February 21, 20258 min readWhy the News Feels OverwhelmingAnd How to CopeAn explanation of the science behind news fatigue, plus expert advice to take control and protect your well-being while staying engagedBy Meghan Bartels edited by Andrea Thompson Malte Mueller/Getty ImagesIts February 2025. The world feels like complete chaos, and its hard to step away from the news. Maybe your body feels tight, and perhaps your mind is racing.Take a deep breath, then keep reading.It isnt just you: lots of people have expressed that they have felt overwhelmed and burned out from the events of recent months. Disasters, including Hurricane Helene and the Los Angelesarea wildfires, served as the backdrop to a frighteningly tense presidential election. And the new administration has acted loud and fast, often in ways that judges are already declaring unconstitutional.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.To a degree, the result feels familiar. News overload is nothing new; major crises such as September 11 and the early months of the COVID pandemic delivered a similar onslaught of rapid-fire headlines that were laden with fear and uncertainty. But experts say the developments during these first weeks of President Donald Trumps second administration are posing a very real mental health threat that people may need new skills to manage. Scientific American spoke with experts in psychology and beyond about whats happening and how to stay calm and grounded through it.What Is the Flood the Zone Strategy?Political strategist Steve Bannon, who advised Trump during his first term, has openly discussed overwhelming the media as a key priority to advance right-wing objectives. All we have to do is flood the zone, Bannon told Frontline in 2019. Every day we hit them with three things. Theyll bite on one, and well get all of our stuff done: bang, bang, bang.This approach is reminiscent of the Gish gallop tactic that Trump has used during debates to barrage opponents and fact-checkers with so many lies and half-truths that it becomes impossible to adequately address them all. Away from the podium and inside the Oval Office, its a strategy that harkens back to a predigital Soviet practice of producing huge amounts of disinformation meant to make people question reality, as many experts have noted. The Trump administrations version of this tactic uses volume to create paralysis among the opposition, says Dannagal Young, a professor of communication at the University of Delaware. Its the sense that you are being overwhelmed by a tidal wave, she says. How do you push back against a tidal wave? You cant.In addition to the sheer number of actions coming from the administration, many are also entirely unprecedented. Without historical U.S. parallels to work from, our brain is less able to calculate what these developments might lead to, and that can make processing the news even more difficult. The chaos that ensues is really hard to make sense of because we dont know the consequences, says Kristen Lee, a psychotherapist and a teaching professor of behavioral science at Northeastern University.But its not just the volume of headlines and the intellectual difficulty of understanding whats happening that make current news overwhelming. The key, psychologists say, is the emotional weight of those headlines contentespecially for people who find whats happening in the U.S. today to be genuinely frightening.Fear in the Brain, Fear in SocietiesFor someone worried about the administrations policies creating tangible harm, each new headline can create a spark of fearand fear is a remarkably powerful emotion. Threat and fear take the priority in our brains, says Arash Javanbakht, a psychiatrist and a neuroscientist at Wayne State University. When youre afraid, all youre thinking about is what youre afraid of.Think of the effects of fear on the brain in two categories: cognitive and emotional. Cognitively, fear hijacks our ability to think welland this makes us more likely to rely on other peoples reasoning than to think through our own opinions and values, Javanbakht says. Lee notes that fear can also interfere with attention, leaving people vulnerable to what psychologists call cognitive distortions. This term is often used in discussing conditions such as depression and anxiety, in which our brain can fixate on predicting the worst or ignoring small positives. Ultimately, cognitive distortions are convenient mental shortcuts that our brain can slip into. Such habits include jumping to conclusions and engaging in black-and-white thinking, and they bypass our critical thinking skills.As an emotion, unaddressed fear can morph and grow. Fear often becomes anger, Javanbakht says. And as fear and anger build up, they turn into a state of feeling overwhelmed, as well as exhaustion and sadness. If someone doesnt feel like they have any control over a situation, this emotional cocktail can create a sense of helplessness that can become paralyzinglike a caged lab animal that shuts down amid shocks it doesnt believe it can stop, even if an avenue of escape finally does become available.On top of this, feeling anxious about the