Doomscrolling As A Waste Of Time: The Relevance Of Prophetic Hadith On Time Management In The Digital Era

Abstract

This study examines the phenomenon of doomscrolling as a compulsive habit of scrolling through digital device screens to excessively consume negative content in the digital era. This phenomenon is an important issue because technology, which should facilitate access to information, can instead lead users to waste productive time, reduce focus, and experience mental health problems. This study aims to analyze doomscrolling as a form of time wasting and to examine its relevance to the Prophet’s hadith on time management. This research employs a qualitative approach based on library research using the thematic hadith method. The primary data consist of hadiths found in the Kutub al-Sittah, while the secondary data are derived from modern scholarly literature on doomscrolling, mental health, social media, and digital literacy. The findings show that the Prophet’s hadith concerning two blessings often neglected by people, namely health and free time, is strongly relevant to the phenomenon of doomscrolling. The hadith functions as an ethical foundation that emphasizes time and health as trusts from Allah that must be utilized for productive activities, acts of worship, and benefits for others. This study contributes to linking thematic hadith studies with contemporary digital issues, particularly self-control and Muslim time management on social media. Thus, doomscrolling can be understood as a form of negligence toward the blessings of time and health, which may place human beings in a state of loss, as warned in the Prophet’s hadith.

Keyword: Doomscrolling; Time Management; Prophetic Hadith; Time Wasting; Digital Era.