Navigating Media Consumption for Psychological Well-Being and Resistance

In this episode of PsyberSpace, host Leslie Poston explores the critical issue of media consumption in the age of information overload and crisis. With facts being scrubbed from official sources and reality under attack, Poston examines the role of independent journalism and social media as lifelines to truth. The episode digs into the psychology of how we consume media, the distinction between staying informed and drowning in trauma, and the impact of the attention economy and algorithms on our emotional well-being. Drawing from psychological theories, research, and historical examples, Poston provides strategies for conscious and sustainable media engagement that honors truth, supports psychological resilience, and serves as a form of resistance.

00:00 Introduction: The Importance of Conscious Media Consumption
01:49 The Role of Media in Historical and Modern Crises
03:01 The Attention Economy and Emotional Regulation
05:19 Healthy vs. Unhealthy Media Engagement
07:58 The Psychological Impact of Media Consumption
18:06 Parasocial Relationships and Media
21:14 The Responsibility of Media Creators
24:05 Strategies for Conscious Media Consumption
27:05 Conclusion: Transforming Media Consumption into Resistance

Research

Couldry, N., & Mejias, U. A. (2019). The costs of connection. Stanford University Press.

Gross, J. J. (2002). Emotion regulation: Affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology, 39(3), 281–291. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0048577201393198

Holman, E. A., Garfin, D. R., Lubens, P., & Silver, R. C. (2020). Media exposure to collective trauma, mental health, and functioning: Does it matter what you see? Clinical Psychological Science, 8*(1), 111–124

Horton, D., & Wohl, R. R. (1956). Mass communication and parasocial interaction. Psychiatry, 19(3), 215–229.

Li, M., Zhou, Y., Luo, J., Liang, X., Wang, Y., Cai, H., Huang, L., Luo, X., Xiang, Q., & Huang, X. (2025). The influence of childhood trauma on social media-induced secondary traumatic stress among college students: The chain mediating effect of self-compassion and resilience. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 16(1), 2456322. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2025.2456322

McLuhan, M. (1964). Understanding media: The extensions of man. McGraw-Hill.

Nabi, R. L. (2015). Emotional flow in persuasive health messages. Health Communication, 24(3), 229–236. 

Oz, B., Vandekerckhove, M., & Cona, G. (2024). Impact of indirect trauma and disaster media exposure on psychological states and temporal processes: The case of 2023 Turkey earthquakes. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 31(6), e70008. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.70008

Reinecke, L., & Oliver, M. B. (2017). Media use and well-being: Status quo and open questions. In L. Reinecke & M. B. Oliver (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of media use and well-being: International perspectives on theory and research on positive media effects (pp. 3–13). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. 

Thompson, R. R., Jones, N. M., Holman, E. A., & Silver, R. C. (2019). Media exposure to mass violence events can fuel a cycle of distress. Science advances, 5(4), eaav3502

Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework. Council of Europe.

Zuboff, S. (2019). The age of surveillance capitalism. PublicAffairs.