Fact checked by Derick Wilder
It’s easy to get sucked into the news cycle’s doom and gloom. There’s no shortage of strife: bird flu, upheaval at the major health agencies, measles outbreaks. Just to name a few.
There’s also no limit on how we can access the news: newspapers, TV, magazines, podcasts, and the endless scrolling of the internet.
Are we living in unusually stressful times? Or do we simply have so much more news hurtling at us that we’re drowning in anxiety and fear?
David Rapp, PhD, a professor in the School of Education and Social Policy and the department of psychology at Northwestern University, says it’s a little bit of both, actually. “Our easy access to the news cycle makes negative information available to us and stresses us out. Additionally, the more negative the news, the more attention it gets and the more consequential it seems in comparison to positive news,” Rapp says.
It might seem, then, an impossible task to be both informed and avoid getting swept away by the undercurrent of negativity. However, there are a few guardrails you can put up to protect your mental health.
Regulate your time
Stephanie Edgerly, PhD, a professor and associate dean of research at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, researches news avoidance. She says we are living in a vastly different news paradigm than a generation ago.
“What’s changed from 30 years ago is that the time [in which] we consumed the news was walled off. We would sit down and read the paper or watch the morning news, which you could start and finish in one sitting,” Edgerly says. “The news didn’t linger and accompany us throughout every moment of our day as it does now.”
While having access to news 24/7 can have its benefits, Edgerly says most people struggle with finding a sense of control amidst all the information coming at them. She recommends limiting news consumption to certain defined time parameters — for example, 30 minutes in the morning. This has the benefit of helping people keep up with what’s current, while also quashing “news noise,” such as opinion or up-to-the-second news that lacks context.
Consider the source
Unlike the major news networks that gatekept the news a quarter century ago, there’s now a robust variety of news sources to help us stay informed. This leaves individuals to cultivate their own patchwork of sources.
For instance, Edgerly says people should choose several perspectives to stay informed, such as PBS NewsHour, The Atlantic, and The Financial Times. Checking foreign news, such as Reuters, can offer readers a broader perspective on U.S. news.
Zachary Sikora, PsyD, a psychologist at Northwestern Medicine, also cautions against staying in a news silo.
“Whether you’re liberal or conservative, staying in an echo chamber can embolden or even radicalize someone,” he says. “Taking in another perspective can be a healthier way of consuming the news because it encourages consideration of others’ perspectives.”
Words, not pictures
How you consume news can have a powerful impact, too.
Rapp says that our brains and minds weren’t built to take in the massive amount of visual stimuli offered via the internet’s myriad photos and videos. And while shocking or violent media provide viewers with a dopamine hit, which makes us want to see more of them, Sikora says that over time they can have a traumatic effect on our individual and collective psyche.
Edgerly says a good antidote to this jolt is reading news in print form, which allows our brains more time to process a story.
Stay local
With so many stressful news stories happening all at once, people may feel a sense of helplessness because they cannot control or influence those events, Sikora says.
When that feeling starts to impede physical and mental health, take it as a signal to return to self-care basics: sleeping, exercising, eating healthy food, and, of course, limiting screen time.
Rapp also suggests a good antidote to helplessness is focusing more on news in our locus of control. What’s happening in the school board or town government? What are local community organizations doing?
“Going local has the benefit of seeing how broader societal changes can have an impact in our local community,” Rapp says. And it gives people an outlet to participate, help, and be more aware of what’s happening directly around them.
Originally published in the Spring/Summer 2025 print issue.
Dan Dean is a writer, cancer survivor, and founder of Cancer Dudes, which supports men after being diagnosed with cancer.
