Chronic Fatigue

reading news story on a cell phone

There’s so much news being reported by the media that it has spawned a catchy new phrase — news fatigue.

“Most Americans feel worn out by the amount of news there is these days — a feeling that has persisted for several years now,” researcher Jeffrey Gottfried wrote Feb. 26 on the website of the Washington D.C.-based Pew Research Center.

According to a recent Pew survey of more than 12,000 U.S. adults, roughly two-thirds of Americans (66%) feel worn out by the amount of news being reported, while only 32% actually like the amount of news they’re getting. Those numbers basically are the same as the results from a similar Pew survey conducted two years ago.

And frankly, news exhaustion isn’t likely to lessen this year, in the midst of a presidential election. If anything, the fatigue probably will be exacerbated.

Not surprisingly, news fatigue is even more widespread among people who are not as politically engaged. According to Pew, among those who say they follow political and election news “not too closely” or “not at all closely,” 73% say they’re exhausted by the amount of news being reported.

If you fall into that category, you probably regard America’s endless news cycle as just that — endless.

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