Cutting Through the Noise

How I Choose News that is Informative, and Mentally Healthy

I don’t think I am alone in this, but 99.99% of the time, my phone is on silent. There are customized vibrations and what not, but outside of messaging and calling, my phone will rarely even buzz. At this point, unless you have family you are worried about/have children, it is almost a necessity. We live in a world where we are being constantly bombarded by companies trying to sell us something, social media trying to addict us to their platforms, and many other ways in which the devices in our hands have become nonstop communication and advertisement.

A lot of this is relatively harmless, especially if you’re someone who acknowledges the risk of addiction to such things. I myself have time limits on my social media apps, even if I tend to go over them especially when it’s a heavy sports day. However, when it is specifically places where we should be trusting for our news of the day, being hammered with never ending headlines can be the most detrimental to one's mental health, certainly a lot more than Facebook, TikTok, or Twitter trying to prey on your FOMO with incessant notifications you didn’t even sign up for. 

Too Much Information

There was a time where I would seek out and almost obsess over the news, particularly at the beginning of 2017. It seemed like a time where it was necessary to stay informed, in any way possible. I was still careful with the places I chose to receive my news, but I was getting a ton of it. This lasted about 6 months before I started to notice the significant impact this constant assault on my mental health the headlines were taking. It was also being shared on Facebook and other social media sites so much that scrolling became more of a test of fortitude than enjoying catching up on the lives of friends. 

So, I took the news app off of my phone, and cut down significantly on the news sources I had as apps. As many of you know I block anything politics or politically adjacent to any social media platform I go on, so this also helped as well. Full transparency, I live close to DC, and as a result, politics tend to come up far too often in casual conversation. It’s not that I am opposed to civil discourse on subjects, but even amongst people who tend to agree, the way these conversations sound in person and online have more vitriol than anything. Even within our own echo chambers, doom scrolling is a thing.

Fear, Hate, and Anxiety Sell

Like it or not, fear, hate and anxiety sell. They drive people to the polls, they drive people to stockpile goods, and they even drive us to engage in actions and discussions we would otherwise find appalling. I am by no means an expert on brain chemistry or the psychology of advertising, but I do know what I have experienced and what others tell me about these things. It is easier to addict people to something when you feel there is an existential threat, or you fear you’re missing out on the newest trends. 

While specific kinds of hate are taught whether that be misogyny, homophobia, racism etc., we as humans are more inclined to associate ourselves with people we tend to align with on any number of subjects. People of different faiths do so on different days in different houses of worship and even within religions different sects segregate themselves even further. You aren’t very likely to go and watch your favorite sports team at a bar where you know the teams of a rival fan base tend to frequent. In fact, it goes against human nature to step outside of one’s comfort zone, in some cases more extreme than others. However, because we are a species that naturally gravitates towards the familiar, the “us vs. them” mentality makes it much easier to prey upon and foster hatred and disdain of the unknown. 

The Economy of News

I do not watch the news. In fact, when people talk about cable news television, I often refer to it as entertainment news. Rather than giving you good, unbiased information, networks are more concerned with ratings and preying on the emotions I mentioned previously. That said, there are a couple international news channels I will watch via YouTube, but nothing in the US on TV other than local news on occasion is worth your time in my opinion. At the end of the day, they’re only there to make money and keep your eyeballs.

And, honestly, that's sad. News channels and news apps on phones have the ideals and goals of a social media company instead of a truly journalistic outlet. The more you look, the more advertisers will pay to be on their platforms, plain and simple. As a result, they will sell you on hate, fear, and purposefully probe you to make you as anxious as possible. Sure, you may like what you’re hearing in your curated news feed, but it is also subconsciously (and sometimes overtly) sewing that hate and “us vs. them” mentality that is so primal in us as humans. And no this isn’t some galaxy brain thinking, it only takes a little research to realize this is what’s happening.

