How News Addiction Effects our Mood
News addiction has become more popular with the excess of news channels and sources. Following the news may make you feel connected but makes you less engaged with life. We have been aware of this reality for a long time that the emotional content of television programs and films effects the psychological health.
It directly affects your mood which in turn affects the various aspects of our behavior and thinking. If the news trigger negative emotions (anger, sadness, anxiety), these emotions affect the way how you perceive the events in your own life and what memories you recall as a result. There is also an increasing tendency of sensationalizing and emotionalizing the news by the broadcasters. This is done by emphasizing any negative aspect of the story no matter what the risk. The worst thing is that the news stories might not be an accurate portrayal of the happenings either and are designed and telecasted in such a way so that more viewers are hooked perpetuating a catastrophic mindset. It is usually scaremongering at every possible chance available so that the impact of news could be sensationalized.
The phenomena FOMO
News addiction is somehow related to FOMO (fear of missing out) as well. You want to be updated to the current affairs but being hooked to news all day long has severe side effects on your mood which would go from normal to depressed or angered in a moment.
Think for yourself! Do you even remember last month’s news? News is an addictive trivia. And what passes for being valuable is far from it. Moreover, the job of news is to shock you out of your contentment. All it does is affecting your mood making you feel scared, anxious or worried. The core marketing method of news is to generate fear.
The addiction of news just keeps you glued so you may not miss out anything. But be honest? How many news stories are even personally relevant to you? None.
You Blunt Your Judgement with Too Much News
There is nothing wrong with keeping yourself updated but the 24/7 news world where we live now has serious disadvantages. The constant flow of news with little analysis and usually no context makes everything seem terribly important and urgent. When though of rationally, it cannot all be important. It is just the frenzy which is created by the news channels. But the feeling gets to you making it impossible to escape.
News Depresses You
The feeling of urgency which is manifested by the news channels all the time raises your emotional temperature and raises the alert alarm of your brain.
Although you are not thinking about it consciously while watching the news bulletin, both your mind and mood is affected by the tone and style of what you see and hear more than the content.
The media just knows how to package it which keeps you hooked and makes you want more. Therefore, it is not surprising that you literally get addicted to the news making yourself anxious and depressed.
An easy option to stay away from it is to block news sites by using an app like FocusMe. With the tool TimeLimiter you can allow yourself say 20 mins on your favourite news site. After the 20 mins the site will be blocked for the rest of the day.
Good luck.
