Why 40 per cent of people are avoiding the news, according to a psychologist

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · May 25, 2026 · 906 words · By Ali Jasemi

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What to know about Why 40 per cent of people are avoiding the news, according to a psychologist

The author, a developmental psychology researcher, discusses the phenomenon of news fatigue and its roots in the human brain's evolutionary negativity bias. The article suggests that the modern scale of global information exceeds our cognitive architecture and proposes strategies for managing news consumption to protect mental health.

Propaganda risk 10%

Claims checked 7

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center86%

Right14%

7 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

During several recent conversations, people have told me that they’ve stopped checking their phones in the morning.

Why it matters

Not because nothing was happening, but because everything was.

Common ground

They described the feeling as standing under a waterfall of perpetual bad news.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Why 40 per cent of people are avoiding the news, according to a psychologist?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that According to Reuters Institute’s 2025 Digital News Report, 69 per cent of Canadians at least occasionally avoid the news now?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/why-40-per-cent-of-people-are-avoiding-the-news-acco…

analyticsAnalysis

10%

Propaganda Score

confidence: 95%

Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

7 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

info Single Source 4

check_circle Corroborated 2

verified Verified By Reference 1

info

“According to Reuters Institute’s 2025 Digital News Report, 69 per cent of Canadians at least occasionally avoid the news now.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The claim is explicitly stated in one web search result referencing the Reuters Institute 2025 Digital News Report. While the report exists, no other independent news sources in the provided evidence corroborate this specific statistic for Canadians.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Michael Miebach (born 1968 in Bavaria) is a German business executive who has been Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the US financial services provider Mastercard since January 2021. He previously held…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Miebach

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Reuters ( ROY-tərz) is a British news agency wholly owned by Thomson Reuters, a multinational information conglomerate. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in 200 locations a…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuters

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ROY-tərz) is a Canadian multinational content-driven technology conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, and maintains its headquarters in the city at …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson_Reuters

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

“Globally, 40 per cent report they at least sometimes or often do the same, the highest figure ever recorded.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The claim is found in the same single web search result as claim 0. No other independent sources provided confirm the 40% global figure or that it is the highest ever recorded.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. It can be attributed to a series of f…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Global may refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Globalism has multiple meanings. In political science, it is used to describe "attempts to understand all of the interconnections of the modern world—and to highlight patterns that underlie (and expla…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalism

+ 3 more evidence sources

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“the human mind has been shown to weigh negative information more heavily than positive, attend to it faster and remember it longer.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent sources (Wikipedia, PMC, and Facebook/Psychology articles) confirm the existence and characteristics of 'negativity bias', specifically that the brain attends to, remembers, and is more affected by negative information than positive information.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — ... negativity bias, or the propensity to attend to, learn from, and use negative information far more than positive information. This bias is argued to serve ...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3652533/

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web search NEUTRAL — The negativity bias, also known as the negativity effect, is a cognitive bias that human cognition is relatively more affected by a negative affect than an ...Missing: attends | Show results with:atte…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativity_bias

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web search NEUTRAL — Jan 10, 2026 · The "Negativity Bias" theory explains why the human brain remembers negative experiences much longer and more vividly than positive ones..
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Santafefoodies/posts/4378724…

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“A study published in the scientific journal Nature Human Behaviour examined more than 105,000 real news headlines viewed nearly six million times. Each additional negative word increased click-through rates, while positive words had the opposite effect.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources (PMC and ResearchGate) confirm a study published in Nature Human Behaviour regarding news headlines where negative words increased click-through/consumption rates while positive words had the opposite effect.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — "Human Behaviour" is a song by Icelandic recording artist Björk, released on 7 June 1993 by One Little Indian as the lead single from her debut studio album, Debut (1993). Produced by Björk's longtime…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Behaviour

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Human behavior is the potential and expressed capacity (mentally, physically, and socially) of human individuals or groups to respond to internal and external stimuli throughout their life. Behavior i…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_behavior

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Nature Human Behaviour is a monthly multidisciplinary online-only peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of human behaviour. It was established in January 2017 and is published by Natur…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nature_Human_Behaviour

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

“Recent studies suggest people around the world demonstrate measurably stronger physiological responses to negative news than to positive news.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided web search results for this claim are irrelevant, returning results for 'People' magazine and celebrity news rather than physiological studies on news consumption.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — People (magazine) ... People is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by People Inc., a subsidiary of IAC. [3]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_(magazine)

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web search NEUTRAL — Get the latest royals news and features from PEOPLE.com, including breaking news and style updates about Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and all the royal babies.
https://people.com/

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web search NEUTRAL — People. 12,558,284 likes · 1,232,105 talking about this. The #1 source for celebrity news and inspiring stories.
https://www.facebook.com/peoplemag/

verified

“In their 2022 study, the researchers found that 17 per cent of American adults qualified as having severe levels of PNC.”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The evidence provided consists of unrelated studies (ADR, ESS) and Wikipedia entries on other types of addiction (pornography, smartphones). No evidence was found regarding a 2022 study on 'Problematic News Consumption (PNC)' in American adults.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Pornography addiction is the scientifically controversial application of an addiction model to the use of pornography. Pornography can be considered part of a compulsive behavior, with negative conseq…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_addiction

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Problematic smartphone use is psychological or behavioral dependence on cell phones. It is closely related to other forms of digital media overuse such as social media addiction or internet addiction …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problematic_smartphone_use

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Excessive use of social media can lead to problems including impaired functioning and a reduction in overall wellbeing, for both users and those around them. Such usage is associated with a risk of me…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problematic_social_media_use

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

“Among that group, 61 per cent reported feeling unwell quite a bit or very much, compared with six per cent of those who didn’t.”

SINGLE SOURCE

The evidence provided is irrelevant, discussing general feelings of being unwell, psychology of symptoms, or video game settings, with no mention of the PNC group or the 61% vs 6% statistic.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Wondering why you feel so grotty, unwell, and run-down when you're not actually sick?If you’ve lost quite a bit of weight without trying, it could be down to stress or feeling run-down. Have you been …
https://www.stylist.co.uk/health/feeling-unwell/479250

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web search NEUTRAL — Feeling unwell becomes the new normalBusyness as emotional cover
https://www.psychreg.org/psychology-waiting-until-symptoms-b…

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web search NEUTRAL — The ultimate Battlefield 6 graphic optimization guide to boost FPS and improve visibility! Benchmarks & comparisons of every setting in BF6 help you find the...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZ9vOyfF9uI

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.