of people across 48 markets say they sometimes or often actively avoid the news, up from 29% in 2017.
How many people avoid the news
The Reuters Institute has asked the same question since 2017: "Do you find yourself actively trying to avoid news these days?" The share answering sometimes or often has risen steadily.
| Year | Global | United States | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 29% | 38% | 24% |
| 2019 | 32% | 41% | 35% |
| 2022 | 38% | 42% | 46% |
| 2023 | 36% | not published | 41% |
| 2024 | 39% | not published | not published |
| 2025 | 40% | 42% | 46% |
| 2026 | 42% | 45% | 50% |
Note on comparing years. The Reuters Institute rebases its global average as the set of surveyed markets changes, so year-on-year comparisons are approximate. The 2026 report describes avoidance as essentially flat against the previous year rather than as a rise, even though the published 2025 figure was 40%. Use the within-report trend rather than subtracting one year's headline from another's.
Why people avoid the news
Reasons given by people who avoid the news, from the Digital News Report 2025 (base: 68,542 avoiders). Respondents could select more than one.
| Reason | Share of avoiders |
|---|---|
| News has a negative effect on my mood | 39% |
| Worn out by the amount of news | 31% |
| Too much coverage of conflict and war | 30% |
| Too much coverage of politics | 29% |
| Nothing I can do with the information | 20% |
| Leads to arguments I would rather avoid | 18% |
| Does not feel relevant to my life | 18% |
| Too hard to understand | 9% |
Mood is the single most cited reason, and it has been consistently near the top since Reuters began breaking out reasons. In the 2022 edition, 55% of UK avoiders and 49% of US avoiders cited mood, both well above that year's 36% global average.
News fatigue
A separate measure asks whether people feel worn out by the amount of news. It has risen sharply.
- 39% globally said they feel worn out by the amount of news in 2024, up from 28% in 2019. (Reuters Institute)
- 52% of US adults say they feel worn out by the amount of news, rising to 57% of under-50s versus 46% of those 50 and older. (Pew Research Center, December 2025, n = 3,560)
- 60% of US adults say they have at some point reduced the amount of news they get, and 67% have stopped getting news from a specific source. (Pew Research Center)
- 39% of US adults reported taking steps in the previous year specifically to reduce their news consumption. (APA, Stress in America 2019, n = 3,617)
Pew notes that the age gap in news fatigue is new: an equivalent question in 2019 found no meaningful difference by age.
Who avoids the news
By gender
Women report higher avoidance and higher overload on every published measure.
- 39% of women versus 33% of men actively avoid the news. (Digital News Report 2023)
- 43% of women versus 34% of men feel worn out by the amount of news. Reuters observed that there were no significant differences by age or education on this measure, but that women were "much more likely to complain about news overload than men." (Digital News Report 2024)
Qualitative research suggests the mechanism is structural rather than a difference in interest. Toff and Palmer's interview study identified both a perception that news is coded as a male domain, and the practical reality that caretaking responsibilities, which fall disproportionately on women, compete for the time and emotional bandwidth that news consumption requires.
By age
Younger people avoid more and report more news-related stress, and this pattern replicates across separate research programmes.
- 42% of 18 to 24 year olds and 40% of 25 to 34 year olds avoid the news, versus 36% of those 35 and over. (Digital News Report 2022)
- Share saying following the news causes them stress, by generation: Gen Z 61%, Millennials 60%, Gen X 55%, Boomers 50%, adults 74 and over 36%. (APA, Stress in America 2019)
Selective versus consistent avoidance
Most avoidance is partial. Reuters distinguishes people who cut back at particular times or on particular topics from the much smaller group who have disengaged from news almost entirely. Among people who say they avoid the news, 53% do so periodically across most sources, 52% simply check less often, and 32% avoid specific topics that bring down their mood. In the United States, researcher Benjamin Toff has estimated that while around 43% avoid news in some form, only about 8% are consistent avoiders who consume news less than monthly or never.
What news avoiders say they want instead
This is the least reported and most striking finding in the Reuters data. Among people who avoid the news, interest in positive and solutions coverage runs well ahead of interest in the main news of the day. Among people who do not avoid the news, the order reverses.
Among news avoiders, 55% say they are interested in positive news, while only 35% are interested in "the big stories of the day." Among people who do not avoid the news, 62% are interested in the big stories.
| Type of news | Share of avoiders interested |
|---|---|
| Positive news | 55% |
| Solutions journalism | 46% |
| Explainers | 39% |
| News about people like me | 38% |
| Investigative journalism | 37% |
| The big stories of the day | 35% |
The 2024 report measured this differently, as a set of user needs, and reached a compatible conclusion. Asked about news that "makes me feel better about the world," 54% rated it important but only 42% said news media do a good job of providing it, making it the second largest gap of eight needs tested, behind only "give me perspective." Reuters noted the need "scores higher among news avoiders and younger people."
An important caveat from Reuters, worth quoting. The report cautions that "it is not clear that audiences think much about publisher definitions of terms such as positive or solutions journalism. Rather we can interpret this as an oft-stated desire for the news to be a bit less depressing and a bit easier to understand." In other words, treat these numbers as evidence of appetite for a different tone, not as a mandate for any particular editorial format.
Context: trust and interest
- Global trust in news stands at 37%, the lowest since the Reuters Institute began measuring it in 2015, having fallen 3 points after three years at 40%. (Digital News Report 2026)
- 49% of US adults say they mostly happen to come across news rather than seek it out, up from 39% in 2019. (Pew Research Center)
- Following the news ranks sixth of seven civic duties tested with US adults, at 41%, below voting, paying taxes, respecting opposing opinions, jury duty, and volunteering. (Pew Research Center)
- 9% of US adults say they follow the news purely because they enjoy it. (Pew Research Center)
What this adds up to
Three things are true at once, and they are usually reported separately. News avoidance is rising and is now close to half the population in some countries. The single most common reason is mood, not disinterest or distrust. And the people who have stepped back are not asking for less journalism; they say they want coverage that is less relentlessly bleak, and they say the media is not currently supplying it.
That gap between what people say they want and what they say they receive is, in our view, the most useful number on this page.
The practical response
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- Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Digital News Report 2026 (and the 2023, 2024 and 2025 editions). Annual survey across up to 48 markets.
- Pew Research Center, Americans' Complicated Relationship With News, February 2026. Survey of 3,560 US adults conducted December 2025.
- American Psychological Association, Stress in America 2019: Stress and Current Events. Harris Poll for APA, 3,617 US adults.
- Toff, B., & Palmer, R. A. (2019). Explaining the Gender Gap in News Avoidance. Journalism Studies, 20(11), 1563 to 1579.
- Toff, B., Palmer, R. A., & Nielsen, R. K. (2023). Avoiding the News. Columbia University Press.
Figures on this page are quoted from the studies named beside them and are not our own research. Percentages come from surveys with differing samples, question wording, and market coverage, so figures from different sources should not be combined or directly compared. We update this page when new editions are published. If you spot an error, please tell us.