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Child Item

Avoiding the News to Protect your Mental Health

JupiterKid

The state of world affairs is extremely negative and anxiety-provoking in recent months.

Watching the incessant news cycles of current events on TV or online - Gaza, Ukraine, the new Israel-Iran war, America descending into violence and chaos under Donald Trump, the race riots in Northern Ireland etc. is just not good at all for anyone's mental health and well-being.

Trump, Netanyahu, Putin, Orban, Farage etc are all vile narcissists and truly despicable men of the highest order. Netanyahu and Putin are war criminals who have used wars to shore up their own power.

All very dangerous individuals who lie to their people incessantly in order to stroke their huge but fragile egos and stoke hatred, mistrust, division - using scapegoats to distract their followers and sycophants from their own abject governance failures, worsening economic inequality and a quality of life for many in deep decline.

The current state of the world is truly depressing and demoralising. 😓😓 Watching the news on TV for even a few minutes is enough to make me very anxious, angry and upset. Therefore, I minimise my exposure to the news these days. I know it is said that it's important to keep up to speed with current events, but there is only so much one can watch or read without getting stressed out and upset.

Anyone else feel the same? Is there a need to limit our news intake of negative events for our own well-being?

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o1s1n

It's very interesting to see how different people react to the over saturation of world events at the moment and 24 hour news.

My missus is the same as yourself, doesn't really want to hear about it and always asks me to turn off the news when I have it on. Gives her terrible anxiety.

I'm the opposite. Have been staying up all week every night watching live news from Israel and Los Angeles and would be keeping an eye on things a lot while at work.

I don't want to say I enjoy the madness at the moment (as that would be psychopathic!) but I definitely do seem to get some sort of enjoyment in keeping up with fast paced world events.

prunudo

I don't necessarily think its the news matter that causes the anxiety, its the way it is framed. The news as we know is constantly trying to keep people in perpetual fear. The thing is, there will always be a war, a shooting, a scenario involving scenes of death. Its everywhere in the world and the news editors will always find it.

Thats not to say that we should stop consuming current affairs but how you consume it, deeply effects mental health. But a lot of the issue is social media imo, when it started, it was, (or certainly the way I used it) a way to see what family and friends were up. But as it developed, the algorithms have essentially meant its 24hr news in your hand, always there, mixed with brain numbing videos wwhich really serve no purpose, other than keeping your head down, enchamged for hours. Thanks to the algorithm, social media can now show us reel after reel of plane crashes, because we looked at the Air India new story. Its there in our hands 24/7 and its very easy for it to get inside the head.

All that said, the best way to cleanse the mind, is as simple turning off, not just the news, but also the radio and tv as a whole. Watching streaming services or listening to music podcats is key imo. Although the very best way is to put down the technology completely and go outside, listen to the birds and smell the fresh air.

ancapailldorcha

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123549394#Comment_123549394

Same here.

I do think it's important to take breaks, particularly from social media. A lot of people get their news from these awful sites and I don't think that that's a good thing.

Glaceon

My therapist advised me just today to unplug for a while!

landofthetree

I've officially given up on domestic affairs after seeing the news about the chairperson of new planning body. We just aren't a serious country.

magicbastarder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123549784#Comment_123549784

i'm the opposite to yourself and o1s1n. i would not say i explicitly do it to protect my mental health (which is thankfully good) but that i don't think i need to see all the detail; i don't need to see footage from gaza, i know the situation there is hellish; seeing more human suffering doesn't inform me any more. i guess you could argue i'm saying the devil isn't in the detail.

twenty or thirty years ago i would have been much more inclined to want to see all that there was to see on such a crisis; but obviously as well, twenty or thirty years ago we didn't have it available 24/7.

Appletart Upsetter

COVID was the breaking point for me, after all the anxiety that went along with that, much of it sensationalised, I made a couple of changes.

I removed all social media. I limit my intake of news each day and only read articles from reputable sources.

What's happening currently is distressing, but I try to focus on the people and things within my sphere of influence. No point stressing about things you have no control over.

Oscar_Madison

This isn’t a new phenomenon - go back 20 years and more - RTE’s “Morning Ireland” and evening show “Drive Time” were two of the most depressing shows on radio - absolutely no let up in misery and negativity

It didn’t encourage any sort of positivity or “celebration” or focus on the good things and stories happening in Ireland at that time.

