Quick tips
- Off breaking-news notifications.
- Keep the feed out of bed.
- Turn the worry into one small action.
E dey usually start small. You pick your phone to check one thing, and twenty minutes later you still dey scroll, jaw tight, stomach low, dey read about place wey you go never visit and problem wey you no fit solve tonight. You no dey feel more informed. You dey feel worse. And the part wey dey pain na say e be like say you no fit stop, even though to stop na obviously the thing to do.
If na you be that lately, you dey among plenty ordinary people. Plenty people dey waka around with low hum of dread wey dey trace straight back to the news. Even nickname dey for the scrolling part of am, wey people coin during the pandemic and wey don enter language proper now: doomscrolling. The feeling wey dey under am old pass the word.
This piece na about that specific weight, the anxiety wey dey come from world events and the way we dey take dem in. No be because to care na the problem. To care na the whole point. The problem na wetin endless feed dey do to body wey dem no build to absorb every catastrophe for earth at once.
Why your brain keep dey reach for am
Na so the uncomfortable mechanics of am take be.
Your mind get built-in tilt towards threat. Bad news dey grab harder pass good news because, for most of human history, to notice danger fast na how you take stay alive. Feed wey full with alarming headlines no be neutral stream of facts. Na slot machine of small threats, and your attention dey treat each one as something to track.
Second pull dey under the first one. When the world feel uncertain, your brain want information, because information dey feel like control. To scroll dey feel like to dey do something. So you keep dey refresh, dey hope say the next update go finally settle the unsettled feeling. E rarely dey. Researchers wey dey study this dey argue say plenty of the harm from heavy news exposure no be only the horror of any single story. Na the uncertainty itself, the not-knowing wetin e mean for you and the people wey you love, dey keep anxiety running. Worry dey send you go the feed, the feed dey feed the worry, and the loop dey tighten.
The Cleveland Clinic psychologist Susan Albers don describe doomscrolling as one kind confirmation habit: when we already dey feel low or anxious, we go dey find information wey match the mood, and the feed happy to oblige. Meanwhile the platform, dem build am to hold you. The more you engage with frightening content, the more of am dem dey show you.
And your body dey keep score. Steady drip of alarming input dey keep stress hormones like cortisol high, wey over time fit wear on your sleep, your concentration, and your mood. You no dey imagine the toll. You fit genuinely feel shaky after one hour of bad news because, chemically, your system don dey treat that hour like emergency.
To dey informed na dose, no be dial
Somewhere along the way, plenty of us absorb the idea say to stay informed mean to stay constantly exposed. Say good, caring person go keep the tab open. E worth to talk am plain: that one no true, and e no even dey effective.
E be like say one point dey wey after am more news go stop to inform you and go just dey hurt you. One review of the research point to rough threshold, somewhere around to check the news many times a day and couple of hours of total media exposure, wey after am symptoms of anxiety and low mood dey climb. The exact number no matter pass the shape of am. You fit dey well-informed on small, deliberate diet. You no fit out-scroll the world problems, and to dey try mostly just dey grind down your capacity to do anything useful.
Think about news the way you go think about any strong input. Dose, wey you take on purpose, for time wey you choose. No be open tap wey dey run for the background of your whole day.
Wetin actually dey help
None of this need make you go dark or stop to care. Na about to put your attention back under your own control. Few things wey genuinely dey move the needle:
- Decide when, no be just whether. Pick one or two windows a day to catch up, maybe mid-morning and early evening, and check then. Set time dey give your brain permission to let go in between, because e know say the catch-up dey come.
- Comot the news from your lock screen. Off push notifications for news and social apps. Dem design breaking-news alert to interrupt you, and most of wetin e dey interrupt you with no be something wey you need this second. Make checking be choice wey you dey make, no be alarm wey dey go off at you.
- Keep am out of the bedroom and off the breakfast table. Protect the edges of your day. The last thing wey you read before sleep and the first thing wey you read when you wake dey set the tone for hours. Give those moments to something other than the feed.
- Choose your sources, then stop to refresh. Couple of solid outlets wey you read once worth more pass hundred reaction posts. Na for the reactions most of the anxiety dey live, and dem dey add almost nothing to your actual understanding.
- Slow the intake when e spike. One technique wey psychologists dey suggest sound almost too simple: when a headline land hard, write am down by hand. To slow am to the speed of pen dey help your mind process the thing instead of to just absorb the jolt and scroll on.
- Notice the body, no be just the screen. When you catch the tight chest or the breath wey you dey hold, na the signal to put the phone down. Your body usually sabi say you don get enough before your thumb sabi.
One more move dey wey dey do something wey the others no fit. Turn some of the worry into small, concrete action. Donate to one group wey dey do work wey you believe in. Volunteer for couple of hours. Make the call, sign the thing, show up for your area. The research on this dey encourage: to direct the energy of caring into even modest action dey ease the helplessness wey dey make the news feel unbearable. Anxiety na partly the body call to do something with nowhere to send am. Give am somewhere to go.
The part wey nobody dey talk out loud
You allowed to step back from tragedy wey you no fit fix so you go fit stay functional for the life and people wey dey directly your front. That one no be apathy. Person wey dey run on empty no dey help anybody. To tend your own steadiness na part of how you dey stay able to care over the long haul, no be betrayal of the people wey dey the headlines.
And some weeks the world go hand us genuinely heavy news, close to home or far away, and the heaviness appropriate. To feel shaken by terrible events na sign say your heart dey work. The aim here no be to feel nothing. Na to keep the feeling from flooding everything else.
When e pass just the news
For most people, few boundaries around their media habits dey make real difference within couple of weeks. Sometimes e big pass that.
If the dread dey follow you even when you no dey online, if e don enter your sleep, your appetite, your work, or your ability to dey present with people, or if you feel like say you no fit stop to check even though e clearly dey hurt you, that one worth to talk through with doctor or therapist. Anxiety wey don settle in and take over the day dey respond well to real support, and no prize dey for white-knuckling am alone. And if at any point the heaviness tip into hopelessness, or thoughts say you no wan dey here, abeg no siddon with that one by yourself. Reach out to professional or crisis line right away. People wan help, and to reach out na strong thing to do, no be weak one.
The world go still dey there tomorrow, and so your ability to face am go still dey. Sometimes the most useful thing wey you fit do for the people wey you dey worry about na to look up from the screen, take breath, and go be steady presence for the small piece of the world wey you fit actually touch.
Sources
- American Psychological Association, Media overload is hurting our mental health. Here are ways to manage headline stress
- Cleveland Clinic, What Doomscrolling Is and How To Stop
- JMIR Mental Health, Impact of Media-Induced Uncertainty on Mental Health: A Narrative-Based Perspective