Fear: Overloaded

How does being hyper-aware of global issues overload us with fear?

Over the course of the next several years, I imagine we will start hearing people say more and more, “I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when the world shut down in March, 2020.”

Just as people start conversations this way about 9/11, Pearl Harbor, and other life-altering events in history, the events that have unfolded over the past few years have left their mark on us and heightened our awareness of global issues in profound ways. I’m not sure that things are substantially worse now than they were before 2020, but I do believe that we are much more aware of the corrupt and the ugly in our world.

We are living in a time when information is more readily available to us than any other point in history. We used to have to go searching for news we wanted to read, but now it is sent directly to our inbox (whether we want it or not), suggested to us in our social media feeds (based off of what we clicked on last), and pops up in commercials on TV.

In some ways, this is good. Research can take less time. Knowledge on a given topic is more easily accessible. However, this increased access has led to an increased appetite—an appetite that is unsustainable.

We are drowning in information while starving for wisdom.

There’s an incredible amount of noise trying to get our attention, information overload. Click bait is appropriately titled because it’s bait, and often, we bite.

Even though much of what we read about and see on the news has the tendency to produce fear and anxiety in us, we keep coming back for more. We’re craving solutions, but only get more information, on more problems.

More news comes our way every single day than our minds can hold, more than our emotions can process—and yet, we keep scrolling, keep clicking, keep reading. A breaking news story hits in another part of the world, and our attention, energy, capacity, and sometimes even our resources are pulled into it.

But we all are limited by capacity.

I’m not sure any of us like to admit this, but it’s true. We all have a certain capacity; and we all have certain limitations. If you’re anything like me, limitations can feel quite restrictive, but when we understand what happens to us when our capacity is surpassed, we are more inclined to embrace our limitations.

To be clear, ignorance is not bliss, but it is vital for us to know what our limits are when it comes to how aware we are of all that is going on around the world. Wars, rumors of war, mass shootings, inflation, politics, viruses, racism, food shortages, riots, famine…any one of these things can overwhelm the mind with fear.

So, how do we remain aware but not anxious? How do we stay informed but not become overwhelmed?

You get to choose whose voice is loudest in your life.

The information we ingest, the voices we listen to, the news we absorb…all of these have something in common. They are shaping us. They are, in effect, discipling us. They are instructing us and telling us what to believe to be true about this world and the people in it.

So then, whose voice is loudest in your life? If all we listen to is the news, political podcasts, stock market projections, and like-minded friends, then my guess is that fear is playing a significant role in our lives right now.

But what if we turned the volume down a bit on some of these things for a day or two?

Do you think we would notice a difference? What if we limited the amount of time we spent watching the news for one week and instead filled that time in meaningful connection with the important people in our life? What if we invested our time, attention, energy, capacity, and resources into something or someone that was life-giving instead of life-draining?

Self-control and discipline in this area is not easy.

There are many things going on in the world right now that I care about deeply, but it’s important for me to remember that I can also play a role in feeding the fear in my life when I don’t exercise restraint in media consumption.

Fear is a part of our lives. That is just simply true, but there are things we can do to contribute to fear, and there are things we can do to fight fear from controlling us. I hope we can learn to exercise the latter.

Cherie Wagner