Opinion: It’s bad for our health to know what’s going on.
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Print newspapers may be fading from relevance, yet the “news” remains an omnipresent force in our lives. As our parents and grandparents mill about the kitchen with Fox or CNN droning in the background, the most studious and intellectual university students will check the New York Times or Washington Post to stay informed. The rest of us (myself included) refresh and reload Twitter, TikTok and Instagram for the latest hot takes.
The compulsion to look for the next rage-inducing headline, coupled with the more genuine desire to educate myself, can leave me feeling burnt out and misanthropic. Despite the distress that the news can cause, it doesn’t feel right to completely tune it out either. With all the world’s information only a few taps away, is there any excuse to be uneducated on current events? In other words, do we have a moral obligation to consume the news?
There is a wealth of information to suggest that consumption of news is not great for one’s health. Watching the news can cause feelings of distress and anxiety, something the majority of us have most likely experienced. High levels of exposure to violent news clips can lead to negative health consequences, increasing risk of heart attacks and other negative health effects even years later. A UCLA study found that those who watched excessive coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing displayed symptoms of stress and anxiety that were even higher than those who had witnessed the event in person. Not only is this type of negative news bad for the individual, but it’s also bad for society, exploiting people’s fear of immigrants and eroding their trust in members of their community.
Online news suffers from its own problems. A study published this year out of Nature Human Behavior found that for every negative word in a news headline clicks increased by 2.5%. Clickbait, in which news organizations exaggerate or misrepresent the truth in order to get more engagement, is a major problem. Overall, over-exposure to negative news can lead to what is referred to as learned helplessness, in which individuals feel that they lack the ability to meaningfully affect the world around them, a common symptom of depression.
Despite the negative effects of reading or watching the news, it doesn’t seem right to completely ignore what is happening to the world. News segments about the latest gruesome murder or a new celebrity scandal might be okay to skip. But can I truly be justified in turning a blind eye to the defining issues of our day just because they’re uncomfortable to see? I don’t think I can justify ignoring issues of gun violence, police brutality, poverty and anti-trans legislation just because learning about these things may upset me. Afterall, we can’t expect to fix the world’s problems if we don’t know about them.
I believe we have a moral obligation to contribute positively to the world. Education allows us to know how best to do that. But education only becomes a moral good when we do something positive based on the information that we have received. Learning the details of a conflict happening on the other side of the world, a major natural disaster or the intricacies of government is only useful when we are able to take action and have a tangible impact on what is going on. Informing yourself about these issues but doing nothing does not make you a better person than someone who knows nothing. In fact, I sometimes wonder if over-consumption of the news is just a performance the privileged use to prove to themselves (and sometimes others) how much they care, and how different they are from the “bad” privileged people that aren’t as informed. Without real, material action, education is not inherently moral.
If news consumption is increasing fear, anxiety and feelings of hopelessness within you, it is only hurting your ability to contribute positively to the world. If you don’t want to follow the news, but do wish to stay informed, ask the people in your life what could be done to make their lives better and easier. Despite our best attempts, most of us aren’t able to have a major impact on what is happening in other countries or even on our federal government. We will instead have the greatest impact in our own school, workplace or local government.
Lastly, a good antidote to the hopelessness that sometimes accompanies the news is to read books, studies or listen to podcasts on the issues that matter to you. This allows for more in-depth knowledge, which can help you to know why an issue exists and what can be done about it. After reading about the same problems over and over again in the news, it is easy to forget that there are solutions and that a brighter world is possible.
Do you have a moral obligation to follow the news? The answer is no, unless you’re reading an Emerald opinion piece.