By Kunal Chan Mehta, PR Manager and Editor of FSB Focus | Article Date: 10th October 2025

This article discusses issues relating to mental health. If you are affected by any of the topics covered, please seek support from a trusted professional or contact Samaritans at 116 123 (UK) or samaritans.org.

This year’s World Mental Health Day asks us to reflect on a quietly corrosive phenomenon – the emotional consequences of being perpetually exposed (courtesy of smart tech) to crises and conflicts through the media. Our modern world is enduring a concatenation of catastrophes: wars, surging crime and violence, economic upheavals and humanitarian distress – leaving no room for, dare I say, good news. Even for those not directly touched by media events, the constant proximity of suffering (mediated through glowing screens and ceaseless notifications on smart tech) exacts a heavy psychological toll.

For far too long, many of us have lived in an age where bad news travels faster than comprehension. Each headline carries not only information but an implicit demand for empathy, urgency and alarm that we want to share with others (note your many WhatsApp groups). We often share without fact-checking too. Indeed, without reflection, knowledge becomes noise.

Unsurprisingly, many of us feel overwhelmed, fatigued or quietly despondent. It feels like we have become witnesses to every wound, yet the agents of a few remedies. This paradox – call it omniscience without influence if you will – lies at the heart of what psychologists call vicarious trauma – exposure to someone else’s trauma.

It is time to ask: how do we safeguard our serenity while remaining socially conscious? How do we preserve compassion without capitulating to despair?

The human brain was never designed for omnipresence per se. Each image of suffering, each broadcast of conflict, activates our neural alarm systems. The result is a state of permanent partial alarm – the body’s stress response subtly engaged, day after day, by the continuous suggestion of danger. We are constantly thinking about distressing situations and these can have a dire impact on our mental wellbeing.

Repeated exposure to distressing news doesn’t simply inform us – it inhabits us. Our hearts race during shocking news reports of – well, check for yourself, whatever the headline is now. Our muscles tense at footage of the aforesaid calamities.

Research indicates that media exposure can provoke sympathetic nervous system responses similar to direct exposure in some people. Further, such reactivity has been linked to subsequent stress symptoms following mass trauma (see Kozlowska et al., 2015). Thus, the world’s pain becomes our real physiological experience. Now take a moment to think about this. Think carefully about how the news you consume impacts how you feel.

This phenomenon – also known as doomscrolling – is the compulsive consumption of distressing content. Yet, behind the modern vocabulary (doomscrolling entered major dictionary recognition in 2023) lies an ancient truth: as Seneca warned, “He who suffers before it is necessary, suffers more than necessary.” When we replay global tragedy in endless loops in our minds, we invite unnecessary anguish into our own interior worlds.

The Compassion Paradox

In principle, awareness of something should empower us; in practice, unfiltered awareness often immobilises. We witness so much suffering that empathy becomes exhaustion – we become immune to it even. This is the paradox of compassion fatigue – call it “too much media, too often” but, sadly, it is where we transform concern into despair.

Just as we set boundaries for our physical safety, so too must we establish boundaries for mental safety (or “media” safety if you will). Decide when and how you will consume news. Allocate specific times of day – ideally outside the fragile morning and evening hours – and avoid continuous refresh cycles. Curate your sources; fewer trusted outlets will cultivate comprehension over confusion.

Instead of endlessly scrolling, simply pause after each news story. Reflect: What does this mean? What can I do? How many news stories do I really need to read today? Even small acts – donating, volunteering, sharing credible resources – transform helplessness into helpfulness.

The digital sphere is abstract and borderless. Counter this by grounding yourself in your sensory reality. Walk, write, read, cook and converse, for example. Fundamentally, when the intangible world feels unbearable, connect with something real. After all, our mental health, like humanity itself, thrives through connection.

The task is not to look away from suffering but to look toward it with discernment and care. The human mind, much like the human heart, was never built to absorb the world’s anguish in real time – but it was designed to seek balance and meaning.

This World Mental Health Day, let us practice the art of conscious awareness: to consume news with compassion but not compulsion; to stay informed, yet not inflamed. Between every headline, there must be a pause – a breath, a boundary, a beautiful moment to reclaim our sense of peace. In choosing calm over chaos, we do not withdraw from the world – we prepare ourselves to heal it.

References:

British Medical Association (2024) Vicarious trauma: signs and strategies for coping. Available at: https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/your-wellbeing/vicarious-trauma/vicarious-trauma-signs-and-strategies-for-coping [Accessed 9 October 2025].

Kozlowska, K., Walker, P., McLean, L. & Carrive, P. (2015) Fear and the Defense Cascade: Clinical Implications and Management. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 23(4), pp. 263-287. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26062169/. [Accessed 9 October 2025].

Mental Health Foundation, (n.d.) Doomscrolling – tips for healthier news consumption, Mental Health Foundation. Available at: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/explore-mental-health/articles/doomscrolling-tips-healthier-news-consumption. Mental Health Foundation. [Accessed 9 October 2025].

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