Some like to follow the present sports or the heart, while some prefer disconnect in his spare time watching series or movies. There are also many who follow the daily political newsto the point of being almost hooked.
The newspaper first thing in the morning, the radio in the car, the television when we are at home doing homework or working, and the mobile phone active all day. There are many pathways through which we can receive inputs related to the political news of the country or the world.
Apparently this might be something positive, since knowing and possessing information is considered something good and nutritious. However, it might be a problem for people who follow daily political news.
A study says that following daily political news can negatively affect people’s mental health and well-being. Disengaging also has its downsides, according to research published by the American Psychological Association in its scientific journal Journal of Personality and Social Psychologycalled The Political Is Personal: The Costs of Daily Politics.
“When it comes to politics, there can be a trade-off between feeling good and doing good. Protecting yourself from the stress of politics can help promote well-being, but it also comes at a cost to stay engaged and active in democracy,” said the doctor Brett Q. FordAssociate Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto.
Ford and his colleagues wanted to explore the emotional and mental health effects of everyday political news and how people use different strategies to manage those negative emotions. Other studies that were done previously focused on important political events.
The study
The researchers began by asking a politically diverse sample of 198 American respond to a series of questions every night during two weeks regarding the political event they thought regarding the most that day, the emotions they felt in response, how they managed those emotions, their general psychological and physical well-being that day, and how motivated they felt to participate in political action.
Overall, the researchers found that thinking regarding everyday political events evoked negative emotions in the participants. Furthermore, they were able to determine it even though the survey question had not asked them to think regarding negative political events.
Participants who experienced more negative emotions related to politics presented a worse state of psychological and physical health on a day-to-day basis. In addition, they were more motivated to act in political causessuch as volunteering or donating to political campaigns.
Strategies to combat it
The survey also asked participants regarding various strategies that they might have used for manage your negative emotions. These are methods like get distracted of the news and the ‘cognitive reappraisal‘, that is, rethinking what they thought regarding a news event so that it seemed less negative.
Replicating the results of the diary studies, the researchers found that two of the strategies, distraction and cognitive reappraisal, systematically reduced negative emotions of the participants, which in turn predicted a greater well-being. However, it indirectly reduced the likelihood that they would want to undertake political actions.
The results
In general, the results suggest that the policy has a significant daily effect on the health and well-being of many Americans, according to the authors: “Modern politics, with its daily controversies, incivility, and ineptitude, places an emotional toll on Americans,” they noted. Matthew Feinbergco-author of the study and professor of Organizational Behavior at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.
According to the researchers, this has important implicationsespecially for activists who want to involve people in the defense of political causes without harming their mental health.
