There’s no such thing as a good addiction. And the news, a heaping pile of crap, is most definitely no better than any other addiction. News addiction is a cycle in which one develops an obsession with the news leading constant ruminating and checking for updates to the point where begins to interfere with one’s activities of daily living. With media being more freely available and everyone seemingly able to make up a “news” channel, there has never been a time where more opinions are being thrown at us, with the effects of news addiction being under studied.
Researchers from Texas Tech University analyzed the effect of this addiction on 1,100 adults and published their results in journal Health Communication.
They surveyed people on their level of agreement to statements like “I become so absorbed in the news that I forget the world around me,” “I find it difficult to stop reading or watching the news,” “my mind is frequently occupied with thoughts about the news,” and “I often do not pay attention at school or work because I am reading or watching the news.”
In addition, the participants were also surveyed about their feeling so stress, anxiety, and physical symptoms like pain, inability to focus, fatigue, etc.
Of the people surveyed, 16.5% showed signs of “severely problematic” relationship to news consumption to the point where checking the news and immersion in it lead to problems with work, school, relationship with family and friends, insomnia, and obsessive thoughts. These people were also at higher risk of physical and mental illness associated with their news obsession.
Within this group of “severely problematic” participants, when asked about experiencing mental distress, 73.6% of the respondents answered “quite a bit” and “very much”. Whereas 8% of outside of this group felt this way from the news.
In addition, this problematic group, 61% experienced physical distress “quite a bit” or “very much” compared to 6.1% of the other respondents.
“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,” said author, Bryan 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 news. Thus, the results of our study emphasise that the commercial pressures that news media face are not just harmful to the goal of maintaining a healthy democracy, they also may be harmful to individuals’ health.”
So while the news is an important source about what is happening in the world, unfortunately it is polluted by opinions and the pressure to constantly “engage” readers for revenues. To do so, news outlets will create clickbait, sensationlize stories, over dramatize, and create divisive opinions all at the expense of the readers’ mental health and providing important information.
B McLaughlin et al. Caught in a dangerous world: problematic news consumption and its relationship to mental and physical ill-being. Health Communication (2022).DOI: 10.1080/10410236.2022.2106086
