Should you feel guilty for scrolling past the bad news?

Do you ever feel like switching off the news? I know I do. Another alert flashes up on your phone, another crisis, and you sigh, “again,” before setting it aside.

And then come the questions: is that wrong? Am I tuning out when the world needs more compassion? Maybe, like me, you’ve seen so much bad news that your heart feels a bit worn out. You scroll past a tragic story not because you don’t care, but because, honestly, constantly caring can feel exhausting.

News fatigue is real. A glance at the headlines tells the story: “We never imagined our daughter could be killed at nursery”; “Markets plunge as tariff turmoil deepens;” “Children among 18 killed in Russian attack.”