Need a break? Take one with this digital rest stop.

These dreamy wallpapers and videos are your antidote to doomscrolling.

July 24, 2022 at 9:58 a.m. EDT
Loreta Isac for The Washington Post
2 min

Congratulations! You’ve arrived at a digital rest stop.

In the past several months, you may have come across some variation of this sentence on TikTok or Instagram, often paired with a soothing video and music. These videos, and their iterations on other platforms, have become a way for social media users to encourage others to take a break from scrolling: A rest stop on your digital journey.

This phenomenon is offered as a counter to doomscrolling — the compulsion to absorb bad news on social media. And as we reach the dog days of summer, we found ourselves needing a break. We thought you, our readers, might too. With this in mind, we asked artists we admire to create moments of rest, joy and delight. Below, you’ll find downloadable wallpapers, photos that inspire reflection and moments of comfort and meditation.

Enjoy this moment of stillness, and of course, stay as long as you’d like.

Download a soothing wallpaper

Experts say technology is addictive by design. Features like infinite scroll exploit our psychological instincts to keep us online — often before we know what we’re doing. We hope these wallpapers can disrupt that automation and encourage moments of intention as you go about your day.

Download the woman floating in water wallpaper here.

Download the open window wallpaper here.

Download the “all timing is perfect timing” wallpaper here.

Download the koi fish wallpaper here.

Download the hands and mug wallpaper here.

Download the “never grow up” wallpaper here.

Doomscrolling got you down? Take a break at a digital rest stop.


Watch a soothing video

We asked animators and videographers to create media that will inspire moments of meditation, comfort and reflection.

(Video: Lucy Naland/The Washington Post)
(Video: Lindsey Sitz/The Washington Post)

Sit with a peaceful comic

Right now, take a big belly breath and let it out slowly. Conscious, controlled breathing is a science-backed way to ease tension and calm down your nervous system. Sit with this comic by Kat Schneider as you take a few mindful breaths.


Sit with these beautiful images

Gender and Identity editor Lena Felton took these photos on opposite ends of the world: The first two on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, Calif., and the last in Santorini, Greece.

“Places like these (one very close to home, another a faraway destination) make me wonder at the world — they make me feel infinitesimally small, and so privileged to bear witness,” she writes. “I get lost in the muted colors, the muddled sky and sea.”

We hope they remind you to do the same.

We’ll be posting more of these rest stops on our Instagram in the coming days. Follow us to see them in your feed.