Is the news making us unhappy? The influence of daily news exposure on emotional states

Abstract

There is evidence that exposure to negative news is making people feel bad, but not much is known about why this only affects some people or whether this also applies to everyday news exposure. This study examined the direct and indirect effects of daily news exposure on people's affective states. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA), 63 respondents (24 men and 39 women) reported their news exposure and affective states five times a day for 10 days. In addition, personal relevance of the news and personality characteristics, neuroticism and extraversion, were assessed. Results showed that negative news perceptions were related to more negative affect and less positive affect, and these effects were moderated by personal relevance, but not personality characteristics. The implications of these outcomes are discussed.

Possible Application of Ecological Momentary Assessment to Older Adults’ Daily Depressive Mood: Integrative Literature Review

“…Some studies aimed to enroll study participants who had an alcohol or smoking habit (4/38, 11%) [ 22 , 28 , 33 , 46 ] or obesity (2/38, 5%) [ 19 , 20 ]. However, several studies (15/38, 40%) did not specify any particular disease or condition [ 10 , 14 , 15 , 18 , 21 , 26 , 27 , 30 , 32 , 39 , 41 , 42 , 47 - 49 ].…”

“…Most studies included variables relating to momentary experiences, activities, or behaviors occurring before or at the time of report [ 6 , 9 , 13 , 16 , 17 , 21 , 23 - 32 , 39 - 44 , 47 , 48 ]. Some studies also included concurrent symptoms of depression such as fatigue [ 6 , 29 , 36 , 42 , 45 ], pain [ 6 , 16 , 25 , 31 , 36 , 40 , 43 , 45 , 48 , 49 ], stress [ 9 , 10 , 18 - 22 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 32 , 33 , 41 , 42 , 44 , 46 ], anxiety [ 7 , 9 , 10 , 13 , 14 , 16 , 17 , 21 , 24 - 26 , 34 , 39 - 43 , 45 , 47 ], loneliness [ 14 , 20 , 23 , 24 , 27 , 31 , 42 , 46 , 47 ], or cognitive impairment [ 7 ...…”

“…When employing EMA, most studies did not clearly define “momentary mood of depression,” and there was no consistency of operational definition across the 38 selected studies. Moreover, the depressive score was defined in diverse terms, such as depressive or negative mood and affect [ 6 , 7 , 9 , 10 , 13 - 29 , 31 - 34 , 36 , 39 - 48 ], sadness [ 9 , 15 , 17 - 22 , 24 - 30 , 32 , 33 , 36 , 39 , 42 , 44 , 46 , 48 , 49 ], feeling down [ 13 , 14 , 23 , 47 ], or relevant symptoms of depression [ 6 , 29 , 31 , 34 , 45 ]. In some studies, depression was included as a set of subitems of global affect or mood [ 7 , 9 , 10 , 13 , 16 , 21 , 26 , 36 , 39 - 44 ], whereas other studies treated depressive scores separately from other measurements that might have been taken [ 6 , 30 , 31 , 34 , 45 ].…”

“…Most reporting mechanisms relied on a Likert scale (30/38, 79%), visual analog scale (6/38, 16%), or sliding bar scale (2/38, 5%) in the form of points or a sliding bar. Some of the surveyed studies (14/38, 37%) clearly stated that the question used to measure depression was extracted from widely used instruments, such as the PANAS [ 10 , 14 , 20 , 39 , 44 , 62 ], PANAS-Expanded Form [ 15 , 67 ], circumplex model of emotion [ 17 , 68 ], circumplex model of affect [ 19 , 26 , 69 ], PROMIS [ 34 , 70 ], Philadelphia Geriatric Center Positive and Negative Affect Rating Scale [ 36 , 71 ], CES-D-Revised [ 7 , 72 ], DSM-IV [ 29 , 57 ], or PHQ [ 31 , 54 ]. Those instruments were different from the measures used at baseline to screen participants’ depression diagnosis or initial status.…”

The emotional effects of positive and negative news through the default mode network

“…Positive news contains inspiring stories about hope and cooperation that incite positive emotions, whereas negative news includes dramatic, traumatic, hopeless, gloomy, and criminal stories, which are associated with negative emotions. Negative news exacerbates the negative mood in individuals while positive news, on the contrary, makes them feel more optimistic [1]. Negative and positive news changes the emotion, and emotions shape cognition.…”