How to stay informed without pulling your hair out.
In case you didn’t already know, I have a day job in marketing and public relations, which means I work with the media on a regular basis. A big part of my job is staying informed, and my colleagues and I are expected to read the news every day.
Over the years, I’ve learned that it’s easy to become overwhelmed by information very quickly, and it’s hard to sort through the “mind clutter” as I call it when we consume more than what our brains can process. 2020 is already confusing enough—there’s no need to complicate things further.
To protect my sanity and have a clearer picture of the world, I created my own process for staying informed on my terms, and I made it a habit. When COVID-19 became the only news story back in March, I took comfort in the fact that while there were a lot of competing headlines and conspiracy theories floating around, I could make the best decisions for myself based on the information available to me.
Sound like a breath of fresh air? I hope so. Here are my tips to create a routine that works for you.
1. Set boundaries.
As I’m sure you’ve experienced particularly this year, it’s so easy to get overwhelmed by the news. Once you start to focus in on headlines, it can turn into an anxiety-inducing spiral. That’s why the first and most important rule to set with yourself is to create boundaries for how much news you consume, how often and from what sources. For example, while I find myself in front of news articles throughout the day due to the nature of my job, I only actively spend time consuming the news for no more than one hour per day, preferably in the morning. After that, I allow myself to focus in on my job and only come back to articles that are directly affecting what I’m trying to do, or if there’s a true breaking news story. That may be too much or not enough for you, but either way, make sure you create a boundary for yourself and stick to it.
2. Select sources you trust.
This rule goes in hand with the first one. Once you know how much time you want to spend consuming news, you need to decide how and where your news is going to come from. While having so many options these days can be overwhelming, the key is to select media that work with our routines, not against them. Here are a few ways you could be receiving information:
Print Newspapers
Broadcast TV and Radio
Online News
Podcasts
Newsletters Apps
As for me, I prefer a mixture of podcasts, newsletters and online news. For national news, I listen to NPR’s Up First and Consider This podcast episodes every morning while I’m showering and making breakfast. I also like to read the Skimm every morning as I’m checking email, since it’s my favorite newsletter, and I always read my local paper online. Throughout the day, I also stay updated through AP News podcast episodes, which are about 1-3 minutes each and focus in on one story. Sometimes I’ll include the New York Times Daily in my morning routine because I really respect the reporting, but I had to cut back on those stories this year because the coronavirus coverage was really getting to me. This is an example of how I reevaluated and reset my boundaries when I started feeling overwhelmed.
Of course, all this becomes more complicated when trust is added in. Here’s what you need to remember: there really is no such thing as a truly unbiased source, but you can get pretty close. I based my own selection on the Ad Fontes media chart, but I’m sure there are others out there as well. Ideally, you’ll find sources that are as reliable and unbiased as possible to prevent being thwarted by misinformation and conspiracy theories.
It’s also very important to be able to know the difference between news and opinion. Major news outlets do a decent job at making this distinction clear if you’re paying attention, but social media does not. That’s why I didn’t list it as an option above. I know a lot of people get their news on Twitter, and while I think it’s great to follow your trusted sources for the headlines, you also need to click through to read the full article.
3. Don’t forget local news.
This is so important! Yes, national news and politics are important, but I believe it’s even more important to know about local news, events, elections and issues affecting your community. Not only will these sources report the stories that affect you more directly, but you’ll find more opportunities to have a greater impact in your neighborhood as well.
4. Set up Google alerts.
I love Google alerts. They essentially create filters for your news consumption. If there is any topic that you really want to stay updated on, set up a Google alert. It’ll send you emails when that topic/cause/business/person/anything is mentioned in an online news source. You can control how often you receive emails, and you can sign up for as many alerts as you’d like. I have multiple running for each of my clients and a few causes I care about. Also, if you’re working on building an online presence, set one up for your name too.
5. Change how you react to shocking headlines, and remember Occam’s razor.
We’ve all done it. You see a shocking headline, and you immediately panic. Before you know it, you find yourself thrown down a rabbit hole of anxiety and conflicting information, and you don’t know what to do. Don’t worry, there are steps you can take whenever this happens.
Pause for a second and take a deep breath.
Check the source.
If the source is not one of the trusted ones you selected earlier, then check that outlet to see if it reported on this story as well.
If the story appears to be accurate, take a beat to really think through how it will affect you/what you can do about it. If you suspect it’s not, disregard, or wait it out until you have more information before sharing it or doing anything else.
Do this every time you see a shocking headline, and you’ll be able to start trusting your gut more over time.
Let’s chat about conspiracy theories for a second because they are really having a moment this year. I actually took a conspiracy theories course in college, so I actually know what I’m talking about—though the fact that I spent a semester studying conspiracies raises questions in itself.
Theorists have more technology at their disposal than ever, and they are becoming much more sophisticated in spreading misinformation as a convincing news story. Here’s something to remember when you see a new, shocking theory: consider the source and remember Occam’s razor. What’s Occam’s razor, you ask? It’s the principle that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one. On that note, it’s also good to remember that humans are terrible at keeping secrets, so if someone’s story requires large groups of people keeping something hidden from the rest of society to make sense, then it doesn’t make sense.
6. Schedule time away.
We all get burned out, and no matter how many boundaries you set for yourself on a daily basis, you’ll still get tired of reading the news all the time. When you’re on vacation and even over the weekends, mute your news apps and choose not to open your newsletters for a few days. Giving yourself a break will ultimately help you have the space to process everything you’ve been consuming and ask yourself questions. In case you haven’t noticed so far, critical thinking is vital to this process, so this part of it is important.
I know, you don’t want to miss anything important, and I’m not saying that you should pack up for weeks at a time. But, if you find yourself getting easily anxious or overwhelmed, that’s a sign you need to step away for awhile. Go outside. Read a book. Bake something. Most of all, remember that if something is important today, it’ll still most likely be important tomorrow.
You may have noticed that I didn’t include making sure to seek out articles “from both sides” on this list. Here’s the thing. If this were any other year, then yeah, that’s a fine idea, and I guess you can get bonus points if you choose to do that. But, we are in 2020, and we are all in survival mode.
When it comes to gathering vital information about COVID-19, social justice and the upcoming election, the most important thing to do right now is identify trustworthy sources and stick with them, so you can feel confident in your daily decision-making. If the news outlets you choose are truly doing their jobs, they should be doing the work to diversify their sources for you, and if they’re not, you need to reconsider your list. Feel free to disagree with me, but again, the goal here is to stay informed while avoiding that urge to pull our hair out as much as possible.
I hope this is helpful. If so, let me know!