news can drive people to follow current events even more closely. Anxiety stimulates our need to search for information, Young says. But in chaotic times, the next news story wont actually resolve the anxietyand neither will the second or third or 10th.And if fear is difficult for someone to cognitively and emotionally manage, the effects are even more profound when that individual is surrounded by other people who are also afraid. Thats because humans are fundamentally social beings who are attuned to one anothers emotions; our connections within our local communities are how we have managed to survive as a species.In todays digitally connected world, however, our exposure goes far beyond perceived threats to us and our daily companions. We now have intimate access to the emotions of hundreds or thousands of people were connected to online. We feel scared and angry, we go online, we encounter other people being scared and angry, and that rubs off on us. When people who we think of as on our team are outraged and upset and anxious, the natural and adaptive response is for us to have the contagion of their experience, Young says.And because our fear has already reduced our cognitive abilities, were also more likely to instantly take on someone elses view of the world without examining it for ourselvesespecially if we consider them a leaderJavanbakht says.Moving ForwardWe can better understand how people have been feeling over recent weeks by thinking about the experience of a car accident, says Fathali Moghaddam, a Georgetown University psychologist who has studied the psychology of democracy and dictatorship. Youre in a state of shock, and you are just trying to adjust to what happened, he says. The car is damaged; you are hurt; everything is bewildering.In the moment, the shock can feel so intense that its difficult to imagine life ever feeling normal again. But psychologists know that humans adjust to their circumstancesand surprisingly quickly. What feels unbearable in the short term can become more manageable with time. We have to adjust, Moghaddam says.It can be difficult advice to heed in the throes of fear and the feeling of being overwhelmed, but experts also encourage us to remember that people of many generations have encountered crises before. We are not the first cohort in humanity to face existential threats, Lee says.Although some people in the U.S. are certainly in immediate risk, many, realistically, are not. And as unpleasant as 2025 may seem for people living today, the modern era is still an improvement over much of the past, Javanbakht notes. At the end of the day, we are living in one of the safest, most prosperous times of humanity, he says. But we have lost sight of that.So know that, on both an individual and societal level, as difficult as you might find this time, things will become more manageable. All the experts interviewed for this article also shared recommendations on ways for emotionally struggling people to manage the current situation and stay healthy.Coping Strategies to Stay Informed without Feeling DrainedJ.A. Bracchi/Getty ImagesTake a deep breath. Do so literally and figuratively. Breathing deeply will help your body recognize that, right now, you are safe, allowing your cognitive brain some room to come back online. And you may need a broader pausean hour, a day, even a weekend away from the newsto evaluate where you are and what you need. When our system is so taxed, we have to be mindful and step back, Lee says.See the bigger picture. To make the task of processing the Trump administrations relentless flood of actions a little less daunting, Young recommends considering them within the larger narrative of the presidents goals and priorities. For example, staffing and funding cuts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are all aspects of Trumps well-known lack of trust in science and scientists. This thought process can make individual news events feel less overwhelming, Young says. Actually, that tidal wave is all coming from one place, she says. I think that that reframe is essential.Limit news consumption. Experts encourage people who are struggling with the news to manage their exposurewhile still staying reasonably informed. There are plenty of options: People who usually watch news programs can consider reading articles instead. Those accustomed to checking the news all day long can establish one or two set times each day to catch up. And people who find themselves doomscrolling on social media can reduce their exposure.Lee encourages people to use common behavioral-change tactics to make this process easier. For example, you can make doomscrolling more difficult by setting time limits for specific apps on your phone or by unplugging your router at a certain time, and you can make healthier habits easier by keeping a book or walking shoes close at hand. You can also manufacture a fresh start and recruit a friend to help you monitor your progress.Stay with science. Moghaddam argues that, given Trumps authoritarian leanings, standing up for science has become particularly important. Science is the most democratic procedure that