Mental Health News
Researchers at Texas Tech University explored how internet news addiction causes poor mental and physical health. The study is published in the journal Health Communication.
The Study
In order to understand the link between news addiction and mental health, the researchers analyzed data from an online survey of 1100 US adults.
In the survey, the participants were asked about their habits of news consumption, whether they had a healthy relationship with news consumption, their experienced feelings of stress and anxiety, as well as physical ailments (such as fatigue, physical pain, poor concentration, gastrointestinal issues, etc.).
The Findings
The results revealed that people who are addicted to news are more likely to suffer from stress, anxiety, poor mental wellbeing, as well as physical ill health.
Elaborating on how high-levels of news addiction trigger health conditions, one of the lead researchers, Bryan McLaughlin, remarked: “The economic pressures facing outlets, coupled with technological advances and the 24- hour news cycle have encouraged journalists to focus on selecting ‘newsworthy’ stories that will grab news consumers’ attention. However, for certain types of people, the conflict and drama that characterize newsworthy stories can lead to a maladaptive relationship with the news.”
To Know More You May Refer To
McLaughlin, B., Gotlieb, M. R., & Mills, D. J. (2022). Caught in a Dangerous World: Problematic News Consumption and Its Relationship to Mental and Physical Ill-Being. Health communication, 1–11. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2022.2106086
