Constant notifications（ 通知） on your phone. TV news specials in place of your favourite sports show. WhatsApp and Messenger full of COVID-19 articles your out-of-touch aunt just "had to share". Sound familiar? If our daily news intake was counted in calories, many of us would have put on even more weight in recent months.
While audience numbers for network television news shows remain much higher than usual in many countries, ratings are, in some places, starting to decrease. In the UK, news shows have recorded their lowest audience figures since the country went into lockdown. The Nieman Journalism Lab, part of Harvard University, recently reported that "news traffic to news sites, both in the US and around the world, is pretty much back to pre-coronavirus levels".
There are also many people who are finding themselves consumed by the news cycle more than usual. Journalists, communications professionals, doctors, scientist and, most recently, disinfectant （消毒剂） producers are among those having to stay on top of daily comments and data in a way they've never previously experience.
For many, this is happening while they are working from home and managing blurred（ 模糊的） boundaries between their work and private lives.
So how should we balance news fatigue and anxiety with the need to remain informed on the latest news during the crisis? John-Paul Davies, a London-based expert, argues that for most of us, checking the headlines once a day is a sensible goal. This could be reduced to once a week for those with high levels of anxiety. He says it is also important to select "a trusted news site" or radio station with a focus on "facts rather than guesses".
For those whose work is connected to the coronavirus crisis, experts accept it may be much harder to reduce news consumption. But John-Paul Davies says it's still important to make an effort to "put boundaries" around how much information you watch or read. Liz Martin, a therapist based in London, recommends regular digital check-ins with workmates doing similar roles. "It's really important to be a support to one another." she argues.
