With 92 new executive orders since January, tariffs on Mexico and Canada and a constant flood of breaking news, University of Arizona students are feeling increasingly overwhelmed by news fatigue.

News fatigue is described as feeling overwhelmed and anxious after reading the news or feeling as though you cannot escape it.

Josephine Dee, a freshman at the UA majoring in creative writing, said that after the inauguration she fell into a deep depression.

“I just had to fully remove myself from Instagram because of the amount of news and some of it being complete misinformation, not being able to tell what was what and all the fear-mongering and everything,” Dee said.

The hardest part for her has been feeling like she can’t do anything to help and like a bad person when she doesn’t. Focusing on issues happening at a local level rather than federally has helped her overcome this.

“I can’t control what’s happening in the government, per se, but if something is happening at UA that’s something that could be in my control,” Dee said.

Dee said she has experienced news fatigue in the past, but it has worsened since the inauguration.

“I just think that the news is bigger now, and so it feels more intense because the news that’s coming out is big changes,” Dee said.

Dee has also noticed that many friends or people she has interacted with have felt similarly. 

“I feel like most people are very burned out by it, and the crashout season has been insane this year. I feel like everybody is kind of crashing and burning right now, and I definitely think that it is the amount of news that we’re receiving and everything going on in the world, plus our own daily lives,” Dee said. 

Schuylar Daniel, a sophomore at the UA studying history and studio art, agreed that the constant stream of negative news begins to wear on people.

“I mean, there’s only so many negative things you can hear about, stuff that we don’t really have much control over, before it starts to just feel a little bit too much,” Daniel said. 

Daniel has found it helpful to take a step back from bad news when more important issues are happening in his life, like school projects or final exams.

Another method that he has found helpful is taking everything with a “grain of salt.” He said this helps him put events into perspective and to reflect on similar historical events he has learned about.

“I think [the news] is kind of like blown up extra a little bit, just to continue to tell people that stuff that is currently happening has, one never happened before or two is of dire circumstances,” Daniel said. “It’s comforting to know that there’s nothing new under the sun, like people have gone through similarish things. And so it’s trying to put it into the historic context that exists.”

Daniel said that he has also noticed how big outlets present news in a heavily polarizing way, which turns him away.

“I think unfortunately, with the way that a lot of news has worked is the fact that it can get more viewership, more reaction, if it heavily relies on making a strong statement to evoke emotion,” Daniel said.

Daniel said reading news from local sources helps him concentrate on more specific issues that may directly affect him and avoids sensationalizing the news. However, he also finds that some topics are inherently emotionally charged.

“A lot of the current issues are of themselves, intertwined with a lot of emotional issues. Whether it is things with like Israel and Palestine, or trans rights and stuff like that, it’s a lot of things that like are inherently kind of emotional because they’re towards people,” Daniel said.

Dee and Daniel say they get much of their information from social media, primarily Instagram or TikTok.

Dee said she looks up more information about what she sees on CNN or CBS. Daniel looks up the news on Google News and reads through the variety of sources that appear.

Leslie Ralph, a psychologist from Counseling & Psychological Services, said that she has noticed an increase in students experiencing news fatigue since 2020.

“It’s a topic of conversation and political stress in general has been more and more prevalent over the last few years,” Ralph said. 

Ralph also mentioned that students are much more aware of these issues than they might have been 10 years ago and are more savvy about understanding political stress and news fatigue.

According to Ralph, students feel the need to be engaged and to do something to help, and this need can contribute to fatigue even more.

“I’m certainly hearing from multiple students about their own advocacy work, or their peers, or just feeling this feeling of ‘I need to do something’ and so they’re more engaged in a lot of ways, and that can contribute to that fatigue,” Ralph said.

Her advice for students is to figure out what triggers them to feel panicked, anxious or overwhelmed. She also said students should find out what their “glimmers” are, which make them feel at peace and happy.

“Triggers are the things that bring that up, kind of that first domino that gets that started. So is it reading the comments? Is it conversations? Is it certain people in your life? Is it you’ve hit a critical mass of news intake?” Ralph said. “Glimmers are those little moments that help us feel at peace and present, even if it’s just for a fleeting moment, like the wind chimes in your backyard, the sound of the wind through the palm trees and having a cool glass of lemonade.”

Ralph said that identifying these triggers can help students avoid topics likely to make them angry or upset. She also said that focusing on positive glimmers can provide methods for relaxation and concentration when students are feeling stressed.

Another tip to avoid letting the news become too overwhelming is to picture it as one part of you. It may be a big part of you that you are passionate about, but it does not need to be your entire being.

Ralph suggested “giving yourself other things to think about, making sure that maybe you have a palette cleanser, like you watch things for enjoyment, or you get away from media altogether as you go outside and have an actual conversation.”

For anyone feeling stressed about the news and the political climate, Ralph recommended several resources, including visiting CAPS for short-term counseling support, events organized by campus health and scheduling behavioral therapy appointments through the psychology department.

Students can also visit the Political Stress page for tips on managing the overwhelming feelings that news can cause.

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