Can checking news continuously lead to stress and anxiety? Yes, it could. A new study published in Health Communication said that people with an obsessive urge to constantly check the news are more likely to suffer from stress, anxiety, as well as physical ill health.
In the study, the researchers noted that reading bad news can make one feel temporarily powerless and distressed. This was quite relevant with respect to the last two years when people went through a series of worrying global events, from COVID pandemic to Russia invading Ukraine,large-scale protests, mass shootings and devastating wildfires.
Well, with respect to people who are exposed to a 24-hour news cycle of continually evolving events can have serious impacts on mental and physical well being, he researchers said. People who have high levels of News addiction have “significantly greater physical ill-being”, they noted.
OBSESSION
Associate professor of advertising at the College of Media and Communication at Texas Tech University Bryan McLaughlin said, “witnessing these events unfold in the media can bring about a constant state of high alert in some people, kicking their surveillance motives into overdrive and making the world seem like a dark and dangerous place.”
The researchers said that a vicious cycle could develop for these people and this could become an obsession over the news and checking for updates around the clock to alleviate their emotional distress. “But it doesn’t help, and the more they check the news, the more it begins to interfere with other aspects of their lives,” said Bryan McLaughlin.
METHOD
McLaughlin and his colleagues, Dr Melissa Gotlieb and Dr Devin Mills, analysed data from an online survey of 1,100 US adults. In the survey, people were asked about the extent to which they agreed with statements like “I become so absorbed in the news that I forget the world around me”, “my mind is frequently occupied with thoughts about the news”, “I find it difficult to stop reading or watching the news”, and “I often do not pay attention at school or work because I am reading or watching the news”.
The respondents were also asked about how often they experienced feelings of stress and anxiety, as well as physical ailments such as fatigue, physical pain, poor concentration, and gastrointestinal issues.
FINDINGS
The results revealed that 16.5 per cent of people surveyed showed signs of ‘severely problematic’ news consumption. Such individuals frequently became so immersed and personally invested in stories that the stories dominated the individual’s waking thoughts, disrupted time with family and friends, made it difficult to focus on school or work, and contributed to restlessness and an inability to sleep.
People with higher levels of problematic news consumption were significantly more likely to experience mental and physical ill-being than those with lower levels, even when controlling for demographics, personality traits, and overall news use, they said.
McLaughlin calls for the need for focused media literacy campaigns to help people develop a healthier relationship with the news. “While we want people to remain engaged in the news, it is important that they have a healthier relationship with the stories,” he says.
“In most cases, treatment for addictions and compulsive behaviours centres on complete cessation of the problematic behaviour, as it can be difficult to perform the behaviour in moderation.
“In the case of problematic news consumption, research has shown that individuals may decide to stop, or at least dramatically reduce, their news consumption if they perceive it is having adverse effects on their mental health.
In addition, the study also calls out the need for a wider discussion about how the industry may be fuelling the problem.
“The economic pressures facing outlets, coupled with technological advances and the 24- hour news cycle have encouraged journalists to focus on selecting “newsworthy” stories that will grab news consumers’ attention,” says McLaughlin.
“However, for certain types of people, the conflict and drama that characterize newsworthy stories not only grab their attention and draw them in, but also can lead to a maladaptive relationship with the media. Thus, the results of our study emphasise that the commercial pressures that media face are not just harmful to the goal of maintaining a healthy democracy, they also may be harmful to individuals’ health.”
Limitations of this study include reliance on a data collected at one point in time, where the authors could not establish the exact relationship between problematic news consumption and mental and physical ill-being
Better not check stories contionusly.
