I have some unpopular opinions. I once said, “The Beatles are just the Coldplay of their time” at a dinner party and had to finish my tiramisu in the hallway. Also, I think travel stopped being about self-discovery and became content creation with a passport. (You didn’t “find yourself” in Bali. You found good lighting and Wi-Fi.) But the opinion that gets the most horrid, wide-eyed response from the so-called adults in my life is this: I don’t watch the news. Never. No exceptions. Not a little CNN in the background. Not a “just to stay informed” scroll through the headlines. Nothing.
To them, this is the same as saying I don’t brush my teeth or eat cereal with orange juice. A moral failure. An existential crisis. But here’s the thing: I don’t think you should watch the news either. Before you threaten me in the comments section, let me explain.
WE’LL DO IT LIVE
The 24/7 news cycle began with the launch of CNN in the 1980s. Before that, people consumed scheduled bulletins in the form of short, curated updates. Suddenly, people had access to a constant stream of meaningless alerts in red, all-caps banners. It was like someone gave your most paranoid uncle a microphone and a platform that screamed “BREAKING” every time a squirrel crossed a power line.
Since its inception, news media have relied on sensationalism to retain attention. Although the world is statistically safer than ever, news outlets manipulate viewers into believing it’s dangerous and falling apart. Unsurprisingly, regular news consumers often suffer from increased anxiety.
Hide Yo Kids, Hide Yo Wife
The real problem with the 24/7 news cycle isn’t just how it changed adults, but how it changed kids.
In The Anxious Generation, Jonathan Haidt explains that after CNN launched, parents became more overprotective in the real world and more permissive in the digital one. They restricted unsupervised outdoor play while handing kids unlimited access to TV, social media, and video games.
The result? A generation of anxious, depressed teenagers measuring their worth in followers, filters, and Fortnite wins. Ironically, in trying to protect kids from the dangers out there, we gave them a much weirder problem: the internet.
I “Lika” Do the Cha-Cha
Here are a few specific ways the news is messing with your brain:
- It Gives You a Distorted View of Reality
Some stories show up in constant rotation: school shootings, plane crashes, kidnappings. These events are rare, but because you see them repeatedly, your brain thinks they’re common. This is called the availability heuristic, and it’s the reason people avoid beaches after a shark attack but forget sunscreen every time. After enough repetition, fear starts to feel familiar. And familiar fear doesn’t feel like fear; it feels like reality.
- Negativity Sells, So Most News Is Bad News
News outlets exaggerate violence, disaster, and scandals because that increases viewership. We’re inherently susceptible to a negativity bias. This means we’re wired to pay attention to something negative rather than something positive. War, poverty, and crime have been declining for a long time. Despite what news outlets say, the world has never been safer. Think about it. Would you watch the news if they said that diseases are being eradicated or that poverty has declined?
- Some People Just Like the Drama
They’ll never admit it, but for many, the news is just prestige TV. That’s why you get respectable outlets staging debates between flat-earthers and scientists. It’s not journalism—it’s a gladiator match with worse lighting.
- It Doesn’t Make You Smarter. It Makes You Numb.
The worst part? You stop caring. When every headline is an emergency, none of them are. Over time, you’ll feel anxious, helpless, and (paradoxically) less informed. So here’s another unpopular opinion: Sometimes, not having an opinion is OK.
“My Bad, Mom”
Watching the news sucks, and you should stop doing it. Here are a few better ways to use your time:
- Learn a skill: I’m not saying you need to cure cancer. But you can make the world better by playing an instrument, teaching someone to cook, or just being a decent parent. That matters more than memorizing the political scandal of the week.
- Go deep instead of wide: Pick topics that are meaningful and timeless, such as science, history, psychology, or economics. Skip the surface-level commentary. Read books. Go to the library. Whatever you do, avoid the internet.
- Skim selectively, not constantly: pick a respectable outlet and take some time off to read an actual newspaper or magazine. Some great podcasts summarize what happened that week. Avoid the news the rest of the time. Consuming minute-by-minute news is a trap. It’s like refreshing your fridge every five minutes to see if a cake magically appeared.
This Just in: You’re Fine. Log Off.
You don’t need to know everything as it happens. You need to think clearly, feel sane, and act with purpose. The news is like junk food for your brain: salty, addictive, and designed to keep you coming back. But just like with Cheetos, you can stop. And you should.