News Fatigue

Author: Sophia Du

We’re all feeling it these days, the unblinking, numb response to tragedy after tragedy on our news feeds. Knowing that it should make you feel sad, empathetic, outraged...but you’re just feeling next to nothing. Resulting in guilt, shame and the recurring feeling of hopelessness.

This type of news fatigue actually comes from the modern nature of news itself, especially online news, which is now made to especially cause people stress. News outlets no longer produce news for the sake of knowledge; it’s become a shock stimulator, designed to drive an emotional response for a high traffic rate (= profit). Gradually, news fatigue becomes a process that slowly deteriorates our spark of fight, that sense of justice in us.

For me, it started with our first lockdown. I would sit at home, from morning to night, laptop and phone in hand for all waking hours, constantly scrolling through my Instagram feed. When all we have is the constant of social media and its all-consuming nature, we’re also just hooked a little more than usual. Now, as our latest lockdown is slowly waning down, old news and new continue to pour in. Texas abortion laws, Asian hate crimes, Afghanistan, climate red alert, shootings, refugees...death, suffering, sorrow, along with each post on Covid cases from the 8 news accounts I follow, it’s still as overwhelming as ever.

You may ask...the solution? Well, there isn’t one. The current state of the world is just as it seems, most probably even worse...with underrepresented and unreported cases all around us, some only skimming the surface of women’s crime, Indigenous crime, racial hate crimes, and etc. But also, it is vital that we still know change is possible. That in the constant cycle of injustice and pain, there is so much we can do. No matter how you feel now, in the current state of a world stilted in action, believe in your possibility of change. Start small, don’t stop questioning, and above all, know that there is still a fight capable in you.

Written by: Sophia Du