Tips for a Healthier You: Turn off the News
Are you feeling stressed and can’t quite figure out why? Or are you looking to find more time in your day? Dr. Stracks recommends turning off the news as a way to lower your stress and spend time working on your goals.
Turn Off the News
Most days, I see at least one client who says, “I just need to stop reading the news.” Once upon a time, “the news” came to our house once a day, on paper. Since it was a defined entity, there was a limit to what could be consumed. I have distinct memories from when I was young of laying the newspaper down on the floor, reading the sports page, the comics, and the editorial page, and that was that.
These days, obviously, almost no one reads the news on paper, and there’s no limit on what can be consumed. Not only is there always one more story to click on, but it’s the job of news sites to figure out how to keep you there. From a news-industry standpoint, the more you read the better (because their ad revenue goes up), and the best way to keep you on their website is to give you stories that are more and more emotionally compelling. Even worse, since the human brain is wired to respond more strongly to negative news, we’re actually attracted to it and seek it out when given the chance. This creates a negative feedback loop that results, for example, in 87% of American COVID stories being negative in 2021, a much higher figure than in other countries or in scientific journals. Additionally, the news has gradually gotten more negative over time, regardless of which side of the political aisle people are on.
All the negativity does take a toll. Research has consistently shown both that monitoring the news is associated with higher levels of stress and that negative news increases feelings of anxiety and depression as well as the tendency to catastrophize, or assume the worst outcome will come true. Despite that, the propensity to search out negative news is so strong that the term doomscrolling was nominated for the Oxford English Dictionary Word of the Year in 2020. In many ways, it seems, we just can’t stop seeking out negative news. Tuning out the news clearly has benefits, however, and this article by Dawn Brown, MD, has a few tips on how to get started doing that.
First of all, figure out how to turn off your notifications and set limits on your news consumption. Go into the settings for your phone and computer and change the notifications—certainly on any news apps you have, but potentially on your social media accounts as well. Is instant access to new posts worth the increase in anxiety that results from being constantly on notice?
Secondly, seek out positive news stories. As mentioned above, there aren’t very many of these in the mainstream news, so you may have to look in new and specific places to routinely find some. Highly rated sites for positive news include Positive News, Reasons to Be Cheerful, and Jane Goodall’s Good for All News. In addition, most newspapers these days have a daily or weekly section devoted to good news, such as the Goodness section in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Lastly, consider taking complete breaks in your day, week, or month from the news by declaring certain times simply off-limits from electronic media. Set an hour or more during the day when you don’t have access to news websites, take a sabbath each week when there’s a period of time where you don’t search news sites, or take a weekend each month without any access to the news. In fact, Timothy Ferriss, in The 4-Hour Workweek, advocates going on a one-week media fast. He suggests this exercise:
Each day at lunch break, and no earlier, get your five-minute news fix. Ask a well-informed colleague or a restaurant waiter, “Anything important happening in the world today? I couldn’t get to the paper today.” Stop this as soon as you realize that the answer doesn’t affect your actions at all. (p 91)
Several years ago, I spent five days at an off-the-grid retreat center. When I got back to the airport to go home, I compulsively turned my phone back on to see what had happened while I was away. It took me three minutes to find the answer: nothing.
Until we get away from all the information, even for a little bit, it’s hard to recognize just how much of our need to find the information is driven by the websites we’re looking at and not by any actual need to know what’s going on in the world on any immediate basis. Here’s to reducing your stress and focusing on your own goals!
Are you hoping 2023 is the year you prioritize your time and focus on a healthier lifestyle? Great news! You don’t need to tackle this alone. At Cormendi Health, you will find answers, encouragement, and next steps. Please get in touch with us through our website or by calling 312-489-8890 to set up an appointment with Dr. Stracks. We can’t wait to meet with you!