In February, Iran launched missiles targeting the UAE, and social media immediately became obsessed with the phrase ‘World War 3’. Prior to these events, we were already watching political conflicts and injustices take place in different regions around the world, yet the moment we witnessed missiles fired at a place we deemed immune from such threats, we quickly jumped to the worst conclusion. Sensationalism in the media, combined with our intrinsic human anxieties, has caused our world to predict the worst outcomes and await crises that have no guaranteed promise of arriving.
The media’s main aim is to keep our eyes locked, and the most optimal method of doing so is by playing with our fears. The problem itself starts with the 24-hour news cycle. While constant updates allow us to stay informed, being repeatedly bombarded by distressing events within such a short time frame conditions our minds to expect the worst. Instead of processing events gradually, we encounter them in rapid succession, creating the impression that crises are piling up faster than we can confront them.
In a survey conducted by Grow Therapy, “266 licensed therapists, 99.6%, said that news consumption can negatively impact mental health on some level.” What amplifies this effect is that the news highlights exceptional, rare or extreme events that are unlikely to affect most individuals directly, but by doing so, we subconsciously become hyperaware of everyday situations, aligning them with what we see in the media.
This is supported by psychological research that calls this experience the availability heuristic, which explores that people overestimate the likelihood of events they may encounter based on vivid and emotional memories or images. As a result, every incident contributes to the subconscious belief that these crises are destined to repeat.
The new layout of instant scrolling on social media adds to this issue. This deliberate design triggers outbursts of hormone releases like “cortisol (stress), oxytocin (connection), or adrenaline (alertness)” in a rapid time frame, and gradually “this rollercoaster creates a state of low-grade stress”. Social media has become the next step in the evolution of journalism, as it is one of the “most used news sources worldwide”, especially as print media generally decreases.
In the United States alone, YouGov found in the 2025 Digital News Report that 54% of participants used social and video networks as their primary sources of news, surpassing TV by 4% and print by 39%. When our primary news source is a system built to intensify emotional reactions and instigate urgency, our minds become wired to interpret every event as far more catastrophic than it truly is.
Although crises dominate headlines, they coexist with long-term positive trends that receive far less attention. This imbalance contributes to a distorted sense of global decline. It is without a doubt that COVID-19 was a global tragedy, causing immense loss and suffering. Yet during this same period, some environmental issues temporarily improved.
Global carbon emissions fell by 6.4% in 2020, and reduced human activity led to clearer waterways in places like Venice. These developments didn’t diminish the severity of the crisis, but they illustrate how our attention naturally gravitates toward the most alarming aspects of events, reinforcing a sense that everything is getting worse even when the full picture is more complex. The same perception re-emerges: the world is spiralling into a crisis abyss.
As much as it is important to be informed of current affairs and prepared for possible scenarios, we must be intentional with the media we consume. Even if we believe what we perceive and read about is not affecting us directly, it is always affecting us subconsciously. Because often this happens to be negative news, we must combat this by deliberately choosing to also interact with positive news. But importantly, staying informed also means knowing when to disconnect.
Switch off the screen and let your mind breathe.