Hello again and welcome back to the savvy psychologist. I'm Dr. Ellen Hedrickson and every

Friday I'll help you meet life's challenges with evidence-based research, a sympathetic

ear, and zero judgment.

Now, these days, breaking news threatens to break all of us. No matter your political

leanings the volume in terms of both quantity and loudness of news these days is unprecedented. Now I'm giving away my

non-moleennial age here but remember when the internet was new, experts crowed

about how much less time we'd spend searching out information

and how much more time we'd spend, say, relaxing to the beach with our families.

Easy access to news and information was supposed to save our time and sanity. Turns out not so much. Instead, the

internet, a 24-hour news cycle, smartphones, and a never-before-seen political climate are all conspiring to make us

feel lousy.

So this week, regardless of your political leanings, we'll break down four problems with today's news and three things you can do to save

your sanity. Problem number one is sheer volume. First, the quantity of news is utterly massive, according to

Richard Saul Werman, founder of the TED conferences, an author of information

anxiety. Just one New York Times is packed with more information

than the average 19th century individual encountered in a lifetime. These days we scroll through the news before we get out of bed, absorb the world to the

radio during breakfast, get pinged with updates and alerts all day long, and then tune into the

late night shows to try to muster a laugh about it all.

It's exhausting. The news has even broadcast in airplanes. We can't escape,

even at the equivalent altitude of Mount Everest.

Finally, the news doesn't comment us from only mainstream news organizations.

These days, for better or worse, anyone can be a reporter. We get news from so many sources, niche

...