The Messy Truth About News Consumption in the Digital Age

We're All Addicted, Let's Talk About It

So, I was at this conference in Austin last March, right? Some tech thing, honestly nobody asked me to go but there was free coffee so I said why not. And there's this guy, let's call him Marcus, he's giving a talk about digital media comittment or whatever. And he says something that stuck with me.

"You all check your phones 56 times a day." Just like that. No buildup, no "let me tell you something shocking". Just facts. And the room was silent. I mean, I looked around and people were kinda squirming in their seats. It was like he'd caught us all stealing cookies from the jar.

Which... yeah. Fair enough. I check my phone alot. You probably do too. And most of those checks? News. Breaking news, updates, notifications. It's this constant drip, drip, drip of information. And it's completley messing with our heads.

But Here's the Thing About News

Look, I've been in this business for 22 years. I started at a tiny paper in Ohio, moved to a bigger one in Chicago, then to digital. I've seen it all. The good, the bad, the ugly. And honestly, the ugly is winning right now.

See, back in the day, you got your news once a day. You'd buy a paper, read it over breakfast, and that was that. Now? It's a 24/7 firehose. And we're all trying to drink from it. It's too much. It's too fast. And it's making us all kinda nuts.

I was talking to a friend last week, let's call her Lisa. She's a teacher, 38 years old, two kids, busy life. She told me she feels like she can't keep up. "I wake up and check my phone, I see something about some new crisis. Then I'm at school and the teachers are talking about it. I get home and it's on the news. I go to bed and my husband mentions it. It's like I can't escape it."

And that's the problem, isn't it? We can't escape it. It's always there. Always.

But What Can We Do About It?

Okay, so here's the thing. I don't have all the answers. But I've got some thoughts. Some of them might help, some might not. But hey, it's something.

First off, turn off notifications. Seriously. You don't need to know every time some politician says something stupid. You'll find out soon enough. Trust me, I've been doing this a long time. The news isn't gonna slip by you.

Second, set aside specific times for news consumption. Maybe it's over breakfast, maybe it's on your commute. But make it a thing. A habit. And stick to it. Don't just check your phone every time you're bored or anxious. That's how addictions start, folks.

And look, I get it. It's hard. I mean, I'm sitting here telling you this and I've got 17 browser tabs open with news stories. But we gotta try, right? For our own sanity.

Oh, and if you're really into this kind of thing, check out the Thailand crime report update. It's a good example of how to stay informed without getting overwhelmed.

A Quick Tangent About Fake News

Now, I was gonna talk about something else, but screw it. Let's talk about fake news. Ugh, I hate that term. It's so loaded. So political. But whatever, you know what I mean.

So, I'm at this bar in Brooklyn, right? About three months ago. And I'm talking to this guy, let's call him Dave. He's a nurse, 45 years old, never really cared about news before. But now? He's all about it. And he's telling me about this story he saw on Facebook. And I'm pretty sure it's fake. But how do I tell him that? How do I even start that conversation?

It's hard, folks. Really hard. Because people believe what they want to believe. And if it's on the internet, well, it must be true, right? Wrong. So wrong. But good luck telling people that.

Anyway, enough about that. It's depressing.

Back to the News Addiction

So, I was talking to a colleague named Sarah the other day. She's a data journalist, really smart, knows her stuff. And she was telling me about this study she read. 214 people, I think? Anyway, they found that people who check the news constantly are more anxious than people who don't. Shocking, right? Not really.

But here's the kicker. These people, the ones who are always checking the news? They're not any better informed than everyone else. I mean, think about that. All that anxiety, all that stress. And for what? So you can know that some celebrity said something dumb? Or that there's traffic on the 405? It's not worth it, folks. It's not.

So do yourself a favor. Put the phone down. Go for a walk. Read a book. Do something that's not constantly feeding your anxiety. Your brain will thank you.

Look, I know it's not easy. I struggle with it too. But we gotta try. For our own sake. For our sanity. For our committment to being human beings who don't live in a constant state of anxiety.

Anyway, that's enough from me. I'm gonna go try to practice what I preach. Wish me luck.

About the Author: Jane Thompson has been a senior editor at Digimedia Pub for 15 years. She's worked at several major publications, including The Chicago Tribune and The Atlantic. When she's not editing, she's probably arguing about politics, reading sci-fi, or trying to convince her cat to cuddle.