News Avoidance During the Covid-19 Crisis: Understanding Information Overload

https://doi.org/10.1080/21670811.2021.1957967

Explanation

This study will investigate the extent of news avoidance during the first months of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Netherlands.

Based on two panel surveys conducted in the period April-June 2020, we show that the increased presence of the behavior can be explained by negative emotions and news sentiment by citizens.

News avoidance has a positive effect on perceived well-being, indicating a balance in the behavior of individual news consumers.

In a pandemic such as Covid-19, this study states that news consumers need to be informed, but may need to avoid the news to maintain mental health.