How to Curb Your Addiction to News

Assess the level of your problem. Determining how afflicted you are with an addiction to the news will help guide you in your journey of self-help and potential therapy. Ask yourself a series of questions and write down your answers. Once you see the list you have written, take time to think about the ways your life is limited by your behaviors. Introspection is the process of directly attempting to access your own internal processes. ^[8] . When you figure out how and why you react the way you do, then you can solve many personal struggles. The level of your discomfort will inspire you to change your behaviors. Here are some questions you can ask yourself about your addiction to the news:

• Have any of your relationships been negatively affected by your news watching behaviors? Ask those closest to you for their input as you may not be completely aware of how your actions impact others. This will show you that you news watching is not only harming you, but others as well.
• Does the morning news define how you will act and feel for the day? Does your last news check-in of the day determine how you will sleep at nights? If you allow the news to define your day and affect your sleep, then you are being controlled by your addiction.
• Do you rudely interrupt conversations to be able to hear a news item while you're out shopping, dining or spending time with others? Hurting other people’s feelings just to hear the news shows that you place news at a higher priority than others around you.
• Do you believe 24 hour news stations matter more than any other stations on television? Would you forgo other things in life just to feed this habit? This outlook is limiting your perception of the world, and thus limits your experiences.
• Do you feel deprived if you don't know what is currently happening in the world? Do you suffer from FOMO, Fear Of Missing Out? Recent studies indicate that if you suffer from FOMO you are likely feeling disconnected and dissatisfied with your life.^[9]
• Are you a person who fights to be the first to hear breaking news? The urgent need to stay on top of the news is a lot of pressure to be putting on yourself and it may be affecting your behaviors.

Evaluate your mood after spending time watching news programs. Your feelings are a true indicator that you have let a news addiction dominate your life. If you feel stressed, anxiety-ridden and convinced that the world is out of control, you're overly reliant on news. If you are positive and upbeat one moment and then you become suddenly angry when you hear the news, this is a sign of addiction.^[10]

• Has your usual optimistic self been transformed into a pessimistic and joyless self who only sees the dangers, the panic, the fears and the terrible future ahead of you? Too much news will do that.
• Are you unable to react rationally to stressful situations? Do you snap at family members or become agitated if someone dares to suggest that things aren't really as bad as you are making them out to be?
• Have you started to become more paranoid or uneasy in public. Continuous exposure to an abundance of news can make even the most levelheaded individual feel paranoid or concerned that something terrible is about to happen.

Determine the underlying causes. Real change does not occur without identifying the emotional underpinnings of your behavior. Are you struggling with anxiety, stress, or depression? You may be using the news to distract yourself. Unfortunately, it may be causing more harm than good. Most stories on the news are filled with tragedy, crisis and leave you feeling helpless.

• Manage your anxiety, stress or depression in healthy ways that include relaxation techniques, physical exercise or yoga.^[11]
• When you are relaxed your muscles loosen, blood pressure and heart rate drop, and your breathing slows and deepens. Spend time relaxing rather than watching the news to avoid your emotions. Also, if you do watch a disturbing story you can use relaxation techniques to calm down.

Formulate a plan to build coping skills. Following a problem solving model will give you structure for creating change. You have identified your addictive behaviors and now you must determine clear objectives, implement them, make adjustments as needed and monitor your progress.^[12]

• Determine clear objectives. One objective may be that you set a schedule and keep a log of how much time you spend watching the news. Self-monitoring leads to real change.^[13]
• Pick a start date for your plan and start. Don’t delay the inevitable. Start as soon as possible.
• Recognize your growth and reward yourself. If you successfully meet your daily, weekly or monthly objectives, celebrate your accomplishments. Perhaps you could go to a movie, attend a sporting event or plant a tree in honor of someone you admire. Positive reinforcement will motivate you to continue with your plan.
• If a strategy just isn’t working for you, then stop using it. Find an alternative and plug it into your plan. Don’t look at it as a failure; instead look at it as a correction in the course toward your goal.
• Your new behaviors will build over time and become second nature to you. You can fade or lessen your strict adherence to the steps of your plan and maintain positive outcomes.^[14]

Seek professional help. If you have difficulty managing your addiction to the news, then seek counsel from a professional trained to deal with addiction. Contact you doctor or trusted friend or family member for a referral in your area.

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one of many types of therapies that are effective with addictions, depression, and anxiety disorders.^[15]
• Group therapy is also effective when coupled with a problem solving approach.^[16] Groups may be focuses specifically on news addiction, or can be formed to help with social and coping skills.

Strengthen your support system. Relationships must be nurtured to survive. Social support is essential for your physical and psychological health.^[17] If you’ve been handcuffed to the news for any period of time, your relationships have likely suffered. Reach out to others to build or repair your relationships. Until you are 100% confident with the changes you have made, you will need the support of others.

• Engage in real and online social situations that expand your interests beyond news stories. For example, take a music lesson, volunteer for a project to help animals, or children in need. It will restore the idea that there is more to life than news.
• Shared interests bring people together. Investigate and join a group that might interest you. There might be a comedy groups, or city recreation league that will provide the opportunity to meet new people.

Be a good role model for others. If you meet someone who you suspect is addicted to the news, refrain from talking about the news. Bring up different subjects to divert the conversation toward a more positive direction. You can always excuse yourself from a conversation if it becomes difficult or annoying.

• Without being pushy or overbearing, share your experience with the person and offer to help him. You can suggest all the strategies that helped you manage your addiction to the news.
• Teaching others what you have learned will give you a sense of accomplishment and internal reward far above what watching the news will provide.
• Learning to overcome and manage an addiction to the news will increase your self-esteem.

Keep life in perspective. It is important to keep the information we hear in perspective. A lot of news narrows down the information to a specific, terrible situation. There are usually time constraints so they pack in as much death and destruction as possible. If you inundate yourself with this information, it will skew your perception of reality.

• Pause and think clearly and you will realize the chances of the same disaster happening again or even at all, are minuscule. Influenza is a very good example of narrow reporting. A certain amount of people die, but in a country with 350 million people, 50 influenza deaths is a small amount. Don't assume there is a pandemic without good evidence.
• When you're tempted to believe that things are getting worse because of the news, stop and ask yourself something like: Are they really? And why do I think that? Are those facts credible? Taking the time to question the fear-mongering news stories can break the cycle of being obsessed with them.

Lighten up your viewing choices. Watch movies or TV shows that don’t involve the news or disasters. For example, you can watch shows about home improvement, or biographies of historical figures. Add some humor to your life to balance the negativity of watching the news. It can be healing.^[18]

• Periodically ask yourself if you have laughed very much in the last week or month. If you can't remember the last time you did, then find a way to get a good dose of laughter. Call a friend who makes you laugh, or go to a comedy club to support comedians. Once you feel the benefits of laughter you will make it part of your routine.