With the 2020 election season heightening many people’s fear and uncertainty, it may be time to set up some strategies to protect yourself from news overload and social media stress.
Here are six ideas to curb the anxiety of the never-ending news cycle:
1. Skim the news instead of immersing yourself. Limit yourself to one brief daily update. “You can stay informed without monitoring every report, phone alert or tweet,” a My Southern Health article urges.
2. Pick a few trusted sources. Sign up for a daily e-newsletter from national news outlets such as The New York Times, Washington Post, Bloomberg BusinessWeek or Wall Street Journal, or subscribe to your local newspaper.
3. Seek out upbeat news. Try sites such as Upworthy or Good News Movement on Instagram or Positive News, which is published daily online and quarterly in print.
4. Delete social media apps from your phone. For the next month, try only looking at these sites on your desktop once a day or a couple of times a week. “While social media can sometimes be helpful,” a Wired article suggests, “sites like Facebook and Twitter also place us into filter bubbles, often amplify the most extreme voices, and are fervent breeding grounds for conspiracy theories and misinformation.” If you can’t get rid of the apps, consider deleting notifications.
5. Keep the evenings news-free. Avoid reading or watching news analysis or commentary before bedtime. Wind down with entertainment, sports or lifestyle news, or better yet: Read a book!
6. Go old school: Read a daily newspaper in print. Editors curate the top stories for their readers, which means you aren’t subjected to the incomplete blurbs that are published in online sources.