Am I too dependent on news and doomscrolling at the moment?

[topcat2014]

I think I am addicted to news.. - and need to cut down:

I start the day with Radio 4 on our alarm clock then in the car.
Browse the Times (paid for) and Guardian (free) at lunch time.
Listen to PM on the car coming home.
Will either watch 6 or 10 oclock news.

Plus - doomscrolling.

The thing is, I am currently stressed about the following:

The Cambridge professor
FIFA
Lady in the suitcase.
plus all the usual wars and climate.

I don't even care about football.

So much news needs you to "pick a side" - there never seems to be a "correct" one.

That's before we get onto Trump etc

Sometimes the news is a good catalyst for good conversation

The FIFA continuing saga, for instance, we have had some amazing conversations around the dinner table, it wasn’t picking sides, it was tangents about power, corruption, the weird marches in lockdown with no fans.

We like radio4 PM and today it seems a bit more thoughtful. You can be informed without having to make a decision on sides, or make and informed decision that there isn’t enough information yet to decide.

Although it is healthy to break it up a bit with music.

Ive never felt the need to pick a side

summer time is good time to switch to podcasts

That sounds like an overwhelming amount of news exposure. I'd cut down at least by half.

I took all the apps off my phone
i go and look online every now and then but stops me scrolling
I used to wake up to R4 but in covid I found it tooo much and then stopped

The things is that you say you're "stressed" about these news stories as opposed to simply interested in them. So for that reason I'd say you're consuming too much news. (Incidentally- why? I mean it's reasonable to be stressed about climate change and wars but why does the Cambridge professor story worry you?)

I probably spend too long on all the "comment" pieces. Maybe I should just read the news bits and then stop.

Yes the Cambridge professor and FIFA I mean you're not even interested in football?
If you're reading comments sent in at the end of each news article then you are definitely being pushed towards choosing one side over another.
It basically comes down to people strongly expressing their opinion one way and others expressing their opinions the other way, it's hard to remain neutral.
Perhaps unrelated , or maybe not, I seldom look at AIBU anymore cos it's full of controversy; really gets the heart pumping LOL

By comments I was meaning the pieces written by journalists taking about the issues.

I never look at the news but it's brought to my attention on MN. I don't want people telling me what to pay attention to or how to think about the things I'm shown. Checked out of it years ago and never been happier.

yes definitely too much news, we do need to be informed but not every hour on the hour and we can't change anything or varely anything try to avoid news in first 30 minutes of every day and last hour before bed to start with, then no news after dinner though may discuss over dinner.
Some stories are distressing lady in suitcase
others are long term more concerning like wars and cost of living
others are really of no great consequence to the human race they affect just a few indviduals but not life threatening ie Infantino if you are not interested in football anyway there's no need to give it the time of day or brain space same with Cambridge professor it's not good but no-one died
sometimes an hour or two "putting the world to rights" is healthy. spending 3-4 hours listening and debating it every single day is not

i haven’t watched or listened to the news since the pandemic, rarely look online either.

I refuse to worry about things I have zero control over and feel much better for it.

Thanks all. There are some very good points here!

This. I have never been a big consumer of news but my parents always had the rolling news on and my dad is addicted to political commentary on YouTube. It drove me demented spending time with them just hearing the same stuff over and over again but with no new information, just speculation.

After Russia invaded Ukraine I found I was increasingly anxious about the state of the world, and it started severely affecting my mental health. I was being triggered by the alert sound on colleagues’ BBC News apps for goodness’ sake!

So I decided to go cold turkey with the news, and life is so much better. I could do nothing about any of the awfulness, so what was the point in constantly exposing myself to it? I hear bits and pieces, and still read up on things that interest me.

But this constant exposure to horrors that we can do nothing about is a modern construct. Who benefits from it? Speculation is dangerous. It’s not that long ago that people read the news once a day (if that) on hoardings in the street. We don’t need it, it’s pointless. You can shut it off, and you should.