Is there really such a thing as being too informed? How over consuming news can affect your mental health

Social media seems to now be a place with either toxic positivity or bad news, it almost seems there is no in-between. While sharing these stories and being politically and socially aware is incredibly important, it can also be so incredibly draining. 

But leaves the question — is there a way to balance being socially and politically aware while also taking your mental health into consideration? 

I took a bit of a break recently, but you can read about it in my last blog post. While taking a step back from this platform to focus on educating myself and taking care of myself has been incredibly beneficial for me, I also have found myself almost avoiding writing altogether. I felt as though everything I could write about is minor compared to the plethora of events happening in the world, and for me to write from a privileged perspective of BLM and implicit bias just felt wrong. 

This break has allowed me to reflect on things that are important to me, but I also found myself falling into almost a hole of current events, leaving me feeling hopeless and helpless. That’s when I realised so many of you may be feeling the same way. 

With coronavirus, Black Lives Matter, Yemen, and Armenia (just to keep it down to a few current events), there’s so much information out there, and most of it just isn’t good. Yes, reading the news (or watching it, whatever you prefer) is incredibly important. It is necessary for progress to finally happen. But, there comes a point where you become too informed, reading (or watching) too much news. That’s where problems can start. 

How how we get our news can affect us. 

The way we consume our news now is completely different than even 5 years ago — most of us see our news stories through some form of social media. This means we are bombarded with news stories even when we aren’t looking for or wanting them. Facebook, Instagram, and stories, Youtube, even Snapchat all show you shocking and visual news stories. Everything now has a video attached to, which oftentimes will trigger emotional (stress, anxiety, anger, sadness) and physical signs of discomfort and pain (think problems falling asleep, that sinking feeling in your stomach).  

Not only do we have to face these emotional and physical reactions to the stories themselves but we also have to handle the reactions we get based on other people’s opinions attached to the stories. Now, we won’t get into those opinions or which ones are right and which ones are wrong, but we all know what it’s like to read someone you know’s opinion on a matter that just feels so clearly wrong to you (and I bet as soon as you read that, you immediately thought of one or two comments you’ve seen recently). 

How we see our news affects our mental health. 

With many people receiving their news on social media, we often see the most shocking of them all because, well, they simply perform best for the algorithms. While impactful stories have always been a cornerstone of all news, seeing it near constantly any time you log in can be quite damaging. 

So, what types of things are most likely going to capture our attention? Videos and photos. I don’t know about you, but a lot of these photos and videos that I see circling social media are not always easy to watch. These photos or videos oftentimes show violence, the result of violence, hatred, racism, just to name a few. 

When scrolling through your feed, seeing these videos or images depicting violence or hatred pop up (and often times running automatically) unexpectedly, it can lead you feeling helpless, sad, angry, confused. 

While the reasoning behind the sensationalism and shockingness of news articles or videos are understandable, it’s necessary to know when it’s becoming too much. Here are some tricks to know when it’s become too much and it’s time to take a break. 

You feel anxious as soon as you log onto your social media accounts. 

Yes, it is important for people to share what is happening in the world and for others to stay informed. However, once you start feeling stressed or anxious scrolling through your feed, anticipating another bad news story, it’s time to take that as a sign to step away from the phone (or laptop). 

Suddenly your personal worries feel dangerous, less manageable, and overall scarier. 

This is where something called the negativity bias can come into play — because we are bombarded with negative news, we’re more likely to view neutral things more negatively. In this case, you may be more likely to view your own personal problems more negatively causing you to worry more and feel more distressed than normal. 

You’re suddenly numb to things that normally cause emotions to rise. 

On the flip side, when you’re exposed to so much negativity and/or violence, “smaller” problems feel like they just don’t matter anymore. For example, let’s say you’ve been following closely to what is happening in Portland and at the same time, your laptop broke and now you have to replace it (I have no idea where this example came from, but it’s the example that we’re going to work with anyway). Laptops are incredibly expensive and normally having to replace something like that can be a huge financial strain. But, because your laptop breaking isn’t as severe as what you’re reading about in the news, suddenly it just doesn’t matter. 

Being overly exposed to negative news can change the way you view your own problems or concerns, causing you to minimise them. 

You find yourself finding little to feel positive about. 

When all you see is negative news, it’s hard to not think the world is a terrible place and everything that could go wrong is going wrong. But at the same time, we’re not being exposed to positive news stories (as I mentioned before, negativity and shock factors really help clicks and views), so it’s no wonder you may feel as though there is no positivity in the world. You’re just not being exposed to it. 

You’ve become more irritable and less trusting. 

Anxiety and stress often make us irritable, that’s just a fact of life. So, when you’re feeling high stress and anxiety over current events, of course you’ll be more irritable. Maybe you’re more likely to fight with a near-perfect stranger on the internet or you’re quick to judge other people’s opinions in real life and get offended — either way, it’s not much of a shock. 

Not only are you more irritable, but depending on where and who you get your news, you may be likely to think all news is “fake news.” Sure, there is fake news out there, we all see it, we all know it exists. But because it’s become so increasingly difficult to distinguish real news stories from fake ones, you may be more likely to doubt the information that others give to you. 

So, what do we do? 

Just like everything, it’s all about moderation. It’s about listening to your body’s cues of when you’re stressed or anxious and recognising the signs of needing to take a step back. 

Maybe you put certain restrictions on yourself (or you put them on your phone) in order to limit the amount of exposure you get. For example, only allowing yourself a certain amount of time on social media apps. Or maybe setting time frames in which you get to log in. 

Avoid going straight to social media or news outlets when you first wake up. Waking up and immediately seeing negative news or another story of unnecessary violence is only going to set up your day to be more negative. Take some time for yourself in the morning, read a book, watch a nice video. Try to start your days more positively. 

When the negativity becomes too much, have something that you know will always cheer you up. When my girlfriend and I have a long day at my house, we always turn on The Office. It’s a fun show and lighthearted, allowing us to disconnect a bit from the negativity and just laugh. And trust me, laughing is definitely medicine for this time. 

No matter what you do, remember everyone has a different threshold of what they can handle with bad news. It’s a necessity for you to find what your threshold is and respect that, for the sake of yourself and your mental health. It’s all about the balance of staying informed but paying attention to your own needs.