Iceland can help you quit your 'doomscrolling' habit in 2021

Iceland has launched a quirky new website to persuade travelers to swap doomscrolling - the act of compulsively scrolling through social media or news feeds that relate to bad news - and replace it with the more positive act of what it terms "joyscrolling."

The site is called Joyscroll and it has been launched by the Icelandic tourism board after it conducted an in-depth study to find just how much people were doomscrolling on their phones in 2020. It then decided to create an interactive website that would allow people to counter their instinctive habit of chasing negativity by scrolling through joy-inspiring Icelandic sights and sounds instead.

Users of the website cans work their way through a 75-foot-long feed of gorgeous nature scenes and inspirational quotes, as well as listening to joyful musical performances presented by Icelandic stars like Auður, Júníus Meyvant, Gugusar and Ólafur Arnalds. The tourism board came to this figure as its research calculated that each person scrolls through 74.47 feet on their social media feeds each day. There's a tool that measures the distance you're joyscrolling in real time, as you peruse Icelandic waterfalls, geysers, wildlife, northern lights and local cuisine.

There is also a guided breathing section on the site to help users to stay calm. “We hope our content will offer an escape and bring a smile to the world,” says Sigríður Dögg Guðmundsdóttir, head of Visit Iceland. “Hopefully, sometime soon, people will be able to enjoy it in real life. We look forward to welcoming that day.”

You can check out the Joyscroll website here.

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