tl;dr: News avoidance is at record highs (69% in Canada, 40% globally) because the brain's evolved negativity bias—designed to detect local threats—is now being overwhelmed by a constant global feed of bad news, with 17% of US adults showing severe "Problematic News Consumption." The fix isn't avoidance but deliberate consumption: time-boxed sessions, long-form over social media bursts, avoiding rage bait, and closing the gap between awareness and actionable agency.