Stay Sharp! Navigating overwhelm in times of dizzying change.
Mar 7, 2025
Overwhelm in Times of Global Change
In an era of significant and fast moving change, keeping up with economic and political news (i.e. scanning the environment) helps us to feel safe. However, anxious scrolling often leads to overwhelm. To respond, rather than react, we need to become deliberate in where we spend time, how we engage online, and be mindful where we source our news. To help manage overwhelm we provide a 10 point checklist (below) of ideas to implement now.
Overwhelm – personal and professional
Stay Sharp! Ten point checklist to address news overwhelm
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Stay Sharp! Ten point checklist to address news overwhelm:
Use traditional and specialist media rather than social media scraped copy. In the UK (and other jurisdictions) traditional media are regulated to be objective and accurate – X and other social media platforms are not.
Timetable your time online, switch off social media notifications and use apps to limit your time because social media is addictive. [1]
Recognise your own triggers. Social media algorithms note what you respond to and serve up more of the same. They actively curate your feed with the purpose of keeping you on that site for longer (and selling you stuff?).
Stop and reflect before responding on social media and try not to post without purpose. Ask yourself if you really have something to contribute? Remember clickbait comes in many forms. Vicariously reliving your own experience (e.g.) of bullying through someone else’s posts, will not improve your health and may retrigger your own issues.
Support your kids by providing age-appropriate explanations and reassurance that they are loved and safe. This helps them stay calm. Remember you are modelling their future responses to such events.
With friends and other family acknowledge their anxiety as denying it exists will probably make their distress worse. When necessary signpost individuals to relevant support. It’s a good idea to set boundaries to limit the impact of their anxiety on you. Changing the subject may distract the individual and divert them onto a more positive topic. Physically moving yourself away may prove equally effective.
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To Summarise
Actively managing your levels of overwhelm starts with recognising your responses to news that you find worrying. Try to move to a more conscious, considered, proactive response. Be aware of the addictive nature of social media. Be aware that platforms have no responsibility to ensure accurate reporting and that not all posting is accurate or truthful. Try not to waste your time on exciting but ultimately purposeless posts as the associated adrenaline surges will exhaust you and have physical consequences. Use your elected representative to make your voice heard rather than venting on social media. Websearch for how to contact them directly if they are not listed here:UK https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP or USA https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative or Canada https://www.ourcommons.ca/Members/en.
Yalin Sun, Yan Zhang, A review of theories and models applied in studies of social media addiction and implications for future research: Addictive Behaviors, Volume 114, 2021, 106699, ISSN 0306-4603, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2020.106699. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306460320308297
