Feeling Anxious After Scrolling the News? Here’s Why—and What to Do About It
Your outrage is a feature, not a bug, I fear
How do you feel after scrolling through the morning news? Informed and ready to tackle the day — or frustrated, anxious, and stuck in a doom loop?
If you’re anything like most of us, it’s probably the second. And that, my friends, is no accident.
News outlets profit from heightened emotions — especially fear and anger — because they drive engagement, increase viewership, and boost ad revenue.
If the news leaves you feeling angry, anxious, or overwhelmed, you’re not alone. But you are being manipulated.
This isn’t just one side’s issue, either: news outlets across the political spectrum use outrage to keep their viewers hooked.
Social media makes this all worse. Algorithms are designed to prioritize highly emotional content, keeping users engaged … and often enraged.
In 2020, Pew Research Center estimated that nearly 50% of Americans got their news from social media. Given social media’s growing dominance, that number has likely only increased.
Another study found that higher amounts of social media usage among adults were correlated with higher levels of irritability and anger. And the American Psychological Association theorizes that heightened exposure to news media through technology is driving pervasive anxiety, stress, and overall mental health decline.
This level of stress and anger keeps people in a perpetual state of fight or flight — when we’re always reacting, it dampens our ability to think critically and take decisive action. We’re more susceptible to emotional arguments, we’re distracted, and we’re divided. All of this benefits politicians, media, and corporations, while serving to cut us off from each other and from our own sense of logic.
So what do we do?
Staying informed doesn’t have to mean endless doom-scrolling, fighting comment wars, or constantly battling misinformation.
But it does mean active participation in seeking out knowledge over outrage.
Here’s how you can take control of your news consumption:
Curate your feeds. This means making conscious decisions to seek out a diverse array of news sources. Follow only a small selection of commentators that represent all sides of the political horseshoe. Build a balance between independent news sources and traditional news media. Prioritize facts over opinion. AllSides is a great source for gauging for bias.
Fact check at the source. Instead of only relying on commentary, read the actual bills, court decisions, or reports. Watch full videos instead of only viral clips. This keeps you in control of the narrative, instead of allowing someone else to do it for you.
Set boundaries. Limit your news consumption to specific time blocks, and choose topics that actually matter to you. You don’t need to absorb everything (in fact, it’s probably better that you don’t).
Engage thoughtfully. This starts with taking the first three steps. But even then, be mindful of when you’re reacting impulsively, and which emotions are driving the reaction. It’s OK to take a beat to process and corroborate information before taking action or engaging in conversation.
Spotlight solutions. Follow creators and communities that focus on positive change, not just problems. And most importantly: take real-world action on the issues you care the most about.
“Thoughts create reality”
If you’ve spent any time on the internet, you’ve surely run into some variation of “your thoughts create your reality” discourse. It turns out that this is a pretty accurate sentiment.
And when you think about it that way, it makes sense that media corporations would be working double time to control the source of your reality: your thoughts.
But they can only control your reality if you let them. Take back your power, think for yourself, and stay in control of your peace of mind.