News Avoidance during the Covid-19 Crisis: Understanding Information Overload

TLDR

During the Covid‑19 pandemic, news consumers must stay informed yet may need to avoid news to protect mental health. The study examines how much news avoidance occurred in the Netherlands during the early months of the Covid‑19 pandemic. Panel surveys from April–June 2020 reveal that heightened news avoidance is driven by negative emotions, improves perceived well‑being, and reflects a balancing act for individual consumers.

Abstract

This study investigates the degree of news avoidance during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Netherlands. Based on two panel surveys conducted in the period April–June 2020, this study shows that the increased presence of this behavior, can be explained by negative emotions and feelings the news causes by citizens. Moreover, news avoidance indeed has a positive effect on perceived well-being. These findings point to an acting balance for individual news consumers. In a pandemic such as Covid-19 news consumers need to be informed, but avoiding news is sometimes necessary to stay mentally healthy.