humans have invented, he saysand he expects attacks on science to ramp up as the administration continues.Even as the chaos surrounding scientific funding persists, Young encourages active researchers to resist the temptation to get distracted. Not only do you still have work to do, but you have an obligation to get to work, she says. And do it without feeling guilt about what youre doing. Because if you are in the scientific community, your work is the production of knowledge.Reach for something good. Javanbakht points out that its valuable to balance ones political news intake with stories about science, the arts, sports, and more. These articles give your brain a break from fear and keep it cognitively active. Similarly, he and others encourage people to look for good things in life more generally as a way to stay even-keeled.Connect with ourselves and other people. If current events are affecting your perception of yourself and your impact on the world, Young recommends picking up a pencil. Writing about whats happening can help your brain look at your role in a new way. Theres a lot of amazing work from the mental health literature on people writing their own narrative and how it can shape how we view ourselves and our own agency, Young says. Writing can help people construct an image of themselves anew. Writing about your values or the ways youre showing up for the people in your life might be steadying when things are difficult.And connecting with other peopleoffline and not about politicsis also grounding. Good conversations not only help fortify our brain against a fear-induced shutdown; they also strengthen our community ties and remind us of the world beyond politics. Rediscover the art of the dinner party, of the game night, Young says.Take action. Most of all, researchers recommended simply doing somethinganything, really. Javanbakht recommends exercise, given that plentiful research shows its deep mental health benefits. Young emphasizes that reaching out to elected officials, building community and volunteering can all counteract the paralyzing effects of fear-inducing news. Your local school board is still holding meetings, she says. Your town hall is still trying to figure out Are you going to get the money to fill the potholes or not?And for her, taking these actions are the real point of reading the news anyway. News consumption is not an end in itself, she says. From a democratic theory standpoint, news consumption is a means to become informed to act.

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Pokmon wins "substantial" damages and public apology in long-running battle against Chinese clone game"We have deeply reflected on it and learned our lessons," makers of rip-off say.Image credit: Adobe / The Pokmon Company / Eurogamer News by Tom Phillips Editor-in-Chief Published on Feb. 21, 2025 The Pokmon Company has won "substantial" damages after a long-running battle against a Chinese mobile rip-off, following years of legal wrangling.While the final amount has not been made public, The Pokmon Company previously said it was owed $72m (57m) by the makers of an unlicensed Pocket Monsters smartphone app that clearly used Pokmon characters and gameplay.The Pokmon Company looked to have initially won its case last September, though two of the companies involved (Guangzhou Maichi Network Technology and Khorgos Fangchi Network Technology) appealed the decision, prompting a further delay (thanks, Automaton).Footage of the Pocket Monsters smartphone rip-off game.Watch on YouTubeNow, a Chinese court has decided upon the matter for good, and the companies have been forced to admit defeat and issue a public apology."We have deeply realised that our acts had violated relevant laws during the second-instance trial and settlement process," the companies said in a joint public statement, published on The Pokmon Company's corporate website. "[Our] game has extensively used design elements of the well-known Pokmon video game series, infringing the copyrights related to the Pokmon video games, and has unfairly taken advantage of the fame and reputation of the Pokmon video games, thereby constituting acts of unfair competition. "Our copyright infringement and acts of unfair competition have caused significant economic losses to the rights holders and severely damaged the image of the original Pokmon video games. We hereby sincerely apologise to TPC and other rights holders, as well as the vast number of players, consumers, and the general public."The game, known variously as Pocket Monster: Remake or Pocket Monster: Issue/Reissue, has now been permanently removed from sale. The companies behind the game also say they have paid "a substantial economic price and incurred significant reputational damage"."We have deeply reflected on it and learned our lessons."Earlier this week, Fortnite maker Epic Games forced a competitive cheater to publicly apologise after unfairly winning thousands of dollars in prize money. The money was taken back, the cheat was banned from playing Fortnite competitively for life, and they had to publish a humiliating public message as a stark warning to others.

