The current environment that we live in is extremely negative. We are exposed to 24-hour news coverage of one disaster or catastrophe after the other – the COVID-19 pandemic, police brutality, racism, the explosion in Lebanon, the constant negative discourse in politics, Brexit and more. This constant exposure to negative news is affecting the public’s mental health.
The impact this negative news has on our wellbeing is separate to the effect each of the individual issues may have on those personally affected by these incidents – the news is exacerbating the effect of world events so, rather than informing and empowering us, the news is creating more anxiety.
A study conducted a few years ago on the psychological impact of the content of news programmes found that those exposed to negative news were more anxious and experienced a higher level of sadness2. They were also more likely to catastrophize their personal worries, this means that even though viewers were not directly affected by the content in the news, the negative sentiment that the news conveyed negatively impacted other concerns they had.
The pandemic era is unique in that we are all personally impacted which is rarely the case when a disaster strikes. For many, disasters affect “other people” and we watch from afar in safety. Today, we are the “other people” and this has created a global mental health pandemic. A study conducted in the US which included 200 people from across the country found that levels of depression, anxiety and stress were significantly higher than in pre-COVID-19 times1. The research found that:
- 50% of participants experienced moderate to severe symptoms of depression in the past month
- 32% of participants experienced moderate to severe anxiety symptoms
The psychological impact of both the exposure to negative news and the current COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing and is likely to persist if we don’t take personal action. We can take steps to reduce our exposure to the amount of news that we can consume. The news right now is disproportionately negative and probably always has been, but now more than ever before, we need to seek out positive news and find some inspiration – we need a break from all this negative news!
We recently discovered a new radio show on WINN FM here in St Kitts called The Good News Show, and this was such a refreshing break from all the negativity. Host, Enoete Inanga, takes his listeners on a journey of positivity, highlighting good news, stories, people and ideas. He features positive global and local news stories and interviews inspiring guests who take us through their journey to success. We have really enjoyed listening to this new show and if you’re looking for some positivity you can check it out on Thursdays from 7pm to 8pm AST. Alternatively, you can watch recordings of the show on YouTube, the latest show can be viewed here:
Enoete Inanga seems to be all about positivity and he recently launched Bestimony – a positive place to give affirmations and show appreciation to others.
So, in our quest to find positivity, we stumbled upon The Good News Show and Bestimony. Have you been on a quest to inject some positivity into your day? Let us know what you have found by leaving a comment below and let’s go on a positivity journey together.
References
- Johannesen K. (2020) Stress of the Pandemic Has Negative Impact on Mental Health and Relationships, Study Shows [Online]. Available at https://news.iu.edu/stories/2020/06/iub/inside/29-stress-of-pandemic-mental-health-relationships.html (Accessed: 10th August 2020)
- Johnston WM, Davey GC. The psychological impact of negative TV news bulletins: the catastrophizing of personal worries.Br J Psychol. 1997;88 ( Pt 1):85-91. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8295.1997.tb02622.x
It has been a struggle with the COVID, the news just speaks of doom and gloom and it is hard not to get bogged down and feel depressed. Thinking about supporting your family, paying bills. I had to start walking with my kids more often to get away from the news. It does help relieve some anxiety. I had to stop listening to the news, it becomes very easy to turn to it to find out what is going on. I started listening to more podcasts during this time. Rick Warren and Tony Evan had some good ones about going through this, and it helped build up my faith. My wife has been a strong woman through all this being on the front lines. I know she was worried for a while, but God has been good.
To anyone out there dealing with anxiety over this virus, find a hobby, get in touch with God and it will be ok.
The news will always have negative news, that is what they do because we are attracted to negativity.
So, I encourage you all to focus on the positive and it will make the world a little better. Thanks for the article.
Thank you, Deji, for your insightful and encouraging comments. It’s so true, we really have to try and focus on the positive, and do our part to make the world a little better.
Podcasts are a great way to escape the negativity on the news – great tip!
We thank your wife and all frontline workers for their sacrifice, hard work and dedication. We pray that she remains safe and well.
Love this! Thank you for sharing such an insightful article!
You’re very welcome and thank you for visiting our website. We’re so glad you found the article useful.
Enjoyed reading the article above, really explains everything in detail, the article is very interesting and effective. Thank you and good luck for the upcoming articles
Thank you. We’re really glad that you enjoyed reading this article. Thank you for visiting our website!
Thanks for your article. It’s been a terrible year and I feel the Holiday doesn’t help at all, as I’ve been staying in for most of the time already. I’m trying to listen more to positive podcasts and music, and learn some painting skills. Do you have any expert advice on reducing stress? It’d be great if you put together an article on this, and I and my family really need a way to fight over this unpleasant time.
Dear Sean,
We are sorry to hear of how you are feeling. You are certainly on the right track with the podcasts, music and painting as all of these activities will certainly help to reduce stress and improve your wellbeing.
We are hoping to have a guest author prepare a piece on wellness tips to get us through this Christmas. I will share this with you when it’s available. In the meantime, we do have some articles that explore how to reduce stress generally. In the following article, SME discusses the negative impact of stress and they share their stress infographic which includes some evidence-based ways to reduce stress. The article is here: https://lakehealthandwellbeing.com/the-negative-impact-of-stress-infographic-by-sme/ Another guest author, NJC Therapy Practice, explores how we can manage stress through emotional intelligence – https://lakehealthandwellbeing.com/stress-management-through-emotional-intelligence/ We hope you find these to be helpful and we will keep looking for some relevant articles to share with you.
We wish you all the best and hope that you and your family will still be able to enjoy the holiday period despite the current global situation.
Kind Regards,
Lake Health and Wellbeing