Contending with the Information Age
These days, we can easily become slaves to the news cycle and the many stories out there on social media, print media, and the plain ol’ fashioned network news. This article is about how to strike a balance between the nonstop news cycle while preserving your mental health.
The news is everywhere, we just can’t avoid it. There are even times where we might crave it and in a very odd way, we can even feel comforted by the media. I guess the information age has really come that far. The fact that we now see information as a source of comfort, is a pretty astonishing idea. Are we actually living in that futuristic time when machines, data, and technology are companions, giving us the emotional fulfillment that historically we received from other living beings? I wonder…what will the evolution of this era be?
Needless to say, we need to find a balance between the media and our mental wellbeing, or we will pay the price. As we know, the news cycle is not going away, it will be up to us individually, to find the solution that works for us with regards to our own mental health and the incessant news cycle.
Mental Health and The News Cycle
It seems that there are big news stories happening all the time, all around us. This past week is an example of one such big story that took over the news cycle and for good reason. The challenge then becomes how we manage to stay informed, while not allowing it to dominate our life.
The task at hand is to stay informed while maintaining some mental distance, it might even look like a little bit of a push-pull thing, which we know is never healthy. These days especially, we need to be up to date on Public Health recommendations, as our health and safety depend on it. However, with too much of this information, we run the risk of a damaging psychological effect, as most mental health professionals would agree, that the overconsumption of news and the media can have damaging effects on our mental, emotional and physical well being.
If you are struggling with how to strike that balance, then this article is for you, below are suggestions to help you solve the problem of too much media in your life.
How Mental Health Issues Manifest
The impact of too much news can play out in a variety of ways. Let’s face it, the majority of the news is negative, not a lot of balance between feel-good stories and hard, scary stories. This has an impact on our mood and on our brains. It can also increase our anxiety and worry about larger national issues, as well as community safety and security. Both of these side-effects lowered mood, and increased anxiety can lead to depression, panic attacks, and even in some cases, obsessive-compulsive behaviors. It should also be noted that anxiety and depression may lead to maladaptive behaviors such as alcohol and substance abuse, which is why it’s so important to find the balance between the news cycle and our mental health.
An article published by the New England Journal of Medicine, reports that alcohol consumption increased by 14% over the 2019 baseline with higher increases in various subgroups, an excerpt from the article can be found here. Anecdotally, this past fall a friend who works in a Boston area hospital told me that the ICU was full of not only COVID-related cases but also due to liver failure from alcohol-related illness.
If you notice that alcohol consumption has begun to creep up for you, as it has for many during the COVID 19 pandemic, there is support. SAMHSA, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has a national hotline where you can call for resources in your area.
We can’t ignore the impact that these issues can have on our social lives as well. Feelings around the news and politics run strong which can quickly turn a friendly, easygoing conversation into conflict. When we are bombarded with news from a particular point of view, there is not always a lot of room for an open and healthy conversation about national news events, especially when it comes to politics. Discourse is important, it keeps us on our toes and it’s always good to hear another person’s point of view. Making sure that it doesn’t become an argument can be the tricky part. Needless to say, this could be another negative impact of too much media and news in your life.
How to create balance with the news:
Check-in with yourself
The first step in creating balance is to first take a step back and think about where you are mentally and emotionally regarding the news and media events. Are you noticing that the news is on your mind a lot? How many hours a day are you exposed to the news, in one way or another? Keep in mind that we absorb news and media not just actively but passively.
If you keep a journal, this is a good place to be tracking where you are on a daily basis. You can use a simple Likert scale to rate how you are feeling on a given day, tracking this over time can help you analyze and assess if the news and national issues are impacting your mood and overall wellbeing. Of course, it will be important to be aware of context. Our overall mood and well-being are impacted by a variety of influencing factors, not just the media, but it is a piece of the puzzle.
Adjust the settings on your phone
This is a big one and an easy one! The notifications on our phones and the messages that pop up throughout the day are intrusive, distracting, and at times unnerving and can create a ton of anxiety. This is a simple fix, just look at your settings and turn off notifications. You can most likely customize this for specific apps, which is helpful.
