Turn off the news. It’s not helping you.

It started with a trickle. A simple newspaper thrown at your front door at four in the morning. A large broadsheet headline displayed in a shop window or on a street corner. We might hear some news on the radio, or for thirty minutes every evening on television.

And then the news moved online, and the trickle became a steady flow. News websites started to emerge, disrupting the old-fashioned paper based format. Soon enough, the news was everywhere, gushing into our consciousness from every angle. It now rushes towards us from websites, social media platforms, television, radio, podcasts, computer operating systems, smartphones and occasionally, from a newspaper.

News obviously has some utility. It informs us of events that are nearby, and those that are happening far away. It informs us about events that may impact us directly, or those events that do not interact with our lives at all. Some news interests and entertains us, other news concerns us and makes us angry. As the world has grown more connected during the internet age, we now have the ability to learn about events far from our own doorstep.

What started as a trickle is now a raging river and we are swept up in it, tossed along by the current until we can extract ourselves from its grip. News is everywhere, but is it helping? Is there a price that comes with being so well-informed about events that may be occurring several thousand miles away?

I stopped paying attention to the news about 3 years ago.

I remember when it happened. As a rugby fan, I often used to read articles about my favourite teams and players on a then-prominent sports news website. Being Australian, I’m a Wallabies (the national team) fan, so I particularly loved reading anything about them. But the news in Australian rugby is not normally positive. From the highs of the 1980s and 1990s where we were top of the world – to now, where we’re not terrible, but sometimes struggling to compete with the best teams.

This negativity was amplified in the news. Eighty percent of the articles I read were lamenting the state of Australian rugby and criticising the players, the administration and anybody else that the journalists could get their hands on. Over time, I noticed that when I read these types of articles, my mood would darken and I’d become irritable, which is never pleasant for the people around me.

One night the Wallabies had a tough game and they were knocked out of the world cup without making the quarter-finals. This was the first time this had ever happened, so obviously, the journalists were loading their keyboards like shotguns, ready to blast whoever they could in their efforts to gain the most clicks. I read a few of these articles that morning which put me in a dark mood.

So I went to the park to take the dog for a walk. I was tired and irritable and I felt my impulse control being tested as my dog entered scavenger mode, finding any scrap of rubbish she could eat. I found her underneath a shrub, eating some god-awful corpse of something. Exasperated, I flung a stick at her to try to shoo her away. It hit her in the face and she emerged from the bush with a small yelp and a scratch on her nose.

This is not the person who I wanted to be. It’s my fault that I threw that stick. But when I reflected on how I got there, I realised that this irritability was a pattern which emerged when I surrounded myself with negativity. And a lot of that negativity was coming from the news. There was no harm done, and Juno and I are good friends to this day, but for me, that was a wake up call. It hasn’t changed the fact that she still tries to eat any old crap she can get her paws on.

This is not a story about Australian rugby, it’s a story about negativity.

This is just one example of negativity in the news, and with my heightened awareness, I started seeing it more and more. One day, I did an unofficial audit of a popular Australian news website that I used to read frequently, and noticed that about 60 per cent of the articles on the front page were objectively negative – you know, murders, accidents, wars, bad stuff. About 35 per cent of the articles were what I’d describe as neutral – not necessarily terrible (depending on your point of view), but simply things that happened, like policy changes or a bridge being built. And then there was the five per cent that I would describe as helpful or positive – such as recipes you could cook, or some health advice that might be useful for people. Those proportions are unbalanced, with the negativity far outweighing the positive.

So I stopped paying attention to the news. I removed shortcuts and bookmarks from my phone. Over my morning coffee when I used to scroll various news websites, I developed a new habit which was to read some sort of non-fiction book that would encourage me to think. Instead of the news, I read books about improving my health, self-awareness, coaching, philosophy and digital minimalism. For me it wasn’t just about getting rid of the news – it was about filling that time with something more fulfilling instead.

