From a Pillow’s Perspective

Where are you when you read the news, and at what time do you do so? Because I am concerned: How does the way we read news affect us as human beings and what if it makes us paralyzed to do the right thing?

Most of you have probably experienced for yourself, or have at least seen others, read the newspaper at the kitchen table, fully dressed, on a full stomach and with a coffee in hand. “Back then”, we woke up, got to the bathroom, and had our breakfast before we were ready to meet the world’s challenges through our newspaper in paper form. Nowadays on the other hand, we read the news before we say good morning to our loved ones, before we get up from our warm cosy bed, or perhaps we get up, but bring the phone with us to the bathroom and read the news while on the toilet. At least I know this is how my mornings look like. My phone is all mixed up with Peppa Pig, my own idyllic and chaotic family photos, funny memes, and now also genocide and multiple horrors from conflicts around the world. The contrasts are so absolute that when horrors show up in my feed, I instantly push the images away. Don’t get me wrong, this is not about me or my feelings. The thing I am worried about is how this might change all of us in the long term.

I compare being suddenly aware of horrible news to being exposed to the force of nature such as a snowstorm. You know the kind of wind that stabs your face with ice crystals, that make you lose your balance and eyesight. Imagine getting a hurricane into your bed the moment you wake up, or when you are half naked sitting on the toilet. Because in some similarity, the second I have spent watching the horror from the latest news, I feel that my heart races, my eyes fill up with tears. In contrast to being in the middle of a snowstorm, though, I feel guilty for having the privilege to turn the other way. I know that I’m probably not alone feeling this way. On the other hand, when you are fully dressed, on a full stomach, and are ready for the day you have probably been standing outside in the wind and rain and just felt all the forces from nature coming at you. Soaking it all in. It can be a powerful and humble feeling at the same time.

I’ve always admired people who live at the west-coast and are typically exposed to more heavy and “bad” weather. I imagine that they are so used to the wind and heavy weather, and as a result they are way tougher than me. In some similarity you might say, I’ve also always admired the war-photographers who do such an important job out there. I think the key here is the mindset and how prepared you are to expose yourself to the wind or in this case the news. What do this exposure of news everywhere we go, and at all times, do to our mindset when we are not prepared. What if our leaders read the news the way I do? They would feel paralyzed and not in a state to change anything. How does this way of reading the news affect our sympathetic traits in the long run? How will the news affect my son when he is older? Will we turn off our feelings at one point, and just read about the good things?

We find plenty of research on the field of news on social media when it comes to how it makes us feel, and the issues with algorithms and fake news. Many studies connect social media to mental health issues213. But I cannot find many studies on where and how we read the news and how this again are connected to our mental health. Maybe I am wrong. Perhaps it is a good thing that the social media shows the raw unfiltered truths right from the war zone. It is real, and unfiltered. Also, in a way it is helping the facts to be dissolved. The real unfiltered news gets to the world in no-time, compared to earlier when we often saw film clips that was leaked weeks after an attack.

Is the trend turning though? Some papers nowadays publish a digital newspaper with articles that won’t be edited after being released. Most articles today are basically written as they are published, but this “old” form of journalizing it is not possible to edit after publishing and has restrictions just like the paper once did. In addition to this, some papers aim to provide news at a certain time during the day as well, which gives me hope that most of us are at least fully dressed before we read about the conflicts, starvations and wars happening daily in the future. Because we need to care, to make the world a better place.

1.???????? Yu HY, Tsoi YY, Rhim AHR, Chiu DKW, Lung MMW. Changes in habits of electronic news usage on mobile devices in university students: a comparative survey. Library Hi Tech. 2021;40(5):1322-1336. doi:10.1108/LHT-03-2021-0085

2.???????? What feels like news? Young people’s perceptions of news on Instagram. doi:10.1177/14648849231212737

3.???????? Toff B, Nielsen RK. How News Feels: Anticipated Anxiety as a Factor in News Avoidance and a Barrier to Political Engagement. Political Communication. 2022;39(6):697-714. doi:10.1080/10584609.2022.2123073

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