Doomscrolling Fatigue describes a broad, diffuse shift in collective self-reporting around the experience of compulsive news and social media consumption, specifically the onset of a shared language for exhaustion with the behaviour rather than the behaviour itself. The phenomenon lacks a discrete origin event. Station instruments in the Limbic Basin registered the first sustained pressure increase on 2026-01-10, consistent with post-holiday resolution framing observed in prior Collective Mood Events (see CME-2024-03, CME-2025-11). Initial readings held at 1.8 CAU through mid-January, which placed the phenomenon comfortably on the continental shelf. The pattern was flagged for active tracking under ATD Standing Order 4.1 on 2026-01-14, when the 48-hour moving average crossed the 2.0 CAU threshold into the shallows.
Based on the current ebb trajectory and the confirmed mainstream incursion events, the projected decay rate is 0.45 to 0.55 CAU per week, assuming no exogenous re-catalysing event. At this rate, readings should cross below 1.0 CAU by approximately 2026-03-08 and return to ambient levels below 0.2 CAU by 2026-03-29, plus or minus four days. The probability of a recursive micro-surge — most likely triggered by a secondary study, a viral post-mortem essay, or platform policy announcement — is estimated at 22 percent. Any such micro-surge would be expected to produce a transient reading no higher than 2.1 CAU and would not alter the terminal ebb classification unless sustained above 3.0 CAU for more than 72 hours, per Protocol 7.3(b).
Monitoring frequency should be stepped down from daily to twice-weekly station passes effective when readings fall below 2.5 CAU, projected for the week of 2026-02-17. Full reduction to weekly monitoring is authorised upon confirmation of sub-1.0 CAU readings on two consecutive passes. Operators should maintain the deep-water hydrophone array at standard sensitivity through the end of March to capture any pressure signatures that might indicate a successor phenomenon forming beneath the current ebb. No further action is required at this time.