Is Doomscrolling a 2026 Phenomenon or Did It Exist Before?
I remember my mom being annoyed by my dad reading the newspaper during lunch. It was mostly about local events and maybe some new approaches in farming.
Made me think, how was it 100 years ago? 1926. Turns out it was very similar. It was the time when cinema was a common pastime, and instead of ads like we have now, they used to play short reels of what I’d call doom news today.
There were companies that specialized in providing the doom reels. One of the most successful ones being C.G.P.C. (British Pathé).
1926 was interesting. Long strikes and political unrest in Europe.
Human nature is human nature. The only difference was that you had to go to the cinema to watch this, so you could not do it all day and all night. But radio and later TV would quickly change that.
Here is a collection of 1926 reels.
