News Anxiety Is a Waste of Time
And what you can do to alleviate it.
It has become commonplace for politically-engaged Americans to say that they are stressed and anxious about the news, especially around election time. And when Republicans and Democrats lost the presidential race in 2020 and 2024, respectively, reactions ranged from desperation to despair.
As Cal Newport recently suggested, the end of the 2024 election represents an excellent opportunity to “check out” of the constant churn and drama of the 24-hour news cycle. I believe I can offer some suggestions for how to do that, as I can genuinely testify that while I was interested in the election, I felt virtually no anxiety about it this year.
Some of that detachment no doubt resulted from the fact that I was not thrilled (ahem) with either major presidential candidate, but that’s not what I want to focus on here. Instead, I think I have my news consumption dialed in pretty well so that I remain informed but not obsessed about the election.
What can you do to alleviate overconsumption and worrying about the news? Here are some suggestions.
Stop watching news on tv. I admit that I used to watch a lot more cable tv news…when I had cable tv (I have since switched to the much more user-friendly YouTube TV, where I mostly watch sports). But I can honestly say that I don’t think I watched more than 3 hours of national tv news this year. The couple times I did were when Donald Trump was nearly assassinated, and on election night. But even on election night I stopped watching after they called North Carolina for Trump and it looked likely he would win. I went to bed at my normal time.
Get most of your news from reputable newspapers. These days I subscribe (digitally) to three newspapers - the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, and the Kansas City Star. The Journal is my most consistent read, as it combines excellent news with solid books/arts/opinion coverage. I often need to see content in the New York Times for professional reasons, but I honestly like them the most for The Athletic’s sports coverage. And I read the KC Star for Royals and Chiefs news and occasional other local stories. Newspapers are generally better at telling readers what’s going on - normally with some hours or days of time to digest events - than the insta-reactions of cable tv and social media.
Use social media quite sparingly for news. I still use Twitter/X most frequently of all social media platforms, but I tend only to use a single list for scrolling. Of the dozens of accounts on this list, only a few are specialized news accounts - most of the accounts on the list are Christian or academic figures I like to follow, accounts of professional colleagues or close friends, and a few sports news accounts. I avoid general national news accounts or media outlets.
Do not have social media accounts on your phone. As of this writing, I have zero social media apps on my phone. Even if I have notifications turned off (a no-brainer), I still find that these are just too much of a temptation for wasting time, mindless scrolling, etc. I access social media accounts from my computer.
Put national electoral news in proper perspective. The national media only covers stories of national interest, and so all their attention tends to be on national issues such as the presidential race. But the truth is that on a day-to-day basis, your local government (including road maintenance, trash pickup, police and fire fighters, etc.) is vastly more important to you than what the president is doing.
The national media trains us to think as if the national government is all there is. (Did your church pray only for the presidential election, for example, or for local races as well?) Most of the time, your mayor and city council member makes a much more practical difference in everyday life than national officials do. And yet we act like our lives will be utterly transformed by the outcome of a national election. That’s what the media wants us to think, at least.
Jesus taught that worrying of any kind was a waste of time, but there are few kinds of worry that are a bigger waste of time than news anxiety. Most of us can do almost nothing to effect change on the national level.
If you must worry about something, at least worry about local things that actually impact you, and that you might be able to impact in turn. Better yet, trust the Lord with all things you cannot control, which includes most everything you see on the news.
From around the web:
Charles Spurgeon and “the Army of God” - my interview with Geoff Chang at The Gospel Coalition.
The Great Commission and the Great Tradition - my interview with missionary.com