Doomscrolling Cost Calculator
This calculator turns your daily doomscrolling time into a dollar figure at your hourly rate — the money and momentum the feed quietly bills you while it feels free in the moment. Pick a scenario below, or plug in your own numbers.
Pick your scenario
Why doomscrolling costs more than it feels like
Each scroll feels free because nothing is charged in the moment — no receipt, no notification, nothing that registers as a cost. But the time is still gone, and for a founder, freelancer, or solopreneur, time converts directly into money: a proposal not sent, a feature not shipped, a client not called back. The number above isn't a guess about your willpower — it's just what those hours were worth, priced at your own rate.
How to actually lower your number
- Make the cost visible before you scroll, not after. Knowing the yearly total doesn't help much mid-scroll — what helps is seeing the running cost in the moment you reach for the tab.
- Target the specific sites, not "screen time" in general. Doomscrolling concentrates in a handful of apps and feeds; work on those directly instead of a vague resolution to "use your phone less."
- Skip the blocker, keep the friction. A hard block gets disabled the moment it's inconvenient. Cost-visibility and light friction hold up better because they change what you want, not just what you can access — the full playbook is in how to stop doomscrolling.
Frequently asked questions
How is the doomscrolling cost calculated?
Simple arithmetic: hours lost per day multiplied by your hourly rate, then multiplied by 30.4 for a monthly figure or 365 for a yearly one. It's not a study or an average — it's your own numbers, so the result is only as accurate as what you enter.
What counts as doomscrolling time?
Any low-value, high-stimulation scrolling you didn't plan to do — social feeds, short-form video, news refreshes — especially the sessions that start as a "quick check" during work hours and run much longer than intended.
What if I don't know my exact hourly rate?
Freelancers and contractors can use their invoiced rate directly. If you're salaried, divide your annual pay by roughly 2,080 (a standard 40-hour work-year) for a rough hourly figure to plug in — or use the hourly rate calculator to get a more precise number from your real weeks and hours.
How do I actually reduce my doomscrolling cost, not just see it?
Seeing the number is the first step, not the fix. Hidden Value keeps this cost visible in Chrome in real time — before you scroll, not just in a one-off calculator — with friction, popups, and an automatic tab close as the backstop if you don't stop yourself.
See your number every time you scroll, not just once
Hidden Value tracks the sites stealing your time in Chrome and shows the running dollar cost before you commit — so the number above becomes something you actually feel in the moment.
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