How to Not Feel Overwhelmed by News

The Morning Scroll

War. Politics. Economic collapse. Climate crisis. Celebrity scandal. Another tragedy. “Ai is taking your jobs!!! It is over”

And it’s only 7 AM.

By the time you brush your teeth, you’ve already absorbed more bad news than your grandparents did in a week, and that is f*cking awful.

No wonder you feel drained before the day even starts.

We Weren’t Built for This

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: our brains weren’t designed to process the suffering of 8 billion people every single day. Humans lived in small tribes. Our stress response was meant for immediate, local threats. A predator. A storm. A conflict with a neighbor. Not a constant stream of global catastrophes we have zero control over.

The world has always been chaotic. The difference now? Every corner people spread like it’s the end of the world.

Here is a quick short from youtube that inspired me making this post.

The Two Hours That Changed Everything

I made a rule for myself. Two simple boundaries:

1. No social media for the first hour after waking up

No news. No Twitter. No doomscrolling in bed. Our most vulnerable part of our day is at morning, imagine you’re a programmer and 7 AM some random influencer tweet says something like “All programmers are done by AI next year”, how could that not ruin your day?

2. No screens for the last hour before bed

It’s the same as morning, you need to sleep, and wake up better for the new day, so again, why would you risk once again opening your mind to all the world’s problems right before trying to rest?

Instead? Go read a book, or an actual good newsletter that doesn’t sell despair, or even this blog!

If you want to know what’s the best way to choose a book to read in 2025, check out my post: Reading Books in 2025: Is It Still Worth It?

Why This Works

When you start your day with bad news, you’re priming your brain for stress. You’re telling your nervous system: “The world is dangerous. Stay on high alert.”

When you end your day with bad news, you’re flooding your brain with cortisol right before you try to rest. You’re basically asking for insomnia.

Your morning sets the tone. Your night determines your recovery.

Protect both.

But What If I Miss Something Important?

You won’t.

If it’s truly urgent, someone will tell you. If it’s truly important, it’ll still be there in an hour.

The world doesn’t need you to be informed at 6 AM and 11 PM. It needs you to be functional.

Being “informed” is useless if you’re too burnt out to do anything about it. Focus on what you CAN control.

Final Thought

The world will always be loud. It will always be overwhelming. But so it was hundreds of years ago, the problem is you see it now 24/7 on your phone.

You don’t owe the algorithm your peace of mind. Make yourself a favor and think if it is really necessary to know stuff that are not going to impact your life right now.

The news can wait. Your mental health can’t.