Distraction for good: Amid coronavirus news, many need to step away

Paradoxically, Kevin Reed, a software designer from Kenmore, Washington, has binged The Walking Dead after turning off the news. He’d rather watch fake, flesh-eating zombies than a real-life pandemic.

It’s no surprise that news outlets are in demand with a story that directly affects so many people, whether they’ve gotten sick, lost jobs or are locked down at home. A Pew Research Center survey taken the third week of April found that 88 per cent of Americans said they were following coronavirus news either very or fairly closely.

Yet that takes a toll. Pew also found that 71 per cent of Americans said that they need to take breaks from the news. To watch something else. To do something else. To breathe a little. “A week and a half ago I just had to throttle it down,” said Webb, a writer and consultant who lives in Florida. “I think you get overwhelmed by it. You’re sitting in your house and there’s nothing you can do about things.”

Mitchell, a consultant in HR from Dayton, Ohio, said she watches the Today show in the morning, the network evening news and tries to catch her state’s governor, Mike DeWine, at least at the beginning of his regular briefings. “It was just COVID-19 overload,” Mitchell said. “I was very anxious. I had a full-blown anxiety attack and I decided that I was not going to watch more of that stuff.”

Science supports them. Roxane Cohen Silver, Dana Rose Garfin and E. Alison Holman, researchers at the University of California at Irvine who have been studying the affect of prolonged media exposure to bad news following the Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, wrote an article for Health Psychology magazine in February — before coronavirus was even on the radar for many Americans — warning of this effect.

People who watch too much can have nightmares, feelings of anxiety and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, Silver said. In the long run, they’re more likely to report cardiovascular disorders. Some people who consumed a heavy diet of news about the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 were actually more stressed out than people on the scene, the researchers found.

“The news is distressing,” Silver said. “There are not many uplifting stories. It’s the repetitive bad news that is so draining.” The pandemic story is particularly difficult because it’s not a single event that fades with time. There’s no telling how long it will go on. Because of unemployment and stay-at-home orders, more people have time to follow it.

That’s precisely what is happening with Jose Moreno of San Antonio, Texas, a caretaker for his elderly mother. The news makes him overthink, he said. “When I leave the house, I’m wondering, ‘Am I doing something that I shouldn’t be doing?’ It’s a lot of stress,” he said.

Some news organisations recognise the impact of a steady diet of sobering news and have sought ways to offer relief. CBS News reporter Steve Hartman, with his regular On the Road series grounded, is “teaching” an online class in kindness. On the other side of the world, the Sydney Morning Herald and other Australian newspapers hunt for stories to fit their Good News Initiative.

Fox News has similarly collected more than 700 television and online stories showing resiliency under the “America Together” banner. The featured articles have received more than 25 mn page views. “If you’re in a position to spread these stories that warm the heart at a time when there is uncertainty, sadness and fear, I think it’s our obligation to do so,” said Fox News anchor Dana Perino.