Why I can no longer keep up with the news
No one needs me to tell them how strange the past year or so has been. With the global pandemic greatly changing everyone’s lives, I was glued to my phone for any potential updates about when lockdown could be ending and what restrictions would be changing. It was desperately searching for some sort of light at the end of the tunnel in what is an unprecedented time, even though there was none at the time. As the pandemic continued, I noticed this reliance on the news and how I was spending more time than ever before looking at a variety of different news sources. However, throughout this time I also noticed that this near obsession with checking the news led to negative emotional effects.
With incredibly important issues such as the pandemic, growing extremism around the world and the continuing exploitation of some of the most vulnerable people in the world, it has felt like all the negative and quasi-dystopian news that has been coming out will never end. With limited contact with friends and family, the things one would do to pick themselves up from the current state of the world have been much harder to come by. I found myself glued to my phone, becoming more and more depressed by each story I was reading but finding any sort of reprieve hard to come by. That’s when I had the thought, if 99/100 of the articles you read have a negative effect on you, why continue to read them?
It was not only the content of the news itself, but the tribalism born from an increasingly polarised political landscape that turned me away from the news. There have been numerous times where I have tried to share an article with loved ones and friends only to have it completely rebuffed because of the source in which I have found it. The world has been growing more and more polarised with the rise of popularist politicians leading to an increase in “fake news” sources across the internet. I commend those who have the wherewithal to make sure that the articles and sources they choose to consume have been properly researched and aren’t willing to just accept anything they see on the internet. However, it is my belief that some now use this as an excuse to discredit articles that simply go against their opinion. I have had conversations with people who will simply refuse to take my opinion on board because wherever I read it from, must have been fake news and I was just a sheep for believing it. It has become a lazy excuse by those who are unwilling to have an even discourse on the topic and would rather just force their opinions down your throat. This growing toxicity around the news has helped further develop my current aversion to it, with every story being manipulated to become political propaganda.
The news media beast had completely worn me down. This is where I decided I would try my best to not be as consumed by the news. I would still check in once or twice a day, but my days of checking every half hour or so were done. I have tried to break habits before and have found it very difficult, but surprisingly I found it relatively easy to stop. I am still somewhat unsure as to why this was, but I saw almost immediate benefits to scaling back how often I would check the news. I started to sleep better, the time I was spending on my phone was reduced and my anxiety wasn’t as strong. Instead of waking up to immediately check my phone and see what twitter or BBC news was saying, I was taking time to do other activities, such as meditation or learning Portuguese (although this has now led to Duolingo alerts at 5:00 in the morning asking me if I’m ready to continue.) I was slightly shocked at how immediate the positive effects were, which truly highlighted to me how unhealthy my relationship with the news had been.
In saying all of this, I must acknowledge that I say this from a position of privilege. A lot of important topics in the news simply don’t affect me as much as they will other people, whether that be due to race, religion, sexuality or gender and so it becomes easier for me to be able to not focus on these things as much as others. However, I must emphasise that when I say I stopped listening to the news, that doesn’t mean I cut myself off from world events. Especially with recent events such as the disturbing death of Sarah Everard, persecution of Uyghur Muslims in China and worldwide BLM protests all being important events that need to be focused on by all sections of society. My stepping back from the news was not to disengage with this important and relevant issues, but was just to relieve some of the tension it was causing me. I would no longer be obsessively checking my phone over lockdown rules or potential dates for the release of a vaccine. The incessant nature of my phone buzzing to let me know about the next forthcoming disaster had dissipated and my mind was a little less weary.
I think the key to all of this, as with much of life, is balance. Reading the news is not an inherently negative thing to do, but I had an unhealthy relationship with it. This has applied to other areas of my life as well, whether it be consumption of food or, when I was younger, video games. None of these things are bad, but they shouldn’t become all encompassing. With the stress brought about by the pandemic already weighing on my shoulders, the constant checking for when things were going to be better was throwing me off kilter. The scales were being tipped far too much towards the negative side and I needed to rebalance. Taking a step back and looking where in your life you can find balance can sometimes feel as if you’re regressing, but in reality it’s closer to self-care. Looking after your mental state should not be considered a step backwards, but a step forwards. Especially with the current global circumstances, self-care should be high up on the list of people’s priorities and I believe we are getting closer to a place where there is less of a stigma around this type of action.
But I’m moving away from the point. Stepping back allowed for me to gain perspective on the outside influences on my life, both positive and negative. The big picture returned and I found a sense of calm. This pandemic will eventually be over, life will return to some sense of normalcy and I don’t need to be incessantly checking for when things will get better. It allowed me to refocus and work towards the things that were more important to me, such as helping my family and friends. The news is a wonderful tool which can enable us to feel connected with events and discourse spanning across the globe, but reducing my time spent looking at it has given me the much needed balance my mental state demands.
