How media companies profit off your stress:

You check your phone. Another crisis. Another outrage. Another endless scroll.

Ever wonder why bad news spreads so quickly—and why you can't look away?

This isn't a coincidence.

Media companies profit from your attention—and nothing captures attention better than stress.

In this article, I will show you how they do it, and more importantly, how you can reclaim control of your mental well-being.

Why does it seem like the world is always falling apart?

No matter where you turn, you are constantly bombarded by bad news:

• American politics dominate the headlines, with speculation, worry, and online fights filling our feeds.

• You get 24/7 coverage and immediate access to videos of the latest catastrophes: wars, plane crashes, and natural disasters.

• You can’t go on social media without witnessing toxic arguments where negative people use anonymity and distance to say the most hateful things.

As a result, you frequently check the news in case you need to know something – true “FOMO” in effect.

Even though your life might be going well, you can’t help but constantly feel on edge. You feel a general sense of anxiety and stress that is impacting your life. You know something is wrong, but you just can’t put your finger on why this is happening.

If that sounds familiar, you are not alone.

It’s well researched that excessive news and social media consumption is bad for our mental health (Vannucci & Ohannessian, 2019).

To make matters worse, it is also specifically designed to suck you in and keep you trapped.

The purpose of this article is to break that cycle so that you can reclaim your power and agency over your mental health.

Why it’s not your fault:

You know you should limit your consumption. You know that you should avoid the negativity. You know you should apply some discipline. Yet, despite your best efforts, you keep getting sucked in.

Does that mean you are weak, undisciplined, or lazy?

NO!

So then, what is it?

Here’s the real problem:

• News and social media platforms are not driven to create a healthy and positive society. They are driven by profit.

• Profit comes primarily through ad revenue, which comes from consumption and engagement.

• Put bluntly, the more you watch and interact, the more money they make.

They don’t want you healthy, they want you hungry for more.

And companies are exceptionally effective at capturing and holding your attention.

Psychological Tactics to Keep You Stuck:

1.      Negativity Bias:

Our brains are wired for survival—constantly scanning for threats to protect us. It is an instinct that kept our ancestors alive. Today, media companies exploit this bias by flooding us with alarming headlines and catastrophic news, ensuring we stay glued to our screens. More clicks mean more dollars for media companies—and, as you'll see in point 4, an even bigger consequence.

2.      Addiction Triggers:

A lot of research went into making products and services more addictive, and those dollars have been put into capturing and holding our attention. Using the same reinforcement mechanics as slot machines (Montag et al., 2019), you are presented with stimuli expertly crafted to keep you scrolling and engaging.

3.      Generating a False Sense of Urgency:

Media headlines and imagery are carefully designed to trigger fear and urgency, bypassing logical reasoning and activating your stress response (Lazer et al., 2018). When this happens, your ability to think critically is reduced. You may notice you become emotionally invested and spend much more time engaging than you otherwise would.

4.      The Algorithm Trap:

Algorithms are designed to show you content you engage with most—whether you like it or not. Since emotional reactions drive engagement, the more you react, the more you see. Algorithms don’t care if you’re happy or stressed—only that you’re engaged – and the best way to get you engaged is to keep you stressed. Without realizing it, you’re trapped in an outrage cycle, feeling more stressed, anxious, and frustrated every time you log in.

So what can we do about it?

Reclaiming Your Power: 

1. Self-Awareness:

The first step is simply being aware and understanding the mechanisms at play. We are facing a system that is weaponized against us, and it is hard to protect yourself from a threat you can’t see. Now that you know how we are being manipulated, you can create and deploy a defense. Awareness precedes agency.

2. Take Ownership:

Although it might not be your fault that you are getting sucked into too much media consumption, it is your responsibility to do something about it. Instead of criticism, you use compassion. Recognize the factors in your control and use self-reflection to help apply habits to reclaim your agency and power.

Here are three ways you can reclaim your power without changing your habits:

a. Pay attention to your consumption. Don’t do anything except start consciously measuring where you spend your time and energy. The principle at play here is “what gets measured, gets improved.”

b. Be intentional with your consumption. Consciously avoid interacting with negative content – if you see something that raises emotion, keep on scrolling instead of engaging.

c. Audit your media sources. Identify the apps or media sources that provide zero value and delete them off your phone. This will provide a quick win by making it harder to access negative media.

3. Reduce Consumption:

The average North American spends 7 hours consuming digital content every day. (Statista, 2024).

Reduced impact requires reduced consumption.

It’s plain, it’s simple, but it’s not always easy.

The good news is that little improvements lead to big results.

One study found that even a 30-minute daily reduction in social media consumption led to lower levels of anxiety, depression, and loneliness (Hunt et al., 2018).

Depending on how much negative media you consume, you might need to take baby steps to slowly build momentum. The goal is to be patient with yourself and focus on achievable goals.

Here are three ways you can eliminate or reduce the negative media in your life, ordered in escalating difficulty/benefit:

a. Media Pruning: I like to call this a pruning because what you do is methodically unfollow, unlike, and remove any sources that add negativity and stress into your life. Some social media platforms allow you to mute a friend instead of unfollowing them.

b. Reducing Consumption: this requires a lot of discipline and self-control, but the goal is to limit the time you spend reading the news or using social media. Try to set limits and boundaries, such as scheduling 15 minutes a day to catch up on news at an appropriate time (not after waking up or before bed, but more optimally just before a workout or some other stress-relieving activity)

c. Media detox: This involves a cold quit and detoxing media’s negative influence on your life. If you can do this, completely unplug yourself from all media sources, such as social media and the news. See how long you can go, and measure how you feel afterward.

I fully understand that these three things can be very challenging to achieve. So my advice is to set small goals and be patient with yourself. If you slip up, that’s okay – just keep working at it!

Over time, as you see the improvements in your mood and mental health, you can keep optimizing your usage to find the solution that meets your needs.

Taking back control:

In the face of media weaponizing psychological principles to capture your attention, and the increasingly negative effects on mental health, it is more important than ever before to protect your well-being.

Your attention is your most valuable resource—don’t let them steal it!

• Be strategic in how you spend your time.

• Be conscious of where your focus goes.

• Be intentional with allocating your energy.

The more you can resist and regain control of your habits and time, the more you protect your peace of mind and well-being.

Try this: For the next 24 hours, track your media consumption. Pick one small action you can take and try it—whether it’s reducing your consumption by 10 minutes, unfollowing toxic accounts, or taking a moment to step away. 

Your mental health is worth protecting, and you have the ability to stand out and make a difference!