How do you keep up with the news without getting overwhelmed?

Exhausted by current events? Ivan Radford considers how to stay informed without losing your focus.

Inflation. Ukraine. Russia. President Donald Trump. The environment. Artificial intelligence. International aid. The NHS. Gaza. All these and more have raced in front of our eyes in the news this year – and we’re only three months into 2025!

News cycles have accelerated in recent decades, with the internet and social media turning what was once a slow, rolling update into a 24/7 conveyor belt of information. Politics has harnessed that pace, with politicians using social media to make announcements across multiple areas often all at once. One post can shape the conversation – until the next post changes the conversation again.

The speed of this can become overwhelming. It’s all too easy to keep scrolling and refreshing the device in your hand to keep up to date. With this comes all sorts of challenges, from the risk of misinformation and algorithms giving us a distorted, uncertain grounding in how we view the world to exhaustion from our efforts to stay informed.

However we follow the news, its rapidly shifting focus influences what we think and talk about. How often do you find your thoughts and conversations being driven by the latest development in your news feed?

As Christians, we’re called to be in the world, to build God’s Kingdom where we are. That means living out our mission – seeking justice and reconciliation, caring for creation, sharing the good news, nurturing disciples of Jesus, serving others without discrimination. But while we are in the world, we are not of the world (see John 17:15 and 16). Romans 12:2 reminds us: ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’

While staying informed and engaged is useful and important, the challenge is to be intentional about how we engage – with the world, with each other and, most of all, with God.

Jesus tells us: ‘Remain in me, as I also remain in you… Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me’ (John 15:4). We can’t authentically live out our mission if we are being shaped by the news cycles around us. We can’t show God’s love to others if we are not intentionally remaining in that love. We can’t pour our energy into building God’s Kingdom if we are pouring from an empty cup.

We know that in this world we will have troubles, but Jesus encourages us: ‘Take heart! I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33). That knowledge gives us a certain, unchanging grounding in how we view the world. But it can be hard to hold on to that in the face of ever-revolving headlines

It might be that taking a pause from round-the-clock news is helpful. It might be finding a routine for staying up to date helps put you in control of your headline consumption. It might be a case of keeping an eye out for the good news in the world – the pages of Salvationist are not a bad place to start! It might be starting the morning with a daily devotional – such as Prayer Matters, The Bible with Nicky and Pippa Gumbel or Our Daily Bread – to help keep your gaze on God before you look at anything else. As Proverbs 4:23 puts it, ‘guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it’. That includes looking after your own wellbeing. How do you find your focus each day? How can you keep it on God in the days ahead?

Reflect and respond

• Consider how, where and when you get your news, and what might help your wellbeing.
• Read Proverbs 4:20–27. How can you make sure God doesn’t leave your sight every day this week?
• In an uncertain, shifting world, pray for grounding in the unchanging certainty of God’s love and truth.