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Contents hide Dead By Daylight is set to get its final licensed killer for Year 9 soon. We must wait a little bit longer for the Chapter 35 PTB to arrive thanks to a delay, but the licensed rogue has been unmasked for awhile according to rumors. A DBD leaker has now confirmed the leaks while also debunking rumors about another massive chapter.Dead By Daylight leaker confirms new killer but debunks Jurassic WorldThe DBDLeaks Discord is the most accurate source for Dead By Daylight leaks, and they have now posted in the leaks channel that the Chapter 35 killer is indeed from Tokyo Ghoul. They havent explicitly stated it is Ken Kaneki, but thats the most likely outcome as its who TG leaks have alluded to the entire time.Chapter 35 is a paragraph, meaning there will only be a killer without a map or survivor. Aside from this upcoming chapter, the only other episode we know about for 2025 is Five Nights At Freddys. Save Up to $1,200 on the Samsung Galaxy S25! Pre-order now and save big with trade-in and Samsung credit. Limited time only! *Includes trade-in value + $300 Samsung credit. While stating Tokyo Ghoul for Chapter 35 is real, leaker Masus also confirmed alleged leaks about Jurassic Park/World are made up. After getting involved in crazy DBD leaks drama, Ruthless claimed the alleged Jurassic World chapter had been pushed back, but it sounds as though the idea is entirely fabricated.Image credit: DBDLeaks DiscordLastly, Masus commented on The Walking Dead. This supposed leak dates back to July 2024, and it came via Gumpy. This is a leaker who accurately leaked Lara Croft and more in YouTube comments, but they have since completely disappeared. Must-Listen: Publishing Manor Lords w/ Joe Robinson VideoGamer Podcast Listen Now Before disappearing, a screenshot of a comment was shared from Gumpy saying, AMC reached out back in fall but there wasnt space for this year. Theyre keeping it on ice waiting for the perfect timeslot.This resulted in some believing a Walking Dead Chapter is planned, but nothing is official and Gumpy has completely disappeared. There has been some debate online about whether the comment was even real, but Masus has said on Discord, Im pretty sure Ive seen it. Because Ive checked all Gumpy comments before they were deleted.Image credit: DBDLeaks DiscordRegardless of whether The Walking Dead comment is real or not, all we know right now is that Tokyo Ghoul is leaked for Chapter 35 and that FNAF is officially coming. These are two big massive crossovers, and we cannot wait.For more Dead By Daylight content, check out ourranking of the top 10 DLC expansions to buyalong with a ranking of thebest killer perksandbest survivor perks.Dead by DaylightPlatform(s):Google Stadia, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Action, Survival Horror7VideoGamerRelated TopicsDead by Daylight Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games here Contents hide Bethesdas Fallout 76 did not launch in a good state. While the MMO is now a great Fallout experience with friends, former project lead Jeff Gardiner remembers the intense hatred from fans the team received on release.Fallout 76 lead was harassed in real lifeSpeaking to PC Gamer, Gardiner explains that he will never forget the reactions from fans on launch as they ended up breaching the virtual world and impacting his real life. With 15 years of experience creating Bethesda games, he never expected to be harassed outside.I got yelled at in an Apple Store, Ill never forget, the veteran Fallout developer explained. Save Up to $1,200 on the Samsung Galaxy S25! Pre-order now and save big with trade-in and Samsung credit. Limited time only! *Includes trade-in value + $300 Samsung credit. For Gardiner, the stress of Fallout 76s reception didnt end at launch. As the project lead, it was Gardiners role to improve the game and bring it closer to what we now know today, and that stress was constant.Working on a live service game comes with a lot of stress, because it just doesnt go away, Gardiner explained. When you put a game out thats that maligned, especially on a team that has had such success, the morale is doubly bad internally. So it was my job to make the people who are making the game like the game. Must-Listen: Publishing Manor Lords w/ Joe Robinson