The world needs you to consume less news

It’s considered good and upstanding to stay on top of world affairs. You want to be educated about the world, right? But there is so much to keep up on. So much injustice to counter.

I’m here to tell you that the world needs you to consume less news. I know you’re doing it from a good place but I think you should take a break.

First, the expectation to “stay on top of things” is a modern invention. Something only possible during the most recent fraction of human history. For most of history, news travelled slowly—by word of mouth, by post, by pigeon. Now it shrieks at us from every screen, 24/7. This is not normal. It’s not neutral either.

Secondly, obsessive news consumption wreaks havoc on your nervous system. It has no idea what a 24/7 news cycle is—all it hears is: threat, threat, threat. It floods your system with adrenaline, and keeps cortisol levels high, activating your fight-or-flight response for battles you can’t fight. Eventually, the body shuts down. You dissociate. Numbness sets in. All this distant suffering starts to warp how you treat the people right next to you.

Thirdly, news consumption is addictive—the constant refreshing and endless doomscrolling. It’s a slot machine dressed up in a three-piece suit. News outlets are happy to exploit this, minting a never-ending stream of information designed to capture attention and conjure outrage.

All of this renders you ineffective. How can you do good when you have 36 tabs vying for your attention? When you’re constantly worried about what The Other Party is up to now? When you’re busy tallying losses from around the world? Your capacity for doing good is consumed by your addiction to feeling bad.

C.S. Lewis wrote in 1946 that “A great many people do now seem to think that the mere state of being worried is in itself meritorious.”

We inflict anxiety on ourselves, through our own choices, and then elevate that sense of feeling bad as evidence of our moral worth.

Let go of the news cycle. Not forever, but try a week without it. Let your nervous system move back into equilibrium. Read a book. Root yourself in the world around you. I predict it will make you both happier and more effective.

Trying to stay on top of everything will ensure everything stays on top of you.