When Joel Schwartzberg gets into bed, he tucks his phone in with him. For three to four hours each night, he scrolls through haunting images and heartbreaking developments in Ukraine.

He says he finds solace commiserating with others on Twitter over the worrisome state of the world. But his sense of comfort and security slip farther away with every swipe, making it tough for him to fall asleep.

“It feeds on itself,” said Schwartzberg, a 53-year-old public speaking coach from Chatham, New Jersey, who is trying to spend less time online and more time with his wife, kids and 10 cats. “The more doom I see, the more I want to see it.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has Americans doomscrolling again. And this time, our national addiction is worse than ever.

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Two plus years of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded by the nation’s reckoning with racial injustice and police brutality, political polarization, climate change and other calamities had already shattered people’s normalcy and routine.

With Ukraine, the world changed almost overnight. As the military conflict intensifies, the number of fleeing refugees and civilian casualties is rising. Escalating economic sanctions from the U.S. and its allies are rippling through Americans’ everyday lives, contributing to growing levels of stress, anxiety and uncertainty.

Increasingly people find themselves back on their phone, tablet, or laptop, compulsively scanning social media for updates on the conflict to bear witness to trauma and grief a continent away.

When someone spends so many hours doomscrolling, they come away with an exaggerated sense of danger and increased feelings of vulnerability, said University of Virginia psychology professor Bethany Teachman.