Although the headlines provide positive news as well as negative, for example updates on the vaccine, it’s easy to find consuming the news an activity that puts us in a bad mood, disheartens or depresses us. It’s more important than ever to be aware of its impact on our mental health, and take self-care steps to limit this.
I think it’s important to be informed of what is going on, but also to know your limits as to how much you can consume before it affects your mental health. I also have a post on how to stop doomscrolling, but this is more generally with regard to how you stay updated with current events.
These days I think most people get their news from the internet rather than television or newspapers. The problem is that news websites are rabbit holes for doomscrolling. Every article can link to a dozen others, and maybe 5% are positive news. For this reason I try to avoid the internet as a source for news stories.
Timing
Ask yourself what time of day do you feel most able to cope with bad news. For me, it’s the morning. For others it may be later in the day so it doesn’t set them off in a negative frame of mind. I would recommend not doing the news last thing in the evening, though, because then the negativity could affect your sleep.
Find a good time of day for you to watch or listen to the headlines through television or radio. The benefit of these is they come with set time limits, as long as it’s not a news-only channel. Have a look around for what suits you best, and try and stay away from news sources the rest of the time. My doomscrolling post will have some tips on how to do that.
With Others
Depending on how connected you are with other people, you may find that you get updated a lot from friends, family, colleagues. Have a talk with them about setting some boundaries for when, how often and how long you spend talking about bad news.
If you don’t feel able to stay updated every day, then don’t put pressure on yourself out of a sense of needing to be aware of current events. Ask someone whom you trust to be mindful of your mental health to keep you updated on things you need to know—discuss between you what this covers, as it will be different for everyone, and let them know how best to do this, keeping in mind things like your best time of day for facing negativity.
If you have any other tips for this subject not covered here or in my doomscrolling post, please share them in the comments!