From Dr.Nancy’s interview with Healthline
Researchers say that when people constantly read news that they are “doomscrolling.” When you see too much bad news you can have more fear and anxiety. It can occupy too much of your day and keep you up late at night. And it only serves to make you worried and sad.
This is especially true since Covid-19. You want to know all you can to keep safe. So, you may go through every newsfeed and sometimes get misinformation. It’s not a good idea and can make you anxious to focus so much on the Covid. Once you have heard the recommended precautions and have good guidelines, it’s better to focus on more positive activities.
We know that when you’re around anyone who is depressed or talking about heavy things, your ‘affect’ drops, whether it’s in person or online. That’s just the natural effect on our nervous and emotional systems.
Researchers in the UK and Canada found that even 2-4 minutes of doomscrolling about Covid-19 on Twitter or YouTube experienced “immediate and significant” reductions in optimism and positive mood.
Doomscrolling also takes a physical toll. It’s tiresome for the mind and the body to process the stress and anxiety generated by doomscrolling. It results in fatigue by wearing out the nervous system.
Research shared in Get Reel: Produce Your Own Life, revealed that people who watch too many crime shows tend to have a sense of “mean world’ syndrome in which they overestimate the amount of crime which reduces their feelings of safety. They become more hypervigilant, so they watch more news to find out what’s going on. The cycle repeats itself.
But when the news is Covid related, it’s disheartening in terms of the number of cases and deaths. You can feel helpless. because you don’t have a sense that you can fix it or do anything about it.
But the more you expose yourself to negativity, the more feeling badly becomes a way of being. You get used to feeling badly and expect to feel that way rather than feeling positive and uplifted. There are so many studies that support this. Whatever you expose yourself to is what influences your life.
You probably don’t need a period of going cold turkey, unless you’re really heavily doomscrolling. Typically, you can cut down the amount of news, make it more concise, and make sure it’s coming from sources that are accurate. Then remember to check your phone only at specific times and not all of the time, subscribe to some valid news outlets for daily news, and then let it go.
Be conscious of the amount of time you spend reading news and monitor yourself before you start feeling badly. Do something other than doomscrolling. Read positive and uplifting information. Live consciously and you will find that you are much more in tune with the amount of news that is good for you as an individual.
For more on how to safely navigate media see the award-winning book, Get Reel: Produce Your Own Life. https://drnancyonline.com/product/get-reel-produce-life/