Westenberg The Doomscroll Industrial Complex: How Anxiety Powers the Attention Economy
In this episode, I break down the Doomscroll Industrial Complex—a system where bad news fuels the attention economy and anxiety becomes a product. I explore how doom influencers profit from fear, why negativity dominates online spaces, and how this perpetual cycle affects our mental health and ability to focus on real solutions.
What I Cover:
• How doomer influencers stay vague to never be “wrong.”
• Why algorithms reward bad news over constructive solutions.
• The rise of paid pessimism through platforms like Substack and Patreon.
• How constant doomscrolling creates a collective mental health crisis.
• Practical ways we can resist the feedback loop of anxiety.
The world’s always been ending in one way or another—but now we’re stuck scrolling through it endlessly. How do we step back, cut through the noise, and focus on what really matters?