Of course, the price was that I didn’t really know much about what was happening around the world, but I started to realise that most of the time, it didn’t seem to matter. Over time I noticed that I felt less weighed down by negativity and factors outside of my control.

Now and then news still leaks into my consciousness through a YouTube featured video, when I chat with neighbours at the park or when I’m using LinkedIn for work. And it feels good when I realise that I don’t know about something that’s going on in Anytown USA or in Paris – and most of the time, it doesn’t really matter.

Turn off the default settings. They’re not helping you.

One thing I’ve been shocked by over the past few years is how embedded the news has become into everyday life. Sometimes we see news when we open a social media platform, but at least you intentionally (absentmindedly?) opened that app. It’s the news sources that are built directly into our technology that concerns me the most.

Our smartphones come with news widgets that are optional, but you need to be intentional about turning them off. Otherwise, you’ll see news every time you look at your phone. Even if we put aside the negativity of the news for a moment, this is a productivity killer – yet another opportunity for distraction.

Another puzzling place where I’ve noticed the news is in our operating systems. I use both Microsoft and Apple platforms, and they’re similar in that they contain news widgets directly embedded into their various menus and home screens. To test this out, I just turned on the widgets in my Windows settings. As soon as I clicked on a widget, a screen opened with several news articles front and centre. Let’s see what they are:

USA Today says: “Infamous disaster scenario can rapidly unfold, study finds”.

9News notes: “For the first time in history, England no longer supplies the most new Australians”.

The Australian Associated Press says: “Food giant sounds the alarm. Shoppers are struggling”.

And that’s without scrolling to look for more. That’s part of my operating system, where I’m meant to be doing productive work and getting things done. Two out of three of the headlines are negative or alarmist in tone, and the remaining one could be classified as neutral.

I know I’m quite picky about my default settings. I’ll go through and fastidiously turn things off and remove components to reduce the clutter. I realise I’m a bit of an outlier in this case because I’m more tech-savvy than many, which means that a lot of people are simply being bombarded with this type of content daily by default, without really having opted into the whole system.

If you want to feel empowered, focus on what you can influence.

One thing has become abundantly clear over the past few years since I started my news fast. I can do nothing in response to most of the news that passes my way.

There’s been a murder a few suburbs away? OK. The interest rate has gone up again? Alright then. Machete attacks in Melbourne? That’s not very nice. Invasion in Iran? Well that’s pretty bad too.

We are being collectively bombarded by information that we mostly can do nothing with, and nothing about. And that’s a great way to start to feel powerless, helpless and useless. We already deal with a lot of mental clutter and stress through our daily lives, and we’re adding even more to the mix with no real benefit other than feeling as if we know about things going on around us.

Do a quick audit with the news that you see today. How many of the news items actually entice you to take action in response to them? I’ll wager that very few do. Our time is better spent focusing on the things we can control, and the people in our social circle around us.

We like to feel informed, but what’s the cost?

Some people make the argument that without the news, we aren’t aware of the things that impact us. To some extent, that’s true. But most of the time when something important happens (rarely), I find that I’ll usually find out about it anyway.

Let’s take interest rate increases. In Australia, these have been happening a lot lately, and you can see why people would want to know about them. So we see articles predicting a Reserve Bank interest rate hike, or informing us about it after it happens. The impact here is real – people will be forced to pay an extra several hundred dollars per month, depending on how much you’ve borrowed. It makes sense that people would want to stay informed about this so they can see what’s coming from a financial perspective.

In this case, though, I noticed that my bank tells me about it anyway. They send me an email with the exact details – how much extra I’ll need to pay, and when the change will take effect. So that news article might give me a sneak preview and a bit of a head start, but ultimately I find out about it before too long. I find that this has been the case in several similar examples.

Recently fuel prices skyrocketed. I didn’t know about it until I drove past a petrol station and saw the price. With the news I could have found out about this increase earlier, but in this case I discovered the change naturally. If you’re comfortable not knowing about things immediately, you tend to find out sooner or later.

