Mainstream news consumption can be detrimental to our mental well-being. Excessive exposure weakens our cognitive faculties, necessitating a reassessment of our news consumption habits.​

Regularly following the news may not only waste time but also act as a slow poison, gradually impacting our mental health.​

News channels often lead our minds astray, portraying individuals and institutions negatively, fostering mistrust. Their minute-by-minute updates reduce our ability to reflect on our surroundings. Opinions from anchors and reporters can exacerbate cognitive biases, hindering creativity and societal cohesion. While we may believe that the media informs us, in reality, we remain ignorant and deluded as a society.​

News is Immaterial

Does any news make us smarter? Does it enhance our relationships or calm our senses? The answer is often no. Much of the news we consume is irrelevant to our lives. Many issues highlighted are beyond our influence, instilling hopelessness and low self-esteem.​

For a nation burdened with longstanding issues, the media fails to play a positive role. Instead, it fuels helplessness by bombarding us with problems beyond our control. Research indicates that individuals with an external locus of control experience more negative outcomes in health, relationships, personal growth, and wealth compared to those with an internal locus of control. This is a high price to pay for staying “informed.”​

News is a Commercialized Business

News outlets primarily aim to generate profit. As conglomerates, their focus is on prestige and revenue, not on objectively informing the public. Headlines are crafted to boost ratings, often sacrificing accuracy. Likes, page views, and new content drive advertising revenue but frequently lack relevance and accuracy.​

Notably, some of the harshest critiques of the news industry come from within. Nick Denton, founder of Gawker, remarked:​

“I learned the news business in the UK, in which newspaper political coverage is much like cable TV news in the US. Fake news, manufactured, hyped, rehashed, retracted — until at the end of the week you know no more than at the beginning.”​

News Leads to Depression

Studies have shown that increased news consumption correlates with heightened emotional distress. For instance, research indicates that greater engagement with news about events like the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with symptoms of anxiety and depression. ​_{American Psychological Association}

News consumption can increase cortisol levels, deregulating the immune system and leading to stress and fatigue. This fosters a pessimistic view of our environment, making us addicted to negativity and prone to cognitive errors. Our brains become wired to recall unpleasant events, perpetuating a cycle of distress.​

News Deceives

Historically, the newspaper industry used sensationalism to boost sales, evoking emotions like anger, anxiety, fear, or awe to increase readership. This era, known as the “yellow press,” peaked during the early 20th century and during wartime periods.

Today, sensationalism persists, with media outlets emphasizing violence, tragedy, conflict, protests, and war to capture attention. This results in a distorted reality, lacking substantive information. Overemphasis on fear-inducing events, often through data manipulation, skews public perception.​

The rise of “beta journalism” prioritizes speed over accuracy, leading to misinformation. A 2006 study by Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler demonstrated the “backfire effect,” where corrections to false claims often reinforce misconceptions.​

The News Detox

To enhance happiness, consider reducing news intake. Reading books on topics of interest often provides more knowledge than mainstream news. Unsubscribe from daily news alerts and opt for weekly or monthly magazines like The Economist, Forbes, or Business Week. Eliminate news apps from your smartphone. Regarding television, cutting out news channels can help detox from media clutter. Important news will reach you through digital media or conversations.​

This isn’t about ignoring global issues but recognizing that constant exposure to negative news is unhelpful. Change begins within, and the first step is realizing we have a choice: to live happily with real knowledge or be consumed by fear.​

“The world isn’t such a bad place at all as long as one didn’t read the daily newspapers.” — Bill Aitken