Personal Piece: On Reading the News

How to Read the News Without Freaking Out

Rebecca Bogdon | February 2, 2026

Can you remember a time when you began reading the news and felt your jaw slowly clench, your eyes widen, or your mood change after only a few sentences in? You probably weren’t imagining it – and you are not alone.

Urgency. Joy. Fear. Anger. These are the emotions that news outlets have found to keep people reading, clicking, sharing, and returning. In other words, the reality is that most modern news is not designed to inform you calmly. It rather is designed, like many mass-media platforms, to activate you. Ultimately, it’s for outlets to get basic results: better ratings, popularity, perceived authority, and your view counts.

Being emotionally influenced is not the same thing as being well informed. In our fast-paced, ever-evolving world, part of what we need today is more sound minds, not more hot-and-bothered ones.

Be Extremely Vigilant With Those Amazingly Incredible Headlines

Most headlines today aren’t, in fact, summaries of the article they entitle. They are “hooks” – the industry terminology itself. Therefore, they're prone to leave out context, or say catchy things over 100% true things – for our brains to then fill in a version of the story that oftentimes leads to an extreme scenario.

On Our Nervous Systems

When we are anxious, or angry, the human brain does not reason as well as it normally would otherwise. Primitively, it's been conditioned to scan for threats; allies; enemies; before evidence. And that helps in many ways. However, taking a few deep breaths after feeling an input-based emotion forces a momentary pause that briefly relaxes our muscles, and our minds. 

Further, we can ask ourselves and one other questions about the things we see and hear. It sounds simple, because it is, and can lead to a significantly better outcome.

• What do we actually know?

• What don’t we know? What wouldn’t we know? And what is still uncertain?

• What was the reason for the outcome of this conclusion?

• What things would change this conclusion?

Practical Habits

• Read past the headline for a bit more context. Before thinking anything about a headline, one can at least scan the article for "whys" and "hows".

• Notice any emotional language. Adjectives, adverbs...are they descriptive, or persuasive?

• Ask: “Is this evidence, facts, or an interpretation of those things?”

• Pause first.

Then react. 

The good news is, we don’t have to tune out the chaos of the world to protect our peace.

We just have to read the news with steadiness and an inquisitive mindset. And at the same time, you are allowed to feel your feelings – they are valid – but hey, why not realize why you feel a certain way before deciding to go with what another person (or robot) without your best interests in mind has said?

I would finish with the notion that it’s perfectly fine to leave room for uncertainty as you read – as you learn – and as you continue to grow. As with many things in life, vigilance, a healthy amount of skepticism, and resilience are the keys to success.