If the coronavirus outbreak confirmed me one thing, it’s that you should avoid watching the news. Following news is the ultimate way to get caught in a vicious circle of cheap dopamine shots to eventually stress out completely.
Corona is the ultimate example of why you should avoid the news
— Gijs Heerkens (@gijsheerkens) March 9, 2020
I’m not saying you should stay ignorant. Of course, you want to know the general indications and restrictions in this kind of rare cases.
But it’s enough to read the website of your country’s official authorities once a day to stay up to date. Furthermore, the most important things will reach you via others anyway.
There’s no need to check all news websites and Twitter every few minutes though. It’s your dopamine addiction that makes you want to come back every time again. Your mind is wired to love new information.
News websites’ business models are based on this principle. They have to keep reporting new stuff so you keep coming back. Because no visitors means no advertisers.
In addition, it’s only negative information. Negative things that were always happening in the world, but now we have so much devices in our pockets that inform us in real-time of all the bad things that are happening.
It’s not even relevant for you but it influences your mood. You’d better focus on things you can control.
New information compounds in your mind, and corona is an example of how information can be very diverse. Specialists are communicating opposite advices and countries are using different strategies. Numbers are updated every hour of the day from all over the world.
This provokes stress in your body. How you cope with that depends on your personality, whether you’re a neurotic person or not.
I’m pretty resilient myself, somewhere in the middle of the neuroticism spectrum. But I noticed that all the news triggers a stress response inside me.
And stress deteriorates sleep, which is bad for your immune system. So eventually you are more vulnerable to the virus you are obsessively reading about all day long. Another vicious circle.
I know this is very personal, everyone copes different with extreme situations. You can discover how to best deal with this whole Corona issue, based on your personality. We at CaPPr’s decided to offer our rapid personality test for free for everyone, providing you with personalised suggestions to stay healthy and engaged within the confining prevention conditions. Try it now.