It starts with a quick glance at the news. A headline catches your eye: war, disaster, injustice. You scroll, another crisis, another tragedy. Before you know it, you’ve spent 20 minutes consuming stories that leave your chest tight and your thoughts spinning.Many of us feel a low-grade anxiety buzzing in the background of our daily lives, one we can’t quite shake. We live in a time of hyperconnectivity where breaking news is no longer a morning event, it’s a 24/7 presence. With one scroll, we can move from a celebrity birthday post to graphic images of war, climate disasters, and injustice. We’re living in a time where the world’s collective pain is streamed, scrolled, and swiped into our awareness, minute by minute. While staying informed is vital, the exposure to constant distressing global events comes with a psychological cost that many of us don’t realize. The more we’re exposed, the more our nervous system internalizes the chaos. Research shows that this exposure or watching traumatic events through the various platforms can elicit stress responses similar to that of actually experiencing them. This can lead to elevated levels of cortisol, disrupted sleep cycles and also changes related to emotional regulation and empathy.Emotional inflammation is what happens when our nervous system is constantly activated by fear, grief, outrage, or helplessness. This isn’t about being “too sensitive” or “too much.” It’s the very real psychological toll of chronic exposure to distressing content. It is often not just one traumatic event but constant low-grade stress that builds over time that might impact your emotional resilience and leave you feeling numb or anxious.The compulsion to continue consuming negative news or engaging in doomscrolling as they call it can exacerbate emotional inflammation. What began as a way to stay informed becomes addictive. Our brains crave certainty and control especially during uncertainty so we scroll in search of answers or reassurance, but only to find more fear and chaos. Beyond the stress and anxiety, it can also fuel:
- Learned helplessness: the belief that there is nothing you can do to make a difference and refusing to employ adaptive responses
- Guilt and shame: for being privileged or enjoying life when others are suffering
- Desensitization: constant exposure reducing emotional response to real suffering
- Create digital boundaries: Designate specific times of the day like, once in the morning to check the news. Filter your sources and social media accordingly. Mute notifications and unfollow accounts that trigger alarm or hopelessness. Rather than falling for clickbait headlines, shift to reading long-form journalism. Following therapists, educators and verified sources can offer tools and content that can balance out the triggers.
- Reconnecting with the body: Practice grounding techniques like deep breathing and body scans to check in and understand the tension that we all hold inside our bodies. Re-engage with rituals that ground you such as music, meditation or even a warm cup of tea. Practise journaling or mindful reflection, ask yourself: What am I feeling? Why is this affecting me? What can I do, if anything?
- Reclaim a sense of agency through micro-actions: Taking small aligned actions that reflect your values can help in reducing the induced helplessness. Donating to a cause you care about, sharing resources or even sending a kind message to someone to check in on them can all go a long way. These intentional acts can restore your sense of impact and empowerment.
- Protect Joy Without Guilt: Joy is not ignorance, it is a nervous system resource. It helps us stay regulated so we can keep showing up, caring and contributing. Focus on integration by allowing room for awareness, emotion and recovery. Joy allows us to reconnect with what is good and beautiful, so we have the strength to confront what is painful and unjust. Take breaks without guilt and feel deeply with regulation.