COVID-19 News and Stress: Limit News for Less Stress

Consuming too much news isn’t great for mental health. I think that’s widely known, especially in terms of social media consumption. But as we’re in a pandemic, it can be hard not to be glued to the news. Nerves are on high, which leads to seeking information or reassurance on how to stay safe-or sane. But checking the news all the time for the latest updates isn’t helpful, not even in a pandemic.

Paradoxically, the very threats the news is trying to warn us of is creating a related threat: psychological distress from repeated pandemic media exposure (Garfin et al., 2020). Similarly, research from Stainback et al. (2020) found that greater exposure to COVID-19 news is significantly associated with greater psychological distress. I don’t think that’s a surprise to anyone, but I do think it’s a friendly reminder as the pandemic wears on.

It’s been almost a whole year -a whole year of non-stop pandemic news. And get this: the data that showed the association between pandemic news exposure and distress was collected in March 2020. I can only imagine the stress trend is ticking upward as COVID-related news is still nonstop as we approach March 2021. Or maybe the prolonged exposure has made you feel like you need a break from the news. That’s okay. In fact, that’s good! Because as the end of the pandemic is still not quite in site…