Obsessed With The News? You Need A Strict Information Diet

The coronavirus has left many of us a little soft around the edges. In Germany, they’ve even coined a word–“coronaspeck”–to describe those who’ve piled on extra pounds in lockdown. But it’s not only our bodies that need attention.

The need to feel connected to others and stay informed has seen our consumption of news content tip towards the obsessive. 

A new poll of 3,000 respondents in the U.S. and U.K. by GlobalWebIndex found that, due to the coronavirus, 48% are reading more news, 27% are sharing more news, and 17% have started following more journalists.

The sheer volume of news content available across multiple channels, means educating oneself is like trying to quench your thirst by taking a quick sip from a fire hose. One minute you’ve logged into LinkedIn, and the next you’re deciphering a COVID-19 bar chart on the New York Times website.

It takes an emotional toll. A 2019 survey by the American Psychological Association found that more than half (54%) of Americans want to stay informed but reading the news causes them stress. As such, nearly two in five adults (39%) had taken steps to reduce their news consumption. But that was pre-coronavirus.

Now we have to work from home, alongside our families or roommates, through a pandemic, curating our news consumption has never been more pressing if we are to keep stress levels to a minimum and achieve more in less time.

Swap snacks for meals

Fredda Hurwitz, chief strategy and marketing officer at RedPeg, recommends treating your news consumption like a healthy diet: in short, eat regular meals and avoid snacking.

“The magnetic draw of snackable Twitter headlines coupled with the constant bleeping of the various news organizations I subscribe to is enough to keep me in a permanent state of news consumption, which serves no purpose other than to add huge and unnecessary levels of anxiety. The statement ‘she saw something shiny and got distracted’ has taken on a whole new meaning recently,” confesses Hurwitz.

The diet analogy can go deeper: we can also swap low-quality junk content for high-quality journalism from trusted sources that are less likely to set our pulses racing. In his book, ​News: A User’s Manual,​ philosopher Alain de Botton said: “Always remember that the news is always trying to make you scared. It’s bad for us, but very good for news organizations: the easiest way to get an audience is through frightening people.” So, source your news from trusted publications that aim to inform, rather than terrify. 

Use airplane mode

Biron Clark, founder of job search advice site CareerSidekick, has managed to avoid news websites, television and social media outside of a dedicated 30-minute period each afternoon by setting his phone to airplane mode during his peak productivity hours. And he doesn’t allow himself to check messages or social media after waking up until he has completed 90 minutes of focused work.

Clark explains: “This has had a big impact on my productivity and mental health in the past two weeks. While it’s important to stay on top of current developments at a time like this, it’s easy to fall into the habit of checking far too often, which can hurt your productivity and mental health.”

Read as reward

Morgan Taylor, chief marketing officer at LetMeBank, says trying to completely avoid updates during the working day isn’t a good strategy, as curiosity gets the better of him. Instead he does focused two-hour bursts of distraction-free work and then allows himself to check the news. He also recommends closing down tabs once articles have been read. “I think a lot of people will have trouble as they are leaving web pages and social media pages open while working. This will grab at your attention constantly,” he warns.

Get to know your habits

Without being aware of our bad habits, we can’t hope to improve our productivity levels. Yaniv Masjedi, chief marketing officer at Nextiva started scrutinizing his work day down to the minute, and was surprised by the results. 

“I didn’t know where all of my time was going, so I carefully tracked it for a few weeks, down to the minute. I found I was constantly stopping for emails, to read the news, and I allowed social media to take up a disappointing amount of work time,” he says. As a result, Masjedi got rid of all his personal social media accounts.  

Track your smartphone usage by using apps like Social Fever, Moment or Offtime or use multi-platform software like Toggl, Hours or Time Doctor to monitor your computer usage.