The Cost of Staying Informed.
The world is full of stories, but not all of them are happy ones.
Ever since I decided to pursue journalism as a career, the news has been a staple of my life. When not learning the tools of the trade, I am either listening to or reading about the news of the day. This practice has long since become routine, but recently I began to wonder what it was really doing to my mental health. The media world waits for no one, but I decided to let it pass me by for time as I sat with how each story I read made me feel.
For this project, I chose to keep an eye on the Associated Press, one of the most trusted news publications in the world and a favorite of mine. I routinely checked the front page of their mobile app throughout a five-day period and received push notifications whenever a breaking news story was posted. I kept record of how many articles I read to completion, how many I only read the headlines or first few lines of, and how each story I finished struck me emotionally.
The data I collected is below:
The first thing I noticed was not exactly the most shocking: there is more bad news being reported on than good. I knew going in that bad news garnered the most attention from readers, but it was still surprising to see how many of the articles published on a given day slanted negative. Negativity crept into many of the stories I read to the end, and affected how I felt for the worse. The stories that struck me in the worst ways typically involved death, and the handful of stories that elicited positive emotions were not enough to match the worst of what I read.
My final takeaway was something no chart or graph could depict. I took on this project to gain a deeper understanding of my emotions, yet it only made me realize how emotionally drained I actually was. It did not take me long to move on from every article I read or skimmed, no matter how upsetting the subject matter. Part of me is accustomed to seeing tragedy after tragedy in the news and knowing I can do nothing about it except watch, and that part of me makes it difficult for most things I see and hear to stick with me.
It’s difficult to remain hopeful when national and global news paints such a dire picture of the world every day, but I believe there are ways to help you combat that negativity. The first thing I would recommend is practicing a healthier news diet. Limit the amount of news you see each day to one that works best for you and take breaks from the news cycle when you feel especially overwhelmed. Instead of bottling up your emotions, talk about how what you’ve read or heard makes you feel with others.
It important to not turn away from the news entirely, as it still plays a crucial role in keeping us informed. We all have to confront the realities we see in front of us every day, but each of us has the power to confront them on our own terms.
