With World Mental Health Day in October, it is a timely opportunity to think about how the things we connect with every day can affect our wellbeing.
For many of us, news and social media are part of daily life. Staying informed can help us understand what is happening and to stay connected to the issues we care about. Our phones give us access to events unfolding across the world in real-time, while simultaneously helping us keep in touch with friends, family, and communities. But sometimes, being constantly exposed to news and updates can start to feel like a lot.
Distressing events can dominate headlines and social media feeds, often alongside confronting images and continuous updates. In the next swipe, we might find ourselves looking at someone else’s holiday, career milestone, or seemingly perfect family moment.
That mix of difficult news, constant updates, and glimpses into other people’s lives, can affect us in different ways. Becoming more aware of how it impacts you can help you find a balance that keeps you connected while making space for your wellbeing.
Why can difficult news be so hard to look away from?
Wanting to understand what is happening around us is a very human response. When events feel uncertain, threatening, or unresolved, seeking more information can help us try to make sense of what is happening. We may also keep checking for updates because an issue matters deeply to us, affects people we care about, or connects with our own experiences.
Online, this can sometimes become what is commonly called “doomscrolling”, or repeatedly engaging with negative or distressing information and finding it difficult to disengage.
Research suggests that factors such as uncertainty and rumination may play a role in our constant swiping for more information. Although doomscrolling is still a relatively new area of research, there is unlikely to be one explanation that applies to everyone, but the things we repeatedly give our attention to can also shape what stays with us. This may explain why difficult stories can sometimes begin to feel disproportionately present. Instead of judging ourselves for checking for updates again and again, it can be useful to notice what is drawing us back and how we feel afterwards.
What does the research tell us?
Research increasingly suggests a relationship between repeated exposure to distressing news and psychological wellbeing.
A recent systematic review found that doomscrolling was associated with higher levels of anxiety, depression, and psychological distress, and it comes with an additional layer of lowered wellbeing and life satisfaction. (However, much of the research to date has been cross-sectional, so we cannot say that doomscrolling itself causes these difficulties.)
Recent events closer to home also remind us that the way distressing events are reported can matter. Following the 2024 Bondi Junction Westfields attack, the subsequent coronial inquest heard about the distress experienced by victims’ families as confronting images and coverage continued to circulate. In her 2026 findings, the NSW State Coroner found that aspects of the media reporting had compounded families’ distress.
The picture, then, is more nuanced than saying that following the news is bad for us. What we see, how often we see it, and how it affects us personally, can all make a difference to our wellbeing.
When everyone else seems to be doing better
Distressing news isn’t the only content competing for our attention. Within a few swipes, we can move from a troubling news story to someone celebrating a promotion, travelling overseas, buying their first home, or sharing a happy family moment.
Comparing ourselves with other people is a normal part of being human. On social media, however, we can end up comparing the full, messy reality of our own lives with carefully selected moments from someone else’s.
Researchers sometimes describe this as upward social comparison, where we compare ourselves with someone we perceive as doing better than us. Australian research has found that upward and negative social comparisons may explain the relationship between problematic social media use and depressive symptoms.
The truth behind social media
Of course, this doesn’t mean that sharing the good things in our lives is a problem. Social media can be a valuable source of connection, support, inspiration, and community. But it can help to remember that what appears on our screen is only part of someone’s story.
We might see the holiday without the stressful months around it, the new job without the setbacks that came before it, or the smiling family photo without the ordinary challenges happening beyond the frame. When our own life feels difficult, uncertain, or simply less exciting, it can be easy to feel as though everyone else is moving forward while we’re standing still.
Noticing how your online world leaves you feeling
There isn’t a “one size fits all” amount of time that every person should be spending on social media or watching the news. What is more quantifiable is personal and changing quantity, and it may be more useful to take a note of how you feel after certain amounts of time online.
You might want to notice how you feel after catching up on the news or scrolling through your feed. Do you generally feel informed, connected and ready to move on with your day? Or are you feeling more tense, overwhelmed, or critical of yourself and where you are in life?
You might also notice how particular accounts or types of content affect you in different ways. Some may leave you feeling connected, interested, or inspired, while others might regularly leave you wondering why everyone else seems happier, more successful, or further ahead than you. Noticing these responses simply gives you more information about what is working for you, and just as helpfully, what isn’t working for you.
It may also be worth noticing whether being constantly online and connected is affecting your sleep, concentration, or the time and attention you have for other things that matter to you.
Trauma sometimes changes how we interact with news and social media
For people who have lived through trauma, conflict, discrimination, disaster, violence or loss, particular stories or images may carry a very personal significance. Choosing not to view certain content, or stepping away when you need to, doesn’t mean you don’t care about what is happening. It just means you’ve found a tool to protect yourself and your wellbeing, and to know where your limits are.
Staying connected without being constantly connected
Looking after your wellbeing doesn’t have to mean switching off from the news or social media altogether. Sometimes small changes are enough. You might experiment with checking the news at particular times rather than responding to every notification, or choosing a smaller number of trusted sources to focus on. You might also want to start noticing when a quick check of your phone has turned into automatic scrolling.
The same applies to social comparison. If certain accounts repeatedly leave you feeling that your own life falls short, you might choose to see less of that content, mute an account for a while, or make more room in your feed for people and communities that leave you feeling genuinely connected, interested, or supported.
A simple reminder can help too: you are comparing your everyday life with a small window into someone else’s. What you see on your screen is rarely the whole picture.
Connect with yourself and change your approach
If confronting footage is particularly affecting for you to view, you can still stay informed through written reporting. During rapidly developing events, following one or two reliable sources rather than moving repeatedly between news reports, commentary, and social media, may also help you stay informed without you feeling a need to be pulled into every update.
And sometimes the most useful thing is simply to put the phone down for a while.
Spend time with someone you care about, step outside, move your body, focus on something that needs your attention, or return to something you enjoy.
None of these things are rules
They’re choices you can experiment with. What works for you may be different from what works for someone else, and it may change depending on what is happening in the world and in your own life.
Staying informed and connected can reflect curiosity, empathy, and a genuine desire to engage with the world around us. Making space for our wellbeing doesn’t mean caring less or disconnecting from the people and issues that matter to us. Sometimes it simply means giving ourselves permission to choose what we connect with, when we connect, and when we’ve had enough for now, all while monitoring and prioritising our wellbeing.
Curious to learn more?
Our Allied Health Wellbeing Support team may be able to help you understand your wellbeing requirements and set out your goals. Learn more by visiting this page.
