As the Press began to report with trepidation a story that we would come to realise was going to affect our lives more drastically than we could imagine, it is fair to say that only some heads were turned. As we drove to school with the radio on, scrolled through our newsfeeds and glanced on the TV as we flicked through the channels; harbingers of Covid surrounded us in our comfortable quotidian.
In my own blithe optimism, I even told myself that in any eventuality my year would go as planned. It took my exams being cancelled for me to realise the gravity of the situation and for my rather self-indulgent reassurances to subside. From that moment on, I felt an obligation to follow as closely as I could what was to come in the following months.
Following this decision, I along with many other people began to check various news websites daily. Suffice to say that public service broadcasters in the UK received their highest combined monthly share of TV viewing, with 82% of adults in the UK using the BBC in the first week of lockdown and an astonishing 27 million viewers looked on via TV as Boris Johnson addressed the nation to announce the lockdown (which does not account for people streaming it on Youtube or other websites). Whilst the virus keeping us at home had started it’s journey back in November of 2019, the pandemic of compulsive statistic consumption had only just begun.
In an age of ‘information overload’ as some may say, it was inevitable that screen time would be increased when the country went into lockdown – but what can we say has changed since the initial surge in use of technology for media consumption? What is certainly true is that many people were forced to check themselves after recognising that they were becoming bogged down by an influx of data. After all, it is a commonly sited phenomenon that the intake of shocking news, especially via television which increasingly shows media captured by bystanders to world events, can lead in a spike of cortisol and other stress related hormones. This in turn can even cause inflammation linked to Rheumatoid athiritis, aswell as other serious health concerns, not to mention worsening any pre-existing mental health conditions. The reason we return to the news regardless of it’s detrimental impact is, as Professor emeritus Graham Davey of the University of Sussex sites, because of the ‘negativity bias’ wired into our brain. In order to survive our species has had to learn to detect threats in order to avoid them; it’s for this reason that we are drawn to the negatives around us.
So what is the solution? Despite our knowledge of the biological response consuming too much bad news can have on us as well and noticing an impact on our mental health, it is undoubtedly advantageous to be aware of current affairs and thereby to consciously (or unconsciously) form opinions. It is by no means encouraged to completely dismiss the media and prevent yourself from staying informed but perhaps from here on in we can begin to consume consciously, with an eye to checking in on our ourselves. Knowledge is power after all, but is it feasible to know all?
Tamsin Hollyman, year 12
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