Anyone else have to completely tune out of the news for their sanity?
By Real Ray C on
A few years ago, I realized that constantly consuming the news was making my symptoms worse. Every headline felt urgent. Every alert felt personal. The more I scrolled, the more my thoughts started spiraling. I’d start connecting dots that probably weren’t connected. I’d feel like everything happening in the world somehow tied back to me or meant something bigger. It fed the paranoia. It fed the fear.
And the thing is… I couldn’t actually do anything about most of it.
I had to be honest with myself. Sitting there day in and day out, obsessing over politics, global crises, disasters it wasn’t making me more informed in a healthy way. It was making my life harder to live. I was more anxious, more irritable, more withdrawn. The people around me noticed before I did.
So I went through all my feeds and removed anything political. Unfollowed accounts. Muted keywords. Turned off breaking news notifications. I stopped watching cable news entirely. At first it felt irresponsible, like I was “sticking my head in the sand.” But over time, I realized I was actually protecting my mental health.
With schizophrenia, my brain already has a hard enough time filtering what’s important and what’s not. Adding a nonstop stream of chaos and outrage was like pouring gasoline on a fire. Stepping back didn’t fix everything, but it lowered the baseline stress. And when my stress is lower, my symptoms are more manageable.
I’m not saying everyone needs to do this. Just sharing what worked for me. For me, peace > being constantly updated..