40% of People Now Avoiding News – Here's Why

More people are increasingly distancing themselves from news due to feeling exhausted, anxious, and overwhelmed by the constant stream of negative information every day.

This phenomenon is not merely laziness in keeping up with current events, but a natural response of the human brain to modern information pressure.

According to The Conversation (25/5/2026), the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 found that 40% of people worldwide now sometimes avoid news. In Canada, this figure reaches 69%.

Many respondents reported that news worsens their mood, leaves them feeling powerless, and overwhelmed by ongoing global crises.

This condition relates to the human brain’s inherent sensitivity to threats.

For thousands of years, humans survived by being alert to dangers.

In the past, quickly responding to threats helped humans survive. But now, the same system must cope with a flood of global information daily.

Before midday, individuals can read about wars, climate disasters, economic crises, and crime from various countries all at once via their phones.

However, the human brain was never designed to process threats on such a scale.

The results show that each additional negative word in a news headline increases the likelihood of people clicking on it. Conversely, positive words reduce click rates.

Other studies have found that the human body gives a stronger physiological response to negative news than positive news.

This means the body often reacts to threats even before the brain decides if the information is truly relevant.