How Does Reporting Negative News Impact Readers?

Negative news stories are everywhere. All you have to do is turn on the television or scroll through social media for less than five minutes and you’ll probably be exposed to a handful of negative stories. It’s become common to see repeated news about murder, assault, and car accidents of all kinds. For example, there are countless stories of large truck collisions, semi-truck accidents and delivery truck accidents that often result in bodily injury or death.

If you’re online, it’s nearly impossible to avoid being exposed to these negative stories. If you subscribe to legal YouTube channels and podcasts run by personal injury lawyers, you’re getting even more exposure than most.

The big question is whether or not negative news stories have a detrimental impact on you as a reader, and if so, what are the consequences of that impact?

According to studies conducted over many years, no matter how much we think we are in control of our reactions, being exposed to negative content does have an unwanted effect. It’s not something we can choose to ignore.

Psychologists Say Bad News Is Hurting Us

According to psychologists who work with teens and young adults, people are experiencing stress because of the negative news they’re reading on social media and other sources. Many don’t even realize this is happening.

When you’re scrolling down your Facebook or Twitter feeds, for example, you’re going to quickly read an enormous amount of content, even if it’s just a headline or a few words. Unfortunately, most content people post is negative, whether it’s a shared link that shows up as a thumbnail with a prominent headline, or just someone’s take on the latest sad story making the rounds. No matter where you go, there’s always something negative to read.

Doomscrolling Is a Problem

Whether it’s the pandemic, racial injustice, the threat of war, threats of food scarcity, riots, mass shootings, or something else terrible happening, most of us are consuming this content – at least in headline form – all day. This is now termed “doomscrolling” and the psychological effects are extremely negative. Studies have found that the more people doomscroll, the more likely they are to report symptoms of depression and PTSD, especially when they already have a history of trauma.

Studies have shown that even when the bad news is relatively mundane, it still has a negative impact that creates stress, anxiety, and depression.

Negative News Makes Us Feel Helpless

It’s depressing to hear about people in another state or country suffering from something negative, but many people become even more distressed because they feel helpless. Many people naturally want to help, and feel defeated when they can’t. For example, articles about animal abuse are a common source of stress for many, mostly because they’re helpless to do anything.

Negative Stories Foster a Sense of Hopelessness

Not everyone feels the need to jump in and help each time they read a sad story, but being constantly bombarded with news about people and animals suffering all over the world can lead to feelings of hopelessness. It’s the combination of feeling compassion for others combined with being helpless to change their circumstances.

Hopelessness is a big problem in our society, and it was only made worse during the pandemic. During that time, many people started to feel a deep sense of hopelessness for the future of the world. That hasn’t changed much, and although it may have lessened for some people, there are still things going on in the world causing people distress.

Bad News Is Always Just One Notification Away

Each time you check a notification that takes you to a social media platform, you’re going to encounter something negative, whether or not that’s your intention. For instance, you could be checking a Facebook message from your best friend about their birthday party, and in the background, you’ll see a news story about another mass shooting.

The grim reality is that we can’t escape exposing ourselves to negative stories. You would have to unsubscribe from almost everyone on every social media platform to limit your exposure. Chances are, everyone in your feed will post something negative on occasion. There truly is no escape.

Moderation Is the Best Remedy

For those who don’t like feeling agitated by news headlines and sad stories, moderation is the best solution. Instead of staying glued to social media all day long, limit the number of times you scroll and give yourself a time limit. You may not be able to eliminate all exposure, but you can control it quite a bit.