How to Stay Informed—Without the Overwhelm
I built a pretty unhealthy habit during this past election cycle: nonstop news consumption.
Driving home from work, I’d cycle between NPR and my go-to political podcasts. When I arrived, I’d check the headlines on my phone before walking inside. And before bed, I’d swipe through the real wonky stuff: polling analysis, insider rumblings, the latest minor setbacks that politicos were overreacting to.
It was a lot.
And while this was my own flavor of obsession, I know others were sucked into their own versions as well – scrolling on social media, opening an article on Facebook and adventuring down a rabbit hole for hours, or just having Fox, CNN, or MSNBC running constantly in the background.
So, coming out of this season of frenzy but knowing Inauguration Day is this next week, I’ve been reflecting on a question I heard last month in an activist training I attended:
What are we doing to stay centered so that we can keep moving forward?
It's no surprise – news consumption doesn’t keep me centered (shocker 🙄) and, while it’s vital to knowing what’s going on, the constant consumption of it pushes me into overwhelm and stuckness more often than it helps me identify ways to move forward.
This is compounded by a few things:
News is more rapid and accessible than it used to be, making everything feel urgent.
Social media amplifies content, regardless of accuracy, designed to stoke emotions and remove us from being mindfully present. (This will get worse with Meta’s recent rejection of fact-checking.)
The sheer volume of information we take in makes it difficult to determine relevant actions, leading to powerlessness and what I refer to as “almost-apathy” (where we want to do something, but we have no idea what and therefore find ourselves disconnecting.)
Here are a couple ways I’m working to shift my relationship with news and news-adjacent media in the coming weeks and months:
(If any of this has resonated with you, I invite you to consider these for yourself and find a few tangible changes you can make as well.)
Setting limits on direct news consumption.
In order to stay informed without getting sucked in for hours, I’m beginning to set a 10-minute, twice-per-day limit for how long I spend on my go-to news websites.
This gives me two time periods, in the morning and the evening, in which to check the headlines and get an understanding of what’s going on in the world. And if there’s something I want to investigate further, I’m giving myself flexibility to do that.
Choosing to read the good stuff.
A few years ago, I subscribed to The Goodnewspaper and absolutely loved it.
Written to counter the bad-news focus of most news sources, it is a monthly newspaper that curates and amplifies good things happening all over the world. But they do it without ignoring injustice – they name the harm and then amplify the beautiful work being done about it.
I've recently resubscribed and I'm setting an intention for myself to keep my head up and stay awake to the beauty, as well as the challenges, we have in front of us.
Reading more moderate news analysis
I admit I have a lot of discomfort with this one.
In my gut, I don’t want to read the “moderate” take on things; I despair and grow frustrated with the “both sides are equal” narratives often found in these spaces. And, in general: I want radical solutions and radical analysis to problems I see as too large for moderate band-aids.
That said – I’m also recognizing more and more how little I understand folks (including family members) who see the world in a more conservative, MAGA, or even moderate way. And that’s problematic for me.
One source of moderate news analysis I’ve found and really enjoyed is Tangle.
Four days a week, their team sends an email explaining one issue from the day’s news, along with sections for what Left-leaning news sources are saying, Right-leaning sources are saying, and some of their own analysis.
I don’t always (often?) agree with their analysis, but I really appreciate having it curated and presented in this way.
With what’s coming the next four years, the balance between informed and overwhelmed is going to be really important, so if you have ideas or your own concerns for how to navigate this in an intentional way, I’d love to hear from you.
