Is It Wrong to Avoid the News? A Christian Answer

You open the news app over coffee. A war, a shooting, a fight in Congress, a flood in a country you could not find on a map. Ten minutes later you close it, feeling heavier and no more useful than before. So you stop opening it. And then the guilt shows up: aren't Christians supposed to care? Isn't this what the priest did in the parable, crossing to the other side of the road?

Here is the short answer. Looking away from the feed is not, in itself, a sin. But there is a version of it that is, and Scripture gives a clear way to tell the two apart.

The short answer: looking away is not the same as passing by

Most of what you read about this question falls into two camps. Wellness writers say to avoid the news to protect your peace. Editorial writers say avoiding it is a failure of citizenship. Both have a point, and both miss the Christian question.

The Christian question is not how much news you take in. It is what the news turns into. A believer who reads one short summary a day and prays over it is not hiding from the world. A believer who keeps a feed open all day and feels nothing but dread is not loving the world better. And a believer who has turned everything off because they have stopped caring about anyone outside their front door has a real problem, but the problem is the heart, not the app.

So the honest answer has two halves. Yes, it is OK to step back from the news. No, it is not OK to step back from your neighbor. The rest of this post is about telling those two apart.

You are not alone: what the numbers say about news avoidance

If you have been quietly tuning out, you are in large company. The Reuters Institute's Digital News Report 2026, which surveys people in 48 markets, found that 42% say they sometimes or often avoid the news. That figure was essentially flat from the year before, but it stood at 29% in 2017, when the institute first asked. In Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece and Turkey, 60% or more now say they avoid the news.

Americans feel the same pull in both directions. In a Pew Research Center survey of 3,560 US adults, conducted December 8 to 14, 2025, 80% said Americans have a responsibility to be informed about the news when they vote. Yet 52% said they are worn out by the news, and 47% said they can stay informed even when they do not actively follow it. Two-thirds had stopped getting news from a specific source, and six in ten had reduced their overall news intake.

That is the tension in one survey. Most people believe they owe it to someone to stay informed. Most people are also tired. Feeling both at once does not make you a bad Christian. It makes you normal.

Two kinds of avoiding, and why the difference matters

Researchers do not treat all news avoiders as one group. The Reuters Institute's Digital News Report 2025 describes two kinds. Consistent avoiders typically have low interest in news. Selective avoiders struggle with news overload and protect themselves at certain times or from particular topics. The same report notes that younger people are more likely to say they feel powerless in the face of large problems like economic insecurity and climate change.

That split matters for a Christian, because it maps onto a distinction Scripture already makes. The selective avoider has not stopped caring. They have noticed that a bottomless feed is more than one heart can carry, and they are rationing it. The consistent avoider, at least sometimes, has simply checked out.

There is research on why rationing can be wise. Alison Holman, Dana Rose Garfin and Roxane Cohen Silver studied the Boston Marathon bombings in a survey of 4,675 US adults taken two to four weeks after the attack, published in PNAS in 2014. Six or more hours a day of bombing-related media in the week after was associated with higher acute stress than being at or near the bombings in person. That is one event and an association, not proof of cause. But it fits what many people feel: hours of coverage can weigh on you more than the facts you needed.

If that sounds like your evenings, how to stop doomscrolling walks through the habit side of the problem.

What Scripture asks of us: no fear of bad news, no passing by

Two passages hold this question from both sides.

The first is Psalm 112:7, which says of the righteous person, in the NIV: "They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD." Notice what it does not say. It does not promise the righteous will never hear bad news. It assumes they will. It says the news will not govern them, because their hearts are anchored somewhere else.

The second is the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30–37. A man is beaten and left on the road. The NIV says a priest "saw the man" and "passed by on the other side," and a Levite did the same. Jesus does not fault them for missing a report about a man somewhere. He faults them for seeing a man in front of them, someone they could actually reach, and choosing not to stop. The Samaritan is the neighbor because he showed mercy to the person in his path.

A feed delivers the suffering of the whole world in a quantity no person can answer. You cannot bind every wound on every road. You can stop for the ones on yours. That is why the measure Paul gives in Romans 12:15 is so useful: "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn" (NIV). News, when it is for anything, is for that. It should move you toward people.

And when you choose what to fill your mind with, Philippians 4:8 tells you to think about "whatever is true" (NIV), along with whatever is noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable. That is a filter for attention. It is not permission to ignore what is true and hard. Bad news can be true. The verse asks you to choose what you dwell on, not to pretend the hard things away. For more on that kind of choosing, see how to protect your attention as a Christian.

Looking away vs passing by

Here is the difference laid out side by side. It is our own diagnostic, not a clinical tool. Read across a row and ask honestly which column sounds more like you this month.

Most of us live in both columns on different days. The point is not to grade yourself. It is to notice the drift, and to steer back toward the left side.

A news rule you can keep

A rule is not a law. It is a shape you give your day so you do not have to decide again every time your phone buzzes. If you have ever written a rule of life, this is one small line in it. Here are five parts:

1. After the chapter. Read Scripture before you read the news. The headlines then land on a steadier heart, which is what Psalm 112 describes.
2. Once a day. Pick one time, not twenty. Turn off news alerts so the news comes when you go to it.
3. One or two sources. Choose them on purpose and let the rest go.
4. A set time limit. Decide how many minutes before you open the app, and stop when they are up.
5. One response. Before you close it, turn one story into something: a prayer for the people in it, a gift, a vote, a call to someone affected, or a moment of mourning.

The first line is the one that changes the rest. The first thing you check in the morning sets the tone for everything after it. In BlessUp, the news apps you pick stay shielded until you have read a chapter, so the Word comes first without a daily fight.

The rule should also bend. Some mornings you will miss the chapter, or read the news first, or skip both. That is not failure. It is why grace days do what streaks cannot: a missed morning is covered, and you pick up where you left off.

And the fifth line matters most. The response does not need to be large. Often the best one is local: a meal for the family down the street, a visit, a gift to a ministry you trust, a church that knows its neighborhood. If you are looking for one, the church finder on this site lists churches by city. News that ends in love for a real neighbor has done its job.

Frequently asked questions

Is it irresponsible to not watch the news?

Not if you still know enough to vote, pray and help the people around you. In Pew's December 2025 survey, 80% of US adults said Americans have a responsibility to be informed when they vote, and 47% said they can stay informed without actively following the news. A short daily summary covers that duty.

Is it healthy to stop watching the news?

Cutting back can be. In a study of 4,675 US adults after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings, six or more daily hours of coverage was associated with higher acute stress than being there in person. That is one event and an association, but it supports limiting how much you take in rather than following coverage for hours.

What does the Bible say about watching the news?

The Bible does not mention news media, but it speaks to the heart behind it. Psalm 112:7 says the righteous have no fear of bad news because their hearts trust the Lord. Luke 10 warns against passing by a neighbor in need, and Romans 12:15 asks us to mourn with those who mourn.

How much news should I consume in a day?

There is no fixed number, so set your own limit. A workable rule is once a day, from one or two sources, for a set number of minutes, after you have read Scripture, ending with one response such as a prayer, a gift or a call.

Is it selfish to avoid the news as a Christian?

It depends on why and what follows. Limiting news to protect a heart that still cares is wisdom. Shutting it off because you have stopped caring about anyone outside your own life is closer to the priest who passed by. The test is whether you still notice and help the neighbors you can reach.