Posted on 06/05/2018 1:04:01 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
If you feel like there is too much news and you can’t keep up, you are not alone. A sizable portion of Americans are feeling overwhelmed by the amount of news there is, though the sentiment is more common on the right side of the political spectrum, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted from Feb. 22 to March 4, 2018.
Almost seven-in-ten Americans (68%) feel worn out by the amount of news there is these days, compared with only three-in-ten who say they like the amount of news they get. The portion expressing feelings of information overload is in line with how Americans felt during the 2016 presidential election, when a majority expressed feelings of exhaustion from election coverage.
While majorities of both Republicans and Democrats express news fatigue, Republicans are feeling it more. Roughly three-quarters (77%) of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents feel worn out over how much news there is, compared with about six-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (61%). This elevated fatigue among Republicans tracks with them having less enthusiasm than Democrats for the 2018 elections.
Feeling overwhelmed by the news is more common among those who follow the news less closely than among those who are avid consumers. While a majority of those who follow the news most of the time (62%) are feeling worn out by the news, a substantially higher portion (78%) of those who less frequently get news say they are fatigued by the amount of it that they see. (Most Americans – 65% – say they follow the news most of time, whereas 34% say they follow only when something important is happening.)
Those less favorable toward the news media are also the most “worn out.” Eight-in-ten of those who think national news organizations do “not too” or “not at all well” in informing the public are feeling this exhaustion. This is somewhat higher than among those who say the news media do “fairly well” (69%), and much higher than for those who think news organizations do “very well” – of whom 48% say they are worn out by the news and 51% say they like the amount they see. This relationship between attitudes toward the news media and fatigue holds even after accounting for Americans’ political party affiliation.
(Overall, 17% of Americans say national news organizations are doing very well at keeping the public informed of the most important national stories of the day, while 24% say they do not too or not at all well; the largest portion, 58%, say the news media do fairly well.)
Some demographic groups – most notably white Americans – are more likely than others to feel exhausted by the news. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of white Americans express fatigue with the amount of news, much higher than among both Hispanic (55%) and black Americans (55%). Women are also somewhat more likely than men to feel worn out (71% vs. 64%, respectively). Those ages 65 and older are slightly less likely than those who are younger to express a sense of exhaustion with the news.
You are definitely more ahead than me, ha. Although I haven’t given in to the smartphone/social media thing yet.
I think the rise of the 24 hour news cycle, smartphones/portable unlimited internet, social media and the visual-screen entertainment glut we are now in is big time bad ju-ju for the culture. Many folks are looking at screens far more than the faces of actual people, even friends and loved ones. It was bad enough with TV at home now we take our dumb screens with us wherever we go.
Freegardcs
I’m fatigued because we have all this scandalous news, yet we have no indictments.
Especially the immediate internet news cycle.
It’s hard to imagine, but most of us actually grew up and lived our lives just fine without knowing what was happening in the news immediately and exactly as it happened.
Both Fox News and FBN ruined any enjoyment of the White House Marine Band this noon.
They attacked Pres. Trump and didn’t bother to explain that the players were protesting (and insulting our White House) by refusing to attend.
Instead, they read the anti-American players’ statement as if it was fact.
The 3 in 10 without are mine numbed robots listening to the slime stream media.
I look at how folks are dealing with all of this and I’m starting to wonder if we can really handle knowing what some random dude in China thinks about some world event that happened five minutes ago, much less our friends and family. We certainly didn’t develop with these capabilities.
It seems to have a real alienating effect on some folks, and especially kids and young people.
Freegards
No more BOLD CAP teaser click bait.
Get back to me when people are being paraded around in prison orange.
I like your attitude! :)
I cannot ABIDE the national news. I will watch local for sports and weather and to see which local dumb@ss got arrested for driving drunk for the EIGHTH time; Wisconsinites seem to take that as a CHALLENGE for some reason...
Even the local stations have dialed back the Trump Bashing.
Meh. I’d rather hang out with you guys, anyway. ;)
Haven't watched cable news in many years, except for elections. I have no interest in talking heads arguing with each other.
Still read the local newspaper out of habit. The incredible shrinking Denver Post has now gotten to the point where it can't stuff the first few pages with Fake News or that would be all they could print.
I admit, I get all my news as a jumping off point on free republic, and I investigate from there.
I regard my method as a “pull“ paradigm, which is far preferable than the “push“ paradigm pushed by the media. I’m not interested in seeing the news In the fashion they want me to absorb it in.
I want to be able to judge for myself and make my own decisions rather than have it force-fed to me by people who want me to see it their way.
I remember when CNN first came on. It WAS pretty exciting to have ‘news’ whenever you wanted it, wherever you wanted it.
But, it lost it’s luster for me pretty quick. I’d rather have the TV OFF...unless something with Tom Selleck (Blue Bloods, Jesse Stone, Magnum re-runs, etc.) is on!
It’s called, ‘Priorities.’ :)
Then how the heck do you know when there is a fire in your county, or a car accident, or a fundraiser, or an arrest, you are really missing out on some important stuff.
I read the daily paper and listen to radio news. If something is happening I can log onto 9 News where I can read the story without fluff and commercials. It's usually more up to date than the Post website.
I've been TV free for over a year now. I bookmarked the county crime map and set up a email new alert for very specific topics that I care about - and there aren't a lot. Then I check the local public transportation announcements to see what new ways they've found to inconvenience me. I subscribed to my county's emergency network and receive alerts on my phone when bad weather is approaching or something terrible happens. I have even subscribed to a lost-pet-in-your-area alert. So no need for local news and their endless Trump bashing and interviews with grieving baby mammas and their, "he was a good boy an' turnin' his life around!"
Amen. We keep getting drips of news that should finally be enough to make the dam break, but it keep holding...
I’m still optimistic that there’s one corrupt bureaucrat that will find him/herself in position of jail vs. talking... and from there the party starts.
Until that time I see news, facebook posts, etc. somehow still defending or promoting the Russia/Collusion/Obstruction BS. It’s maddening to see people program to believe whatever is on CNN/MSNBC/Etc.
I’m very tired of the 24/7 fake news bashing our president from the fake news thugs and their paid trolls using the internet to spread their hatred and fake news.
Now, I get my news from Free Republic, Fox News on Line and some of the sites posted by good Freepers.
We cut our cable a year ago, and we use Sling Blue for our tv watching. We watch a handful of old CBS shows and zip/nada from ABCNNBC. We pulled the plug on the local Fox TV channel and Fox News last January with all of their piling on our President before he even took office.
Sling Blue does not carry ESPN, ABC nor Disney. So those America haters get nothing from us. We are saving about 150 $’s per month and not paying to get insulted by those who hate us.
We stopped subscribing to Slime magazine and Newsweak when they attacked president Reagan with every issue.
You have to be mentally ill to tune into the Deep State’s media and watch or listen to them.
Not nearly enough news for me - I’m still waiting to read about the DOJ IG’s report on the corrupt FBI investigation into Hillary’s emails - waiting.......waiting.........waiting...............
Well they have look at me fatigue maybe, but news? Heck 3/4 of what goes on out there is not news. Its just a face pushing their party or personal agenda. Do we really need a dozen or more 24/7 “news” channels? We even have specialty news channels now! ESPN Weather Channel etc.
Amerivans don’t have news fatigue. They have left wing propaganda fatigue.
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