News

And no wonder, with all that has happened in the world over the past few years. But might this habit be harming our health? Medical News Today assessed the ...

His suggestion was “that people consume news that is of relevance to who and how they are in the world, that is relevant to [their] values and how [they] want to be, to take the time to take the perspective of others that are in the stories and to feel what they feel.” The most important thing is for people to become more aware of how consuming the news is making them feel, and the impact it is having on their day-to-day lives.” Even though this may be difficult to believe, he noted that “[t]here’s less violence in the world now than there’s ever been, there’s less poverty, there’s less starvation.” Hayes agreed: “Some of the dangers are that you will become numb to the pain of others, or you will become cynical or depressed about what’s happening in the world. I guess the difficulty is that it is in the news channels’ interests to keep people watching.” “Because we tend to get more traumatized by events where we cannot take any action, it might help to do one small thing that could make a difference — e.g. “Consider staying off all news channels or outlets for 3 or 4 days and see how this changes your mood and thinking. “Problematic news consumption may be particularly harmful because the news consistently focuses on negative and threatening issues and events. Sensationalist news content is designed to elicit an emotional response from audiences, and thereby increase viewing or reading figures. Medical News Today assessed the evidence and spoke to experts to find out what we can do to prevent becoming overwhelmed by the news. And for 16.5%, severely problematic news consumption was impacting other aspects of their lives. We all do it — reach for the phone first thing in the morning to check the news.