VideoGamer Podcast Listen Now Despite the horrendous reactions on launch, Gardiner reveals that Fallout 76 is his favourite game hes worked on. After the huge overhaul that came with Wastelanders and beyond, the MMO has become the Fallout spin-off it was meant to be, and that has been incredibly rewarding, despite the horrid start.Its a very unique game. It still is, he told the outlet. People always ask, Whats your favorite game youve worked on? Because 76 was such a difficult game and then it turned around to a successful game, its actually probably my favourite.Nowadays, Fallout 76 is still ongoing with thousands of players exploring the wasteland, completing quests and setting off nukes. Its a game thats built on strong foundations, but foundations that didnt have the meat they needed to stand strong.For more Fallout coverage, read about the cancellation of awesome New Vegas mod Neuvo Mexico, or read about Fallout designers claims that the games industry is unsustainable in its current form.Fallout 76Platform(s):PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox OneGenre(s):Action, Adventure, RPG4VideoGamerRelated TopicsSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Harry Styles has come a long way from his humble beginnings in Worcestershire, England. In the decade since he and the rest of the One Direction lads made their debut on the international music scene, hes gone from boy band member to one-man show, holding court at Madison Square Garden and rocking out alongside the likes of Stevie Nicks and Bruce Springsteen. Styles has also gotten into the A-list pastime of building up an impressive real estate portfolio, growing the number of places that he can call home at any given point during his world tours. As for his latest album, Harrys House, the title was both inspired by Haruomi Hosonos 1973 album Hosono House and the sensation of actually, well, being at his house.When I took that title [and] put it to the songs we were making, it felt like it took on this whole new meaning, he told Zane Lowe in an interview about the album. It was about: Okay, imagine its a day in my housewhat do I go through? A day in my mindwhat do I go through? Here, weve rounded up some of the places where Styles may have daydreamed his album into being.2010Styles got his big break in 2010 when he auditioned for The X Factor. Though he tried out as a solo act, he was brought on as one of five members of One Direction, and the rest, as fans can attest to, is history. Though the new bandmates quickly found success, they didnt immediately spend all their cash. Instead, they opted to rent out a five-floor unit in Princess Park Manor, a mid-19th-century Italianate-style complex in North London built by Queen Victoria. The imposing property was originally used as an asylum, but had been converted into luxury apartments in recent years. Its unknown how much Styles or his bandmates paid for their stay there.2012Styless first real estate purchase was a $4.8 million white stucco house in the pastoral, suburban North London area of Hampstead Heath. The 2,300-square-foot residence sits behind high walls and gates for maximum privacy and boasts four bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms. French doors, hardwood floors, and skylights give the space a touch of both countryside charm and contemporary airiness. A home gym with a skylight and a primary suite with its own dressing room round out the homes modest yet modern offerings. The back garden is fully landscaped. The singer still owns this property.2014Styles made his move stateside when he plunked down $4 million for a unique post-and-beam, midcentury-modern home in Beverly Hills. Designed by architect Alejandro Ortiz, the tree house-esque mansion measured 3,000 square feet, with five bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms, wood beam ceilings, and a tree-lined walkway connecting different parts of the property. Floor-to-ceiling windows let the outdoors in, and a sunken deck leading to a massive saltwater pool helped add to the tropical vibe of the place. There was even a detached guest bungalow for out-of-town pals to crash. Styles didnt hold onto the bachelor pad for long, however. He sold it for $3.2 million in 2016, though, given his careers trajectory, he likely wasnt hurting too badly from the slight loss.

