Escaping News Anxiety: How I Reclaimed My Peace and Focus
There was a time when I realized I might have a bit of anxiety about the news.
Back then, the first thing I did after arriving at the office was open CNN and BBC to check what major events had happened in the past 24 hours. It felt necessary—like if I didn’t, I might miss something important. But what truly triggered the anxiety was actually two of my colleagues.
They sat next to me. One loved sharing political news with me, especially things like “what dumb thing some leader had done” or whatever was trending online. He’d enthusiastically start our day by talking about what he had just seen.
The problem was, I often didn’t have the context. I’d nod awkwardly and give vague responses, unless it happened to be a topic I knew well.
The pressure intensified when another colleague joined in. The two of them could go on and on—about geopolitics, the economy, internet culture, software trends—you name it. I was genuinely envious. I wanted to have that kind of knowledge breadth and conversational ability.
So I tried to keep up. I started searching for similar news sources, sometimes even pausing in the middle of coding to check CNN again. But this “catch-up reading” didn’t actually help. I wasn’t gaining insight. Instead, I was burning time and getting more frustrated.
Gradually, I became quieter and started doubting my own abilities—not just in terms of news reading, but in work and personal growth too.
Then came the pandemic, and the conversations around me grew even more grim. When Russia invaded Ukraine, it felt like World War III was around the corner. I was deeply anxious and helpless. I started to feel like nothing I did really mattered. At work, I was just going through the motions. At home, I numbly organized files and updated my system just to kill time.
Then something significant happened in my life (I promise I’ll share in the next post), and it completely shifted my thinking.
I started asking: Is it really meaningful to read so much news every day? Do I really need to join in those news-based conversations with my coworkers?
I once came across a quote that stuck with me. It went something like this: “You only need to care about what happens within 30 feet of you.” If something happens further away, and it's truly important, you'll hear about it anyway. If it’s not important, you don’t need to know.
That idea struck me as the opposite of the butterfly effect. And it made so much sense.
I’m just a regular person. I don’t need to track every major event in the world—no matter how highly the media ranks it. If something is actually important, it’ll find its way to me in no time.
So I stopped stressing and began to create a reading habit that kept me informed, without overwhelming me.
Here’s how I read the news now:
1. For daily updates: I check Hacker News, specifically the Best section. For each story, I use the built-in Leo assistant in Brave (with a custom model I added) to summarize the highlights. If it’s interesting, I’ll dig deeper. If not, I move on. This also replaces the need to check GitHub Trends. And since there are only 3–5 new items per day, it never feels like a firehose.
2. For weekly depth: I read The Economist. It doesn’t chase headlines, but gives me a structured and stable way to keep up with the world. Of course, I still skip articles that feel too distant from my life.
These two sources—one daily, one weekly—give me high-value information without overloading me. My anxiety? Gone. Honestly, I feel healed.
As for my colleagues’ conversations? I no longer try to “keep up.” I listen. If something sounds interesting, I’ll look it up. If it’s gossip, sarcasm, or just people laughing at others, I let it go. I don’t feel the need to join in anymore.
Not understanding a topic, not having background knowledge, or not being able to contribute? It’s not the end of the world.
I’ve come to believe that not every voice is worth chasing. Truly valuable information will find its way to me. What I can do is stay clear-minded—and keep walking my own path.