It is a great fortune to have a job I love – yet it causes significant mental anguish. While large news media has favored sensationalized headlines to generate clicks, views and revenue for a long time, recent geopolitical events have imbued the timeline with a steady stream of dystopian stories, offering little reprieve from a sluggish apocalypse. Bird flu, wars in Ukraine and Palestine, the degradation of the internet via AI, devastating fires in California, climate-caused natural disasters taking place in all corners of the U.S. and fears over the new administration have invaded the previously well-balanced news cycle and turned it into a panorama of earthly suffering.
It feels as though we are on the precipice of an apocalypse. The federal minimum wage stagnates at a meager $7.25 per hour, with no changes foreseen. Many struggle to afford groceries and the festering bird flu epidemic has caused the price of eggs to soar, leaving some with no access to previously cheap protein sources. Anger and resentment at a broken system filled with empty promises bubble under the social fabric on both sides of the political divide. Mental illness affects many more than before, leaving no age group untouched. People fear for their jobs, which are at risk of being snatched away by ever-improving AI tools. And with the recent presidential election, it seems that corrupt oligarchs have successfully gained control of our country and will use the very systems put in place to protect our democracy to exploit our planet and our people.
It has been established that overexposure to media can cause anxiety, depression and a host of other mental health symptoms. Often called “doom-scrolling,” constantly being barraged by distressing news from never-ending social media feeds causes us to enter fight-or-flight mode. Despite my adherence to traditional forms of getting news, like newspapers or blogs, the amount of distressing topics being reported on has certainly increased since last year. Hellish footage of flames and billowing smoke ripping through the Palisades. A lone turkey, surrounded by the carcasses of others killed by foam depopulation, a method potentially being used to cull livestock due to the spread of bird flu. The death and destruction caused by Hurricane Helene in Florida.
Many others have been reported to be stepping away from the news, citing mental health struggles, annoyance with misinformation and feelings of powerlessness at major world events.
Reading the news to remain informed has become a miserable pastime. No matter where I go, I am bound to gain knowledge of something horrible occurring. While I previously enjoyed learning about the world, headline after headline, filled to the brim with descriptions of abject suffering, makes it feel as if dull-tipped nails are being hammered into my head. I, and many others, find ourselves at a crossroads in determining how to engage with the news in a meaningful way. To mire oneself in misery is a foolish endeavor, but to turn a blind eye to the horrors of the world is to remain content in ignorance.
