We’ve all experienced this at some point. doom scrolling, that is, we found ourselves scrolling endlessly on our mobile phones, and almost everything we see is bad news.

However, those who are generally “stuck” with the news and they are constantly updated to be the first to know the next news that comes out, are more likely to suffer from stress, anxiety and other health problems, as a new American study shows.

It’s true, of course developments in recent years from a pandemic to major devastating wildfires, and the war in Ukraine, have raised the world’s interest in staying up to date more often.

OUR reading negative news as you might expect, this can be stressful for many – consider, in addition, how this is reinforced by social networks, when negative news material is played many times and with comments.

The researchers of the above study, led by Prof. Brian McLaughlin of the University of Texas College of Media and Communicationspublished in the journal Health Communication, studied the phenomenon of so-called “news addiction” on a selective basis. in 1100 adults, who completed the relevant questionnaires.

Participants were asked to answer questions such as “I am so absorbed in the news that I forget the world around me” or “Thoughts about the news often run through my head” in “It’s hard for me to stop reading or watching the news” or “I often don’t pay attention at school or at work because I read or watch the news.”

The conclusions showed that 16.5% of people – that is, about one in six – show signs of “extremely problematic” news consumption; to the point where they dominate their lives, disrupting relationships with family and friends, causing difficulty concentrating on school or work duties, and causing pervasive restlessness and insomnia.

These people appear more often violations of their mental (74%) and physical health (61%), compared to much smaller percentages (8% and 6%) among those who do not have such “stuck” news.

“Following international events in the media can leave some people in a state of high alert and arousal, making the world seem like a dark and dangerous place. Such people may develop a vicious cycle that creates an obsessive relationship with the news, constantly “checking in” for new events. The more someone does it, the more it affects other aspects of their life,” McLaughlin said.

Like he said it’s a necessity to help some people develop a healthier relationship with the news, without ceasing, of course, to be in the know. In other cases of addiction and compulsive behavior, treatment involves a complete cessation of problem behavior, but in the case of information, this is best avoided so as not to undermine, among other things, the presence of properly informed citizens, something necessary in a democracy.

With information from APE-MPE.