Limit your time with the news
How many hours of the day is the news on in your home? Many households have the news on in the background to the daily ongoings. When we consider that many of us are still working from home, at least on a part-time basis, this increases our passive exposure to the media exponentially. Consider playing some background music instead, which is proven to increase our mood.
It can also be helpful to limit the time of day you get your news. Containing your news intake to an hour or two in the evening can help to set the limits around news intake and help you find the balance between staying informed and not allowing it to overrun your life.
Assess your news sources
Many of us tend to get comfortable with what we know and what we agree with. This impacts our news intake as well. We know that technology is intentionally feeding us the information based on our interests and online activity, this means that the breadth of information that we are consuming is increasingly narrowed. This means to fight this system, we need to go out of our way to ensure that we are getting our news and information from well-rounded, varied news sources.
Manage the social pressure
Recognize and know your audience. We need to use our judgment as to whether or not engaging in a discussion will have a good or potentially harmful outcome. Before engaging in a conversation, ask yourself; will this conversation help create a better understanding for both sides? Or will it become a battle of the wills, each side pushing their perspective as the correct opinion? If it’s the latter of these two scenarios, it might be better to pass and maintain some distance with this person or group.
It’s also good to remember that people might want to share their opinions with you but you don’t need to engage in that conversation. It can be ok to listen to what a person has to say and not share your own opinion. Limiting your “share time” can actually be an interesting experience, that provides insight into another “take” while maintaining your own sense of self.
Consider a Media Cleanse
Sometimes it is helpful to take a break from the news. If you find that you are increasingly worried about what is happening in the news and that this is impacting your sleep, your diet, and your distress. It might be an indicator that it would be good to do a news detox. In order to maintain some awareness as to what is going on, you could ask a family member to give you the highlights with an agreement that they will keep you up to date on the must-know information related to a pandemic for example. It could also be a nice way to end the day, where you can review the headlines from the day with your partner or family member which promotes healthy social engagement.
One word of caution, it might be helpful to set some limits around the expectations for these conversations. If one person is having a hard time taking a break from the news, they could feel emotional about what the other person is telling them. Just being aware of this could be helpful as you incorporate these conversations into your daily routines. As the saying goes, “don’t shoot the messenger”.
Find Your Peeps
Depending on what the news is and where you fall in our social structure, (or family structure), the news can leave you feeling alienated. As an example, a colleague of mine shared his distress over the news of the riots that took place in the Capitol this past week. Recognizing how destructive this was and how many people in his family could have participated in an event like this, left him emotionally distraught and isolated from a core, very central place in his life, this is an example of how the negative news cycles can wreak havoc on our mental health.
In these situations, it is important to find like-minded people. We need to connect to people who will help us to feel positive, encouraged, and frankly where we find support. It’s ok to find these communities either virtually or in our own social circles, in-fact I would encourage you to find these communities that can relate to your perspective.
Incorporate plenty of your own self-care routines
Another way to combat the negative news cycle and maintain your mental health is to make sure that your self-care routine is alive and well. Just yesterday I was reading about the link between the green space in a community and the rate of community violence. The more green space in a community, the less violence.
This just goes to show how time outdoors in nature can boost our mood and energy levels. Make sure that you are doing the things that help you feel good and lower the stress in your life. It might be a socially distanced outing with a friend, a planned zoom call, gardening, cooking, or indulging your artistic side and having some fun with painting or drawing. I have a bunch of canvases sitting on my dining room floor that I plan to use for just that. I am in no way an artist, but I love being able to play and create.
Summing it up
When it comes to mental health and the news cycle, there is no magic formula that will give you the balance that you need. It is rather, a process, that we are constantly assessing and tweaking as we go along. It will change from day to day, depending on what is going on in your life. Have patience with yourself and those around you. These are stressful times and we will get through them, we might even learn a little as we move through these ups and downs…. which would help us to feel that there was some good that is coming out of these difficult times.
If you found this article helpful, please hit the like button below and share it with your friends and family. If you are interested in learning how to build journaling into your self-care routine, you can sign up for my newsletter where you will receive my free journal guide. You will also get the latest news and information from Upside Down Flan that will help you stay mentally fit.
