The advent of mobile phone makes consuming news an anytime, anywhere habit. With it comes anxiety and other mental health issues induced by nonstop consumption of negative content. We’re going to look into the reasons driving us to overdose on negative content, despite knowing for sure that it feels unpleasant. Then we’ll examine some coping strategies to stay informed while maintaining our composure.
why do we consume negative content?
We are programmed by our genes to be more attentive to negativity. This is because being more attuned to negative signals will give us a better chance to escape from predators or disasters, and allow us to prepare for better survival. Translating to the information age, it means we are naturally attracted to negative news and content.
However, as neuroscientist and psychiatrist Arash Javanbakht explained in his book Afraid, when we are afraid, we are already in a heightened state of arousal (fight or flight). We will attempt to scan for additional threats by taking in more information that we think can protect us. As a result, we become more inclined to view negative content. This gives us a false sense of certainty and control, amid a highly uncertain environment.
In this state, we will tune out all neutral or positive signals, as these are deemed lower priority during a crisis. This easily push us into a downward spiral. We become so biased to think that the whole world is disastrous, and everything (or everyone) is out there to get us. In other words, we descend into catastrophic thinking or fall prey to conspiracy theories.
Biologically, when we spin up the first negative thought process, the brain’s command center will instruct the whole body to prepare for fight or flight. In return, tight body sensations will send feedback signal to your brain, which interprets the sensations as being in a dangerous environment. Our brain will believe our body, and then screen for more negative content to respond. Thus a negative spiral is formed, trapping us inside.
This false perception of enhancing survival by taking in more information for “better decision making”, actually results in worst decisions because in such a heightened emotional state, we become so emotional, and default to the amygdala.
how is media creating a negative swell?
Content platforms and media exploit this human trait to feed us what we react strongest to (always negative). This had been happening long before the advance of AI content push algorithms, as cable news networks tended to repeat the same disaster or horrific happening all day (or weeks) long, with very emotional coverage. There has been the saying that “only the dramatic is newsworthy”. With the recommendations of social feeds, it becomes even easier to get us into a survival and preparation mode.
As we follow through their suggestions, the platforms assume you enjoy those and would push similar content more, creating the negative spiral described in the previous section. In effect, we are helping to train the platform’s data model to be more precise in pushing what is perceived as the “right content” for us. In return, our view becomes more and more narrow and negative, trapped in an echo chamber that is always proving to us that we are right and everyone is thinking like us. Worst yet, we mistaken that with reality.
Dr. Javanbakht offered 2 personal experiences where media and algorithms created such negativity in his life. One is when he opened an Instagram to follow his personal trainer. Within a week, his feed was filled with super atheletes, training KOL, etc. that made him think he was so lagging behind and everyone was so strong and slim. The 2nd episode was when he followed 2 mildly left political commenters in Twitter. Within a short time, his feed was filled with extreme comments that demonize all right leaning people. This is no different than my experience, in which a search for professional medical information turns into video recommendation of sensation dramas of terminally ill patients in deathbed surrounded by tearful family!
In Deeper Mindfulness, Professor Williams also mentioned a patient who used to work in media. She said they only wrote about the exceptional things that have a slim chance of happening to anyone. Nevertheless, even after she left the job, she was still so used to consume such sensational news and got very anxious.
how to counter influences from negative content?
diet and social distancing
Just as the pandemic has instilled in us a lot of hygienic practices, we can also be deliberate in what we feed our brains by practicing diet and social distancing from information. We can ask ourselves if we really need to be hooked to content all day long, and if we are feeding nutrients to our mind and heart. Realize that what the media portray is just a tiny slice of the real world, and there are much more positive things waiting for us to explore outside. Or as Dr Lobsang suggested in one of his books, we can reject negative content like refusing delivery of a package on arrival.
look at ourselves like a drone
We can always invoke our meta-cognition skill, which is a form of meta thinking (thinking of our thinking). Essentially, we zoom out and look back into ourselves, like a drone flying over a house. We examine our thinking process like a friend listening to us, to provide much needed neutrality. This distances ourselves from our emotions and offers us more space to see the situation as-is, without all the colorful lens we acquire from the negative content we consumed.
we are not defined by our emotion
When we are stuck in negative emotions stoked by the news, we can be comforted that we are not our fleeting emotions. As Headspace founder Andy Puddicombe wrote, emotions are like taxis zooming by on the road. You won’t hop on one without knowing where it goes. The other very common analogy is to view ourselves as the clear sky, whereas emotions are like clouds that form and dissipate but never stay for long.
here, now, I
Another tip is to focus on here, now, I, to be concentrating on what is happening here, presently and the only thing I can, and should do. Classifying whether it is something I am responsible for, or can control, is very important in freeing us from irrelevant information that always attempt to steal our attention. It doesn’t make you a selfish person, rather, it enforces your boundary so you can be more focused. In fact, the Stoic practice of distinguishing what we can control might have positive influence in mental health. And as the famous monk and garden designer Masuno Shunmyo wrote
there exists things in front of you that you must do now and here. Doing it well is the meaning of living.
diversify our content source
Dr. Javanbakht advised that if you must consume news, try non-commercial media that are not solely relying on clicks for revenue, and can offer a more neutral stance. I also echo his advice as in the past year, I’ve gradually shifted my consumption to NHK World, which offers a very diverse offering of documentaries on humanity, scientific breakthroughs, arts, design innovations, etc. I also notice that by consuming news from different countries, you are not restricted to the often polarized and fearmongering tone that would dominate any particular region. I also stop following political commenters or KOLs as they often have a preset framework that is used to explain nearly everything. As explained in this Psychology Today article, in today’s media there is often a lack of distinction between news and comment…news-as-comment is just one step away from fake news. Winning the political argument is all that matters, it’s not important whether the information you garner to support your argument is heavily angled or even sheer fakery. This is because, by our very nature, human beings cannot allow their ingrained political or ideological beliefs to be destroyed by “facts” because for many people those beliefs define them and are a central component of their self-identity. To destroy those beliefs is to effectively destroy the person, so any information that protects these beliefs is valuable, even if it’s fake.
read instead of listen and watch
Finally, as humans are more reactive to emotional stories delivered via audio, Dr. Javanbakht also suggested we read news instead of watch them, to reduce the emotional impact brought forth by exaggerating voices, stimulating videography, etc.
conclusion
What you see will ultimately become your reality. Make sure your reality is balanced.
Many mental health books have indicated that our mind creates the reality we experience. Thus it is imperative we take in only a nutritious and balanced diet. I’ll end this post with a saying from Dr. Javanbakht that summarizes,
The news our parents watched was what happened. The news we watch is what could possibly happen.