Is the media overload of war news affecting your mental health?

We joke about 'doomscrolling' sometimes, and how we just can't help but keep reading when we come across a story or situation we can't get enough of, despite it not being a positive one. We might say it in a light-hearted way, almost jokingly, like, “I slept at 2am because I was doomscrolling”. 

However, with what's been happening in the world in recent years – from a global pandemic to climate change disasters to various wars – doomscrolling has turned into something that could affect our mental health. While the news has always been able to elicit emotions – both positive and negative – from us, having 24/7 news channels and access to social media means it's hard to get a break from it. 

This is more evident with the war between Israel and Gaza going on now. We are constantly subjected to images and videos of bombs going off, injured children being carried out of crumbling buildings, rows of dead bodies lined up and civilians crying out in distress as their loved ones have been injured or killed. While social media has made it easier to keep up to date with news, being exposed to such suffering on a daily basis means it's not out of the ordinary to just want to shut them out as it becomes too much to bear.

Dr Natalie Games, clinical psychologist at Alliance Counselling, reveals that 'headline anxiety' or 'headline stress disorder' are terms that are emerging to describe being saturated by the overload of news coverage and social media postings which tend to cover the more negative, dramatic or traumatic news. She says research shows that even short exposure to bad news can lead to increased levels of worry and anxiety that can be long lasting. Bad news can also perpetuate negative thinking, which can lead to feeling caught in a loop of distress. 

“Whilst the psychological strain of living through and consuming dismal news has been without pause over the years – COVID-19, racial injustice, climate change, mass shootings, wars – there is no formally-recognised disorder or diagnostic criteria,” she explains. “Many mental health professionals are seeing an increase of clients who are significantly impacted with anxiety or other mood-related conditions from news-related stress and seeking guidance on how to help them.”

Are you unintentionally preparing for the worst?

We might be physically far away from the conflict in the Middle East yet seeing the situation unfold before our eyes is able to elicit deep emotions. How could something happening on the other side of the world that we have no connection to impact our mental health? Dr Games says part of this can be explained by the fact that our brains are designed to scan for threats to protect us from potential danger. This can lead to an almost unstoppable, constant scouring of the news to help us prepare for the worst.

“Several theories and empirical findings suggest a positive relationship between information seeking and emotional distress, especially during crises,” she elaborates. “In fact, information seeking about negative events such as natural disasters, terrorism and pandemics is linked to emotional distress. Also, people might be incapable of avoiding information seeking because of the need-to-know basic information.”

There's also the fact that witnessing the suffering of others can actually cause us to feel pain. Therefore, seeing personal stories shared on social media makes us feel more connected to people, compared with reading statistics about casualties, and this increases our empathy further, says Dr Games. 

“Generally, people are told to avoid engaging with the news if it’s affecting their mental health. Yet this is hard to put in practice – especially given the constant stream of unfiltered stories across social media, and a desire to stay up-to-date with what’s going on,” she adds. 

Controlling your media consumption

So what's a ‘healthy’ way to keep abreast of the news without letting it affect our mental health? Dr Games says that psychologists with media expertise advise practicing dietary media restrictions and taking steps to better process the news in their personal lives. 

She recommends practicing the '3 Ms of digital nutrition' 

Mindfulness – Have a key question you ask yourself for when you’re going down a rabbit hole like “is this serving me?” Or “is this helpful?” Or “is this what I want to be doing right now?”

Moderation – Has my social media been balanced in terms of content and time?

Meaningfulness – Is what I’m consuming according to my values and what’s important to me?

Using this method is more effective than going cold turkey as that can just increase any negative feelings as your imagination can get carried away and this can tend to be worse than what’s actually happening, she says. 

Another approach is to become more proactive in healthy ways on the issues that matter to you. For example, if the news surrounding climate change is weighing you down, you could get more active in an advocacy organisation or a local non-profit working to address the climate crisis. 

“Ask yourself what sort of values do you want to strive for, and then what can you do to achieve, to work toward those values,” she advises. “Scrolling more on Instagram is not going to be in service of that value, or of any value that one might have.”

You could also write down anxiety-producing thoughts – this can slow down the processing and help moderate the anxiety. “Writing them down can help create distance from the thoughts, help you process them and assign a probability to how likely it is to happen,” says Dr Games. 

Tips to look after your mental health

If you're finding it hard to deal with this news overload, here are some tips from Dr Games: 

1) Recognise and acknowledge the feelings: name your feeling, validate what you’re feeling by accepting without judgement how you are feeling. Try not to dismiss or minimise your feelings as that will make you feel worse.

“The stories that are emerging may trigger our own personal experiences of feeling helpless or out of control; feelings of loss, memories of fear of separation from loved ones or uncertainty,” she explains. “It might be helpful to write down feelings or talk to a friend. Speaking about silent thoughts we may be struggling with has been shown to disrupt the stress cycle and have long-term benefits such as helping us manage stress better, feel more grounded when we experience anxiety and even improve overall health.”

2) Be more active in issues you care about, rather than just a passive observer of the news. Be a part of the solution, which will bind your anxiety and will make you feel not so powerless or that the world is spinning off its axis. 

“Think about whether there are any practical things you can do, such as making a donation to a charity or volunteering. Both of these may help tackle feelings of helplessness and may also improve your mental health by giving you a sense of reward through helping others,” says Dr Games.

3) Write down the stressful headline on paper, for slow processing. One practice psychologists suggest to clients is to write down an anxiety-producing headline in longhand. The idea behind this is to slow down the processing, hopefully moderating anxiety in the process.

“Anxious thoughts speed by, and the faster they go, the less realistic they get. People catastrophe or ruminate getting caught up in different negative scenarios. If you slow down the process by writing them down, they’re more realistic. And then you can assign a probability – how likely it is to happen,” she explains. 

4) Turn off smartphone news notifications. Set the phone’s timer for 15 minutes at the start of checking social media to limit the amount of time engaged in it. 

5) Set a strict no-screens (including phones) policy for mealtimes. Add other daily tech-free periods where possible. Avoid reading any news around an hour before bedtime.

6) Prioritise your superpower – what is it that gets you through tough times? Is it exercise, sleep, good nutrition, yoga, running, healthy smoothies, date night, a good meal out, going to the movies? Whatever it is, ensure you are still engaging in those activities to keep a positive and resilient mindset.

“Ultimately, we can’t control the outcome of the conflict or other distressing news events. But having control over the things that we can change – such as how much news we consume, or the activities we do to help ourselves unwind – will help us better retain our sense of wellbeing when the world feels out of control,” Dr Games concludes.