If you’re not informed, you’ll look like an idiot.

Well, this all depends on the context. If I’m going to a party with people that know me and enjoy my company, it doesn’t really bother me that I’ll be a little behind on current events. In fact, it can be a great conversation starter, to ask the other person about the current events that they are so well-informed about. After all, asking questions is a good strategy to keep the conversation flowing and the other person feeling valued.

If I’m working with a client in an industry sector that is currently in trouble, my reputation might take a hit if I’m ignorant of the latest news about the current challenges they’re facing. In this case, it makes sense to do your research and keep up to date about what’s going on in their industry.

But when we look at this example, we can see a clear difference. There is a difference between being bombarded every day by news that is selected by an algorithm, and intentionally going out to seek the latest news about a specific topic for yourself. Being informed about topics of interest to you, those that you enjoy learning about or those that are important for your work is a smart and reasonable thing to do. Letting yourself be assaulted by an algorithmic assortment of mostly negative clickbait articles is not.

I sometimes listen to podcasts about Artificial Intelligence or search for the latest news in the healthcare sector, because these are important for some of the work that I do. For the rest of the many topics out there, I’m happy to remain uninformed for the most part.

We’ve been conditioned to be uncomfortable with uncertainty.

Our world has evolved to the point where we have reduced uncertainty when it comes to many aspects of our lives. We know almost exactly how long it’s going to take to get from our house to our workplace. We know how many calories are in that piece of food we’re going to eat. And we know what the weather is going to be like for the next week. And when we go to a restaurant, we have a good idea whether it is any good before we’ve even set foot in the door.

Over time we become used to being certain, and feeling uncertain is scary. It makes sense that consuming the news helps us to feel we know what’s happening that might impact us. As much of the news we see is negative, we start to believe that most of what’s happening around the world is bad. This feeds the cycle, because if we know that bad things are going on, we feel the need to be informed about them so we can protect ourselves.

I think the craving for certainty is a big part of the problem. We feel like we are well-informed, but there is so much news going on at any point in the day, you’ll never be across all of it. And remember that most of the news informs you about situations that you have little to no control over. So we may feel safe when we feel well-informed, but this is an illusion.

It’s much better to accept that some things in life are uncertain, and being comfortable with that is a skill in itself. Is it not better to build the capability to be resilient in life so that if disaster does strike, you feel confident you’ll be able to cope with it, whatever comes?

If you don’t pay attention to the news, you’re checking out.

I’ve also come across an argument that if you don’t pay attention to the news, you’re disconnecting from society and effectively “checking out”. I can see the logic here – and I believe it is that if you remain connected to the issues and aware of what’s happening, you can more effectively influence the way that society is heading and be an active member.

My take on this is that you don’t always need to be connected to current events to make a positive impact in your particular sphere. If in your work you are able to make a positive contribution to the world, then I feel you’re still playing your role as a responsible human being. And if you contribute to your community or engage in philanthropy, then you’re still able to make an impact in a way that doesn’t require you to expose yourself to the barrage of daily news made up predominantly of clickbait headlines designed to capture your attention.

If your focus is entirely selfish, and you’re not really making a positive contribution in any sphere, then I could see the argument for checking out. But otherwise, avoiding the news may help you to safeguard your attention and mental health in a way that helps you to contribute more positively to the world around you.

Just in case.

You might be someone who watches the news “just in case” you find out about something important that you need to urgently respond to. It’s a little like taking a multivitamin when we already maintain a healthy diet – it doesn’t do much for us, but it makes us feel better just in case we’re missing something.

Consider that for every one piece of news that falls into the “need to know” category, you’re being shown probably a hundred or more that are just noise, of little value to you. And given that much of our news is alarmist or negative in nature, that’s a lot of negativity that your mind is processing and dealing with, just in case.

By all means, intentionally seek out the news that interest you, entertains you or that has some utility that helps you in your life. But consider turning off the default settings, to prevent the algorithmic fire hose from flooding your consciousness with information you can do very little about.