It’s easy to switch off- a professor in college many years ago suggested reading the newspaper standing up for no more than 10 minutes a day - he had a point - there’s so much more positive things to focus on in life. It’s not about becoming ignorant about what’s happening in the world- staying properly informed is important with all the misinformation out there- but drowning in a sea of news, much of it either fake or seriously skewed towards whatever agenda, isn’t good on the mind long term

Potential-Monke

It's depressing enough that I no longer care. I won't go looking for news, and when I see it on social media I just swipe on. As said above, there will always be war, always be killings, it's the human way after all. So no point getting upset anymore. Our home grown cnuts are enough without having to worry about the rest of the world. But, I've mainly stopped caring because there is literally nothing I can do about any of it!

ArthurDayne

Interesting topic.

For me it's not just the saturation of news that is making people angrier — it's the nature of what people are saturated in. It often isn't a relatively impartial or even just a broad mix of current affairs from different perspectives, but rather what the algorithms have calculated they will be fixated by — and generally that will be things which elicit emotional reaction or feeling in that person, irrespective of whether the content is accurate or verified.

The most powerful of all those reactions is the reassurance of your righteousness. — the reassurance that you are right, others are wrong, your views are good for the world and their views are bad. A Right leaning person is more likely to become saturated online with every piece of content of foreign looking people doing bad things. Left leaning people will find themselves saturated with content massaging their sense of enlightenment and higher understanding of moral and ethical purity.

In both cases, the saturation only fuels a dangerous combination of anger towards others and a sense of infallibility regarding your own views.

thomil

One thing that I’ve found more exhausting than even the news is the ongoing “engagement dictate”, the undercurrent that we need to care about every single atrocity, every single crisis, or otherwise we’re just a bad person. B*tch, I’ve only got so much capacity to deal with crises, and I’ll focus as I see fit, anyone who has a problem with that can take a long walk off a short pier!

Beyond that, I just try to make social media work for me. I hardly check Facebook anymore, only keep Twitter active so no one else can steal my handle, and keep my Threads and Instagram feeds centred around my actual friends, some wildlife rehabbers, off-beat humour, the voice of the void, and of course my cherished mental health bivalve… I cut out all major news organs from my feeds years ago.

I’ve also started using apps such as Calm or Headspace, both of which I can recommend. Guided meditations and breathing exercises really help to stop my crisis-addled mind from racing…

Grayson

I used to check the news multiple times a day. Now it's only a couple of times.

It's all just so much. It's just non stop. Do you guys remember when the news was boring? When everyday wasn't something utterly shocking?

miamee

I used to work with a woman in the 90s who had studied journalism at college but had then turned on it and never watched or read the news. She relied on her husband to tell her anything she needed to know. In the 90s it was easy enough to avoid the tv, radio and newspapers I suppose in comparison to today. I wonder how she's doing now? Personally I have arrived at a position where I read headlines to have a small idea of what is happening but I only occasionally read full articles because I don't need or want to know the (sometimes gory) details.

Banzai600

ive seen a lot of changes in ppl since cov1d.

Social media is a deadly silent brain killer - the constant urge ppl cant break away from, that need to keep clicking or swiping, its like a brainwashing fentanyl.

i dont use social apps or facefck so if you do, stay away from them or any other social apps for that matter. And the news if you aint bothered - the same mind corralling and pedaling being spurted by rte so you are missing nothing there either.

miamee

This is an interesting/timely article on Silicon Republic today, apparently the Irish consume more news than the average EU or UK citizen.

"Most people in Ireland (56pc) across all age groups are interested in news, the highest level of interest in news since 2022, up 3 points from last year, but down from a high of 70pc in 2021, during the Covid pandemic. It puts Irish audiences well ahead of their UK counterparts (39pc) and indeed the EU average of 45pc."

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/business/digital-news-report-irish-beat-eu-average-on-news-consumption?mtm_campaign=Daily_Brief&mtm_content=Tuesday&utm_source=Silicon+Republic+Daily+Brief&utm_campaign=d7e97ec739-DailyBrief_Tuesday_2025_06_17_07_55&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-d7e97ec739-110287879&mc_cid=d7e97ec739&mc_eid=7186cb764f

freshpopcorn

I started avoiding the news a few years ago.

I will skim the headlines and pay attetion to something locally.

I might briefly follow the odd murder trial.

I don't get bogged down in it tough. A quick skim of the headlines is all you need. I see no benefit of listening to a current affairs radio show for hours in the morning/evening, then news bulletins and the current affairs show. In general it's the same thing drawn out.

archfi

The #1 thing people can do to protect themselves from overload and to be quite honest utter bullshyte, is never bother with 24/7 news channels.

Oh and if you use social media, for example X, default yourself to the 'Following' tab. And turn off DMs.