Why I Took AP off my Phone

I used to have 4 news apps on my phone. I’ll share the other 3 soon, but recently I made a tough decision to remove the Associated Press. Anyone who doesn’t have an extremist political view sees the AP as reputable, unbiased, and on the whole just wants to present the facts. 

That’s why I kept them on my phone while I purged other news outlets. However, I noticed over time, especially since 2020, that while they were presenting facts, they were also sharing things more frequently, and it was often just bad news. Not bad in the sense of election results or bad news that can be a matter of opinion, but just BAD. Furthermore, they were on subjects I specifically told the app I had no interest in. It was acting more like a social media app preying on FOMO but also presenting anxiety provoking headlines constantly. They were pinging this 15-20 times more than another source I consider just as reputable and unbiased. The stark difference drove me to remove the app. 

My Three News Apps

Reuters

A news publication I consider to be bone dry presenting facts is Reuters. Unlike the AP though, they aren’t constantly pinging me with bad news. Yeah, the news might not be great, but I am not getting 30 updates a day about terrible things happening in the world. If Reuters is sending me a ping on breaking news, that generally means it’s a big deal. I don’t want to be oblivious, but I also don’t want to be inundated with all things bad. 

The BBC

I think people can quibble with how the BBC covers their own government and there’s certainly politics involved with the publication on the whole, especially depending on which party is in power. However, when it comes to international news, they tend to do a good job being unbiased and giving me breaking news I am interested in. As someone who is interested in the world around me, I like to stay informed and up to date on issues that are important around the world. The BBC provides me with that information without loaded language and overly opinionated pieces.

Goodable

This is one of the best apps and the only news source I follow on Twitter. Goodable is just what it sounds like, a news entity that focuses on sharing good news in a world where people only seem interested in sharing the bad. The team at Goodable even did research where they found that over 90 percent, yes, NINETY PERCENT of news headlines found across the spectrum of news sources were bad or unhappy news. When I read that statistic so many things about our consumption of information made sense.

I have shared their praises many times, but it really is a shot of those good chemicals to the brain when I do get updates or read headlines from their app. Whether it’s an update about a scientific breakthrough, story about the good in humanity, or a dog doing something heroic, it’s nice to get good news. I think it is incredibly important to stay informed about the world around us in the most unbiased ways we can, but sometimes it’s nice to smile and read a story about how a whale helped to save a stranded diver from a shark. 

Informed, Not Inundated

I mentioned this in one of my previous articles having to do with sports, but I am someone who has been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. It’s not something I talk about often, but I am feeling the need to do so more if for no other reason it does inform some of the decisions I make on a daily basis. 

When it comes to who I choose to interact with and the news I choose to consume, I am absolutely guided by how it will effect my mental health. I don’t believe we can go through life living in our own echo chambers only hearing what we want to hear and interacting with only people we agree with. At the same time though, how we receive information we may find disturbing or disagree with is also important. In a day and age where we have political parties texting us propaganda (yeah…that BS is truly annoying), we have to be vigilant with what we choose to consume and trust as news. I always say consider the source and do my research before interacting with an unknown entity. That is as much to confirm how comfortable I am with the source as it is to look after my own mental health.

We also need to balance all the bad news and FOMO these apps are preying on with some good news. I think Reuters and BBC are great for the news they provide but the only news source I think I would actually endorse as a mental health positive is the Goodable app. There’s zero chance I read a headline from them and come away feeling dread, hate or despair. Unless you’re completely jaded, I think that would apply for most people if they chose to consume their product. 

So, in an age where companies and news sources inundate us with terrible headlines trying to prey on the worst in humanity, just make sure you’re informed. Know what you're consuming. I’ll read something I know is biased, but I also know going into said reading what I know is biased. Be wary of people looking for clicks by spreading crap information. Being information literate is going to become more and more paramount as we are able to curate our own ways to intake information.

And seriously, download the Goodable app. It’s the best thing you can do for your mental health when it comes to getting unapologetically good news, all the time. 

No, Goodable is not paying me to say this.