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News Addiction Linked to Poor Mental and Physical Health
Having an obsessive urge to check news headlines has been linked with increased stress, anxiety, and physical ill health, according to a new study published in the journal Health Communication.
Findings were based on an online survey of 1100 US adults. Survey participants were asked about the degree to which they identified with a series of statements related to their news consumption. Examples of such statements included:
- “I become so absorbed in the news that I forget the world around me.”
- “My mind is frequently occupied with thoughts about the news.”
- “I find it difficult to stop reading or watching the news.”
- “I often do not pay attention at school or work because I am reading or watching the news.”
Of those surveyed, 16.5% showed signs of “severely problematic” news consumption—a level at which individuals’ thoughts were dominated by news stories, their time with family and friends was disrupted, they struggled to focus on school or work, and they were plagued by restlessness and lack of sleep. Further, 61% of respondents with severely problematic levels of news consumption reported symptoms of physical illness “quite a bit” or “very much” compared to just 6.1% of all other study participants.
“For these individuals, a vicious cycle can develop in which, rather than tuning out, they become drawn further in, obsessing over the news and checking for updates around the clock to alleviate their emotional distress,” study lead author Bryan McLaughlin, associate professor of advertising at Texas Tech University’s College of Media and Communication, said in a news release. “But it doesn’t help, and the more they check the news, the more it begins to interfere with other aspects of their lives.”
Treatment for addiction and compulsive behaviors often centers on a complete cessation of such problematic behaviors.
“In the case of problematic news consumption, research has shown that individuals may decide to stop, or at least dramatically reduce, their news consumption if they perceive it is having adverse effects on their mental health,” McLaughlin said.
“However, not only does tuning out come at the expense of an individual’s access to important information for their health and safety, it also undermines the existence of an informed citizenry, which has implications for maintaining a healthy democracy. This is why a healthy relationship with news consumption is an ideal situation.”
McLaughlin added that the study’s findings put a spotlight on the role of the news industry, which is often under pressure to deliver attention-grabbing headlines.
“However, for certain types of people, the conflict and drama that characterize newsworthy stories not only grab their attention and draw them in, but also can lead to a maladaptive relationship with the news,” McLaughlin said. “Thus, the results of our study emphasize that the commercial pressures that news media face are not just harmful to the goal of maintaining a healthy democracy, they also may be harmful to individuals’ health.”
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