When the French architect and designer Pierre Chareau conceived Maison de Verre in 1928 for Parisian art patrons Annie Bernheim and Dr. Jean Dalsace, the homes glass-block faade, which allowed light to pour in by day and glow from within at night, was radically modern.. At that time, Saint-Gobain, which produced the vitreous bricks, couldnt even guarantee that the still-new building material was weatherproof. But nearly a century later the houseand its namesake verrehas shown its staying power in more ways than one.The earliest examples of glass blockssometimes called glass lenseswere actually a quite artisanal product. Handmade from blown glass, the varieties that emerged in the late 1800s were praised for their ability to regulate climate, fend off moisture, and create privacy without eliminating light. Ripe with industrial potential, the hollow blocks found their way into the pioneering International Style architecture of Le Corbusier and others. Still, it wasnt until the 70s and 80s that, cast en masse and relatively simple to install, they became a fixture of Streamline Moderne buildings, SoHo lofts, and, we would be remiss to omit, weird postmodern bathroom renovations.Today, after doing some time as a design dont, theyre back in vogue. At Bridges, a new Manhattan restaurant by AD100 designer Billy Cotton, glass-block walls delineate space while maintaining airy elegance. At a chalet in Megve, Elliot Barnes used it to clad a passageway to an indoor pool. And in a block-encased Los Angeles bathroom, Charlap Hyman & Herrero created a luminous honeycomb.I use it in areas where a bit of privacy and light are needed, explains interior designer Darren Jett, who says, my favoriteapplications are showers, like the round one floating in the middle of a bedroom in our SoHo loft. He doesnt mind the 70s connotation but emphasizes the materials versatility. I imagine a glass-block room with Napoleon III furniture or Art Deco seating and rugsthe tension it creates can be heavenly.

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In BriefPosted:6:40 AM PST February 21, 2025Image Credits:Olly Curtis/Future / Getty ImagesYouTube reportedly launching new premium lite tier soonYouTube is close to announcing a new lower-priced premium lite version of its subscription service, Bloomberg reports. The new tier is expected to launch in the United States, Australia, Germany, and Thailand soon. The tier will give users access to YouTubes library of podcasts and how-to clips without ads, Bloomberg notes. Premium lite will be targeted toward viewers who mainly want to watch videos other than music videos. Its unknown how much the tier will cost. While the premium lite tier has been in testing in some overseas markets, YouTube is gearing up to officially roll it out. YouTube Premium costs $13.99 per month in the U.S. and lets subscribers watch anything on the platform without ads, including music videos. YouTubes new tier would come amid growing competition among platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts, all looking to become the go-to destination for podcast listeners. TopicsApps, YouTube

Elon Musks Department of Government Efficiency is firing nearly half of a small government team that regulates autonomous vehicles, the Washington Post reported.The firings are part of a broader 10% reduction at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as a result of firings of probationary workers and buyout offers, the Post reported, citing anonymous sources. The firings come ahead of Teslas planned robotaxi launch in Austin later this year.The NHTSA has investigated Tesla several times due to accidents that happened while Autopilot, Teslas advanced driver assistance software, was engaged. Some of the agencys probes into Tesla are still open. In October, the NHTSA opened a new investigation into Teslas so-called Full Self-Driving (Supervised) software after four crashes in low visibility situations were reported, one of which resulted in the death of a pedestrian.Teslas FSD is said to be an advanced driver assistance system that can do automated driving in urban and highway environments. Musks goal is to improve the camera-based software to the point of full autonomy by this summer, a goal that he has said is right around the corner for years.Aside from firing people who worked with crash test dummies or helped states get safety grant funding, DOGE eliminated three of about seven employees in a new office dedicated to overseeing autonomous vehicles, reports The Post.The Post cited its sources as saying they believe these cuts will affect the federal governments ability to understand the safety case behind Teslas vehicles.Other companies will also be affected by NHTSAs approach to regulation, including Alphabets Waymo and Amazons Zoox. Both companies are facing their own investigations for safety incidents related to their autonomous driving software. TechCrunch has reached out to NHTSA and DOGE to learn more.