reminds me of my desire to make something of my own.

“Low-quality consumption” tends to feel different. It repeats, it loops. It keeps you there longer than you intended, not out of curiosity, but because stopping feels almost uncomfortable.

And I think that’s an important distinction.
Curiosity vs distractions.

I don’t think the answer is deleting every app or turning creativity into something you have to earn once you’ve “behaved”. I think it’s more about noticing patterns and being honest with yourself about them.

What do you reach for when you’re bored?
What do you feel after you do something?

Maybe the shift isn’t “I create instead of consume”.

Maybe it’s: I consume in ways that make me want to create.

And that feels like a much kinder way to think about it.

Question of the day - what do you consume and what’s your view on “doomscrolling”? Comment, I’d love to hear your thoughts

All my love,

Elin

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