Water John

Back at the time of the 2008 crash, I remember the message, 'only listen to the news, once a day'.

As many above have noted it's about, how you consume it also. Having it shoved at you, is the reason I listen/look at little news. I generally read articles from, reliable sources on subjects.

Sgt Hartman

Here’s a song for people who are tired of all the negativity and misery from watching the news.

https://youtu.be/1rmAi9XmlIo?si=8UTP-cgP0ueCidis

fits

I’ve limited my social media apps to 15 minutes a day and it has made a huge difference. Gaza on Instagram is very tough. US idiocy on threads is stressful as well. I’m also buying much less with not being constantly influenced.
I get my news from the Irish times app and rte webpage - occasionally looking something up elsewhere. And I limit that too. Was very stressed out and scared by the troubles as a child so keen to avoid that for my kids.

Tell me how

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058416666/avoiding-the-news-to-protect-your-mental-health

Watching Israel (under Netanyahu) gaslight the world over the last two years in particular. And seeing the Western powers mostly line up to support him in his genocide and spreading of destruction in the Middle East has been one of the most depressing current affairs experience of my lifetime. His brazenness and their acquiescence has been very demoralizing. And the support of the likes of the BBC in this has been particularly galling with respect to the News factor.

I remember feeling frustrated by the "Global War on Terror" in the early noughties and the financial crash in 2008 being a tough few years mentally but these last 18 months in particular have been a different level.

I don't have a television so not watching the news isn't an issue for me per se, but I still click on RTE News and BBC websites a couple days a week and I am an avid follower of some current affairs podcasts and conversations on social media so I'm still submerged in it.

And it is difficult, very. I said in 2016 when Trump won that he would lower the bar of what was acceptable political discourse and behaviour and would severely impact many political events and that has absolutely been the case though he is not fully responsible for the disturbing events above.

He came to power in 2016, the same year of Brexit, I often think what the world would be like if neither event had happened and instead we collectively had decided to work on protecting the climate in a meaningful way or solving conflicts instead of supporting them. It's very depressing.

_Puma_

Irish commercial radio stations are getting worse than social media(you really notice it if you travel up to Northern Ireland and hear the selection and quality up there) . The "news" bulletins here are getting as bad for your mental health as doom scrolling...

Only a select number of stations are put on anymore (I'm looking at you Marty) and maybe the local station.

Set yourself up a plex Server and put your music on it. You will never look back.

Flinty997

I tend to only look at a handful of mainstream news sites and then maybe once day. Might go a few days without looking at news. A lot of it click bait and just the same stuff repeated.

Don't have TV so never see that news. Don't listen to radio news at all.

I definitely think it effects your mental state of you look at it too much.

redoctober

I think it's the ubiquitous nature of news now. It's like everything you turn on is covering something doom-related. The growth of all these media outlets and their business is to continually analyse 24-7. I think it gets too much. Being informed is good but you get saturated these days. The news by its nature is about serious issues and so is negative by-and-large. I agree with the OP that it's better to switch off. This latest conflict (Iran); I'm finding myself losing interest. It's conflict overload!

Edit: also I think the Irish news outlets tend to be very negative. No matter what happens it's given a negative slant. Sarah McInerney with her "gotcha" questions gets pretty tiresome.

ednwireland

I tend to watch/ listen to the sat sun lunchtime programs. read a few left/ right news sites. as to rte news maybe once a week.

I find irish news is seems to not give a balanced view ( does anywhere)

Esse85

Reading crap on here is just as toxic as listening to the news.

Whilst giving up watching the news can be beneficial, it's important to be aware of what you replace that time with.

Grayson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123563666#Comment_123563666

I think Irish news is generally more balanced. But that's because they're smaller outlets with less resources. So with Irish news you tend to get less analysis and more facts.

Strumms

I check in once in the morning and once in the evening. Keep aware of what’s happening. That’s enough.

FernandoTorres

I like reading history which I think helps contextualise things and helps me realise that the world is no more depressing than it's ever been. In fact you could argue we're better off now. The difference is the bombardment of news, especially since social media came along. The algorithms are getting more powerful and they actively push negativity and outrage as they're proven to increase "engagement" (profits). Look into Facebook's role in the Myanmar genocide for just one example of how things can get out of hand. Best you can do is decide what you need to know and be as ruthless as possible in cutting anything else out. Getting rid of Twitter was the best thing I've done.

PopePalpatine

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123551345#Comment_123551345

I think the worst thing about it all is that it all feels so hopeless. What's the point of donating the odd tenner to UNICEF when that just ends up either rotting or crushed under some tank treads at a border checkpoint?