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Credit: Photo by Vladimir Mun on Unsplash

We are all guilty of being glued to our phones when an emerging breaking news story unfolds, clinging on for the next update. But "doomscrolling", as it has become known, can be harmful to our mental health -- even (or especially) as journalists.

Christian van Nieuwerburgh, professor of coaching and positive psychology, at the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, provides five tips for managing this habit, writing for The Conversation.

Step one, it is not about going cold turkey. Define how much time you want to spend on social media and try to hit that goal.

"Why not include all the ways you access the news? What amount of time each day seems reasonable to you?" he writes. Once you have a time window, stick to it.

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