Why the News These Days Keeps Wearing Me Out
Maybe it’s because every single news story is so sensational, but after having it open all day, my head throbs. I feel like I should stay informed, but it feels like I’m constantly being drained emotionally.
Reading the comments makes it even worse, so these days I just skim the headlines and close it.
4 answers
Well, I'm not so sure about that. It's true that you're more comfortable if you don't watch the news, but if that keeps piling up, it's easy to become someone who has no clue how the world works. Being tired and becoming indifferent are different issues. The point is to fix the habit of only seeking out sensational stories, not to cut yourself off from the news entirely. And it's not like the news has only been sensational recently.
This really resonates. I deleted the news app itself and now only binge-read it about once a week, and since then my headaches have dropped dramatically. On the other hand, the YouTube algorithm kept clinging to me, so I cleaned that up too. You'd think you'd feel anxious if you don't check, but once you actually stop, the world gets quiet and your life just goes on as usual. If missing information is the concern, keeping just a few keyword alerts and blocking the rest was the most effective thing for me.
Agreed—these days there are so many headlines that make my heart sink just looking at them lol. I turned off all my notifications too.
Skimming just the headlines is one approach, but even that’s a curated frame lol. In the end, maybe the problem isn’t the news but the habit of staring at your phone all day. I set my news time to 10 minutes in the morning, and at least I feel less drained.