Why I don’t watch the news
I used to be an avid watcher of the news. Come 6pm, my dinner was ready and the TV was on, tuned to BBC News at Six.
At the time, this was standard practice for our family. We wanted to know what was happening in the world and be up to date with the latest stories. The bad news kept us on the edge of our seats, the good news was heart-warming, but I quickly forgot it. The bad news, however, just stuck.
But then something happened on a global scale, and it eventually changed the way I looked at mainstream media.
Enter the 2020 global pandemic
When the COVID-19 outbreak began to shut down the entire economy in March 2020, my news viewing habit spiralled out of control.
There were so many things I wanted to know:
- How many deaths?
- Would there be a lockdown?
- Why weren’t people staying at home?
- Where else in the world had this been affected?
- What time was the press conference?
- What would our Prime Minister say?
- How were our hospitals coping?
- When could we travel by plane?
I was hooked on the news, both on the TV and on my phone. Heck, I was checking the news on my laptop too.
At the time, I had recently married my wife. And since she’s from India, a global pandemic put a spanner in the works for her UK spouse visa application.
I wanted this pandemic to end so that we could begin the next chapter as a married couple.
Days turned into weeks, which then turned into months. I was hearing the same old stories while being imprisoned in my home. But then I had a glimmer of hope. Flight restrictions were lifted, my wife’s visa had arrived, and she managed to come to the UK – almost eight months after we’d tied the knot.
Soon after, another lockdown was announced. We had news of a family friend dying of COVID, and I was hooked on the news – again.
BBC News was showing bleak reports and footage of what was happening inside hospitals, which wasn’t pleasant. After a couple of weeks of watching the awful images, my wife said to me, “Can we watch something else? This is giving me a headache.”
She had a point…
Understanding the motives of mainstream news
The combination of being locked indoors and watching the news wasn’t good for my own well-being. I wanted to be informed, but instead, I felt disturbed.
At that moment, I realised news outlets, from the very beginning, only had one motive:
- To sell the news at any cost.
Selling news is a business. And what better way to sell the news to you than by grabbing your attention?
Most mainstream media journalists don’t just collect and share facts, they tell a story. But they’re also creatives in a way. They have to come up with enticing headlines.
And with people spending vast amounts of time online (and hardly buying newspapers), making a headline stand out was a necessity… But the story that accompanied the headline had to give it extra substance.
And so, this brings me to the crux of how mainstream media make money. A lot of news outlets give you news for free. But they get their money from ad revenue. So, the more eyes they get on a news story, the better.
But what’s more interesting is the kind of news that draws more revenue.
Former professional boxer Edi Latimore said it best in one of his newsletters:
Bad news hooks us; good news gets ignored.
Money follows bad news. And the human mind is naturally wired to be drawn to negativity. Edi expands on this and shares some examples:
Psychologist Roy Baumeister found bad news sticks five times harder than good. That’s why “Local Hero Saves Stranded Family in Blizzard” barely ripples, but “President Trump’s DOGE Firings Spark Chaos and Lawsuits” went viral in February 2025, racking up millions of shares on X—or “Tech CEO Caught Faking AI Breakthrough” dominated January 2025 headlines, while “Nonprofit Raises $10M for Clean Water” got buried.
When we’re constantly exposed to this type of news, we end up in a continuous state of fear and anxiety. We think we’re keeping informed, but we’re not.
Mainstream news media knows how to grab our attention. But our attention is a finite resource that must be protected.
Your attention matters
Being constantly exposed to the news over-stimulates the part of your nervous system that’s in charge of your “fight or flight” response system.
Being in this state for prolonged periods makes you feel overwhelmed, anxious and fearful. To get out of this rut, you start looking for solutions. So you begin consuming content that aims to help eradicate the anxiety and fear. But when you try to follow the steps, the insecurity subsides temporarily, and then it comes back.
And then you start looking for more content. Or maybe, you turn to vices like alcohol, porn or drugs to help you cope. It becomes a vicious circle.
When you stop watching the news, you can start using your attention for more meaningful things in your life – that includes focusing your efforts on nurturing your family, progressing your career or maintaining relationships.
How do I keep informed without watching the news?
While putting the brakes on news consumption will give you more headspace, how would you know what’s going on in the world?
Well, news spreads like wildfire – especially news that’s gone viral. So you’ll know what’s happening through friends and work colleagues. There’s no need to fret about FOMO (fear of missing out).
When I stopped watching the news, I became more informed in areas that were of interest to me. I read books and subscribed to newsletters from independent creators on topics that are of interest to me. I follow independent journalists like Ben Thompson, who writes long-form articles that go into great depth.
But more importantly, I’m mindful about what I read. I question the content that I’m consuming – and that’s really important for critical thinking. In my view, mainstream media does little to encourage critical thinking – it only tells you what to think.
"You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength."
- Marcus Aurelius.