Why consuming the news may be harming you (and what to do about it without living in a vacuum)
Ever had to run from a saber-toothed tiger? No? Me, neither. In part because they’re extinct. But, we’ve all felt the same sensations our ancestors might have had they found themselves in that situation. In fact, most of us experience that sensation multiple times a day, when doing something that doesn’t seem dangerous at all.
I’m talking about consuming the news. There are two things that turn the news from a source of information to a trigger, and they’re the difference between walking away with insight and walking away with pure outrage. Those things are frequency and mode of consumption.
More on that in a moment, but first, why does this matter?
I’m an expert in helping people to flourish (primarily at work). One way I support people is in moving from fight or flight mode (often characterized by anxiety, stress, or overwhelm) to curiosity mode. There’s a neuroscientific reason for this: when we’re in fight or flight mode (called the sympathetic state), our brains constrict and we can’t be open or generative. Our sole focus is on survival. But if we can flip into curiosity mode (parasympathetic state), we’re calm and composed, and it’s easy to create, see multiple solutions, and learn.
At work, this means we move from irritation at our colleagues, our workload or our situations to being resourceful about how we might navigate differently, increasing our productivity, effectiveness and our sense of flourishing.
The same thing holds true in the rest of our lives. I recently asked some clients to notice what experiences or situations were putting them into fight or flight mode on the regular. When I did the same activity myself a year or so ago, I realized that consuming the news was one of the top ones for me.
There are plenty of triggers, from the pandemic to civil rights issues to the war in Ukraine (and that’s just skimming the surface). Unfortunately, those kinds of things are always going to happen. And while we want to stay informed, we can do so in a way that leads to pure outrage, or in a way that leads to insights.
Many news sources frame the information we want to know in wrappers of outrage or horror. And while many things are outrageous or horrible, the way we learn about them doesn’t need to be. When we receive the facts wrapped in disgust or judgement, we’re dropped right into fight or flight mode. That restricts our ability to understand the nuances of the situation and makes us less likely to visualize creative ways to resolve them (or, at that moment, anything else in our lives).
But if we receive the same facts packaged with insight and nuance, we’re more able to be part of the solution. This has ripple effects onto the rest of our lives: if we’re in an open and curious mode when we consume the news, whatever we do next will benefit from that mindset.
To that end, I believe the future of news is episodic and education-skewed. Episodic: only available at limited times: either once daily, or in small doses throughout the day (no instant refresh). Education-skewed: providers help you understand nuance in a situation, often by sharing multiple angles.
Luckily for us, there are multiple alternative news sources already living that future, providing us with a fundamentally different news consumption experience. For the most part, they aren’t on cable and they can’t be found on major news provider websites.
Instead, they’re showing up in our inboxes, in the form of newsletters that are reminiscent of the pre-internet newspaper experience. They come out daily or at certain times throughout the week, allowing us a predictable and controllable way to consume news. Complementing them is something novel: journalists and educators using tools like Instagram stories to share key updates throughout the day.
Both services are time-limited (there is no instant refresh). And, the better ones are designing this content specifically not to overwhelm. In fact, here’s an example from one of my go-to sources, Jessica Yellin of News Not Noise, who on the first day of the Russ0-Ukrainian war, put this message up at 10.30pm ET:
It was the reminder I needed that I wasn’t going to change anything by not getting sleep that night.
I switched my news diet primarily to these avenues in the run-up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and I’ve been increasingly grateful for that as the chaos has only intensified.
If you want to consume news differently, I’ll share some of my favorite sources at the end, but importantly, here are the criteria to look for:
Clarity about the angle from which they’re writing (and multiple angles): To lean into curiosity, it helps to have sources that sit across the spectrum of perspectives and present the nuance of situations, while clearly separating fact from opinion.
Lack of emphasis on click-bait: Avoiding anger-inducing headlines averts the brain’s fury-on-top-of-outrage mode. You can often use a provider’s business model as a clue to tendency towards click-bait. Consumer-funded services tend to align their goals with yours: helping you stay up-to-date in a healthy and educated way. Whereas ads-based news outlets survive by keeping you coming back as frequently as possible, so that they can serve you more ads. If you’re not paying for the product, you are the product.
Limited “drops”: To consume in alignment with how your brain is designed, you’ll benefit from finite reading or viewing. Most of my favorite sources offer either a daily newsletter or a contained amount of Instagram stories updates.
Based on these criteria, here are a handful of sources to try. Let me know if you have others:
Sharon McMahon’s Governerds. News is provided through Instagram stories, although she also has a brilliant podcast and online courses. Sharon is an ex-teacher, is deliberate in not sharing her political persuasion, and focuses on helping her audience understand how the government works.
The Morning Brew. This is a slightly tech leaning, fact-based update provided through a daily email drop. It’s also hard to tell their political persuasion.
News Not Noise by Jessica Yellin. Most of her content is offered through Instagram stories, although she also sends members regular newsletters. She fleshes out the news from the noise so we don’t have to. Her political persuasion is slightly left of center.
The Dispatch. This newsletter-based site grew out of a desire to counter the sensationalism of national news media. I love their daily "The Morning Dispatch.” They clearly distinguish opinions from facts and send members deep dives throughout the week. Their political persuasion is slightly right of center.
Very Serious by Josh Barro. This is a newer source that has been touted as the left-leaning counterweight to The Dispatch. So far I’ve found the writing clear and compelling.
The Flip Side. This newsletter highlights what the right and the left think of current events. When I’ve read something one-sided, I find The Flip Side always delivers more nuance. It’s often a visual reminder that “the truth is somewhere in the middle.”
Many of these survive on subscription fees. My approach is to try them out for a while, and if I’m getting value, find a way to contribute. Most have an option for a one-time donation as well as monthly subscriptions, so you can pay based on your means. And they all offer entry-level, rich content for free.
I’m not an expert in news, but I am an expert in flourishing, and I can attest that, if news sets you into fight or flight mode like it did me, this episodic and education-skewed news diet edited will help you feel more often like you’ve got insight and less often purely outraged. So you can save your panicked energy for when you really are being chased by tigers (which is hopefully never).
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