How to stop doomscrolling — and what to do instead? (w/ Katherine Cross) | from How to Be a Better Human

How to stop doomscrolling — and what to do instead? (w/ Katherine Cross) | from How to Be a Better Human

From TED Tech by TED Tech

March 27, 2026 · 40 min

About this episode

Katherine Cross discusses the ineffectiveness of social media for political engagement and the implications of doomscrolling.

Is it effective to engage with politics on social media — and what does it take to make actual change? Katherine Cross is a researcher on online harassment and the author of Log Off: Why Posting and Politics (Almost) Never Mix. She shares why she believes social media is “anti-political” and how virtual engagement will not achieve the necessary political work for us. Katherine and Chris also discuss the limitations of short-form content in conveying decades of geopolitical strife, why our lives would be better off without social media, and the guardrails platforms could utilize to help users engage with posts critically and to slow down viral misinformation. Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at  attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Chris

Guest: Katherine Cross

Topics covered

  • doomscrolling
  • social media
  • politics
  • online harassment
  • geopolitical strife
  • misinformation

Keywords

  • doomscrolling
  • social media
  • politics
  • online harassment
  • misinformation
  • geopolitical strife
  • Katherine Cross

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Log Off: Why Posting and Politics (Almost) Never Mix

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