News is a crucial part of your life because it helps you stay updated and informed. This enables you to make informed decisions about your interactions, business, and life. However, consuming too much news affects your mind and body, mainly because of sensationalization and too much focus on negative news.
Something about the shock factor draws people in, so news outlets primarily focus on negative news. Worse still, we have social media platforms to access a barrage of bad news anytime. So why are we attracted to negative news, how does it affect our brain, and how do we cope with bad news?
Why are we attracted to negative news?
Experts believe people are drawn to negative news because of a negative bias. Given a choice between positive and negative information, most people will want to hear the negative one.
But this isn’t necessarily bad because humans have survived for thousands of years, partly because we can communicate bad news. It was a form of protection during ancient times because the sooner you got bad news, the higher your chances of survival. For example, if, on the one hand, you hear news of a wild animal on the prowl or a band of attackers and, on the other, positive news of some ripe fruits nearby, focusing on the negative news will help you survive.
Negative bias was crucial for survival back then, but it’s costing people in modern times. Doomscrolling is the term coined for the contemporary fixation with bad news. Today, people spend hours scrolling online, where there’s endless negative news available. However, instead of keeping you safe, it raises your stress levels and anxiety.
How does negative news affect our brains
Increased cortisol levels
Bad news increases the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in your body. According to an American Psychology Association study, more than half the American population becomes stressed after watching the news. In this survey, most respondents said they experienced fatigue, depression, anxiety, and loss of sleep after consuming information.
Distorted view of the world
Consuming negative news can leave you feeling that the world is a darker, scarier place than it is. Of course, you have to be vigilant and protect yourself, but sometimes, it leads to erosion of trust, which may affect your professional and personal relationships.
A feeling of loneliness and helplessness
It’s easy to feel things worsening when you mainly focus on bad news. This affects your psyche significantly when you know nothing you can do can change the course of things. Because of anger and frustration, negative news can affect your relationships with people around you.
How to avoid being overwhelmed by negative news
Tone down your news consumption
This isn’t easy because you may need to unsubscribe from many news outlets and avoid social media altogether. If you feel that you are becoming upset because of bad news, limit your consumption.
Alternatively, you can allocate a specific time to catch up with news. This helps you to avoid binge-watching negative information, which reduces its overwhelming effect.
Get valid news sources
Some people may not go daily without knowing what’s happening locally and regionally. If you can’t switch off your news outlets, rethink your news sources. Most news outlets hyperpublicize and oversensationalize their content to get more clicks and views.
So ensure your news sources are truthful, impartial, fair, independent, and accountable. They shouldn’t take sides; instead, they should always give you the whole picture, not just the anxiety-inducing snippets.
Accept your level of control
When something happens, especially when it hits close to home, you may have an overwhelming urge to help. Sometimes, there’s something you can do about a tragedy, but when you can’t stop or change an event, learn to accept your level of control over something to avoid stress, anger, and anxiety.
Consume less and create more
Sometimes, you may find yourself upset over something that doesn’t even involve you. Take this as an opportunity to do good things for yourself. Take a walk in nature, read a book, take a bubble bath, do something artistic, or do your favorite thing that distracts you from the helplessness and depressing state of negative news.
Practice gratitude
Receiving bad news is part of life, but you can counterbalance this by focusing on the good surrounding you. The world isn’t as scary as some people paint it, and not all people are out to scam or harm you. So find some good news sources to uplift you or volunteer for a cause you are passionate about — a place where you can make a difference.
Takeaway
Bad news can be overwhelming, leading to stress, helplessness, lack of trust, and a skewed worldview. Luckily, there are ways of coping with negative news, such as practicing self-compassion, tuning off from news and social media platforms, accepting your capabilities, and understanding why certain information affects you. Over time, you will emerge from the shadows of bad news with clarity, strength, and a newfound perspective.
