The Weight of Bearing Witness:
A Take on the Responsibility of News Consumption in Turbulent Times
Convicts running countries.
Children born into famine.
Bombs dropping.
Forests burning.
Oceans rising.
Leaders lying.
Another school shooting.
Towns flooding.
Tradwives rising.
The news keeps and keeps on ticking. What used to be dystopian fiction now reads like day-to-day headlines. We are faced with the choice: Watch, engage, ignore, detach or distract. None feels enough. None feels right.
“Ignorance is like a shield, preserving peace of mind. But once we open our eyes to the realities around us, that ignorance transforms into a moral obligation.”
Grandpa watches news multiple times a day. Dad listens to it while falling asleep. First thing when he wakes up, on the radio in the car, the same sequences, over and over again. Mum searches for objective sources and mediums. Others don’t follow any news at all which may not generally be out of ignorance: People have different reasons for not staying thoroughly informed, I’m not criticising at all. I can only say I try to stay informed. I often sit questioning, is there much point in this? It overwhelms me. As miniscule and probably selfish and privileged this position may be, I often wonder: Is this awareness helping anyone – or just hurting me?
What is the value in watching the news?
Every crisis feels urgent, does anything feel real?
Does endless exposure deepen our empathy or just dull it?
Is numbness the new normal?
So deeply it affects us, yet so powerless?
If I stop watching, do I stop caring?
Responsibility or self-preservation? The paradox of consumption.
When we stay unaware of global struggles, when we keep at distance from them, it’s simple to turn a blind eye and carry on untouched. People do it, it feels safer. Ignorance is like a shield, preserving peace of mind. But once we open our eyes to the realities around us, that ignorance transforms into a moral obligation. A responsibility to witness the suffering of others and refuse indifference. The least we can do, is to honour the lives behind the headlines. Right?
Is bearing witness enough? To read, to watch, to know – does that change anything outside of the realms of our own good conscience? I wonder if awareness risks becoming a form of passivity: consuming real-life tragedy as content and then moving on again. A war wedged between conversations with friends and Instagram reels; one to make you laugh, the other showing footage of a bombing, then a clip of cute puppies that makes you forget. The pain of others reduced to nothing but a scroll or click to the next video.
“We say: “stay informed”, but what does that really mean? Information without action feels pointless and painful. And action upon every piece of information is impossible.”
But there’s the heavy weight it leaves behind. Not noble to watch, but exhausting: The world is burning, and you are powerless to stop it. Consuming becomes your delusional means of power. Something to grip onto, while you do absolutely nothing. Maybe you sign a petition, share a link or donate some money but bombs are still falling. Conspiracies still spreading. Billionaires still tweeting. So what good is empathy if it only ends up hurting?
Ignorance seems tempting again, more comforting to look the other way. It’s easier to shut out the noise of bad news than to face the helplessness it brings.
We say: “stay informed”, but what does that really mean? Information without action feels pointless and painful. And action upon every piece of information is impossible.
We wander somewhere between numbness and overload.
Is there a balance between all these extremes? Is there something we can really do?
Maybe there is.
The question (I know I asked it) should not be whether to witness or ignore, but how we do so. Awareness is key, without drowning in it. Awareness is key because if we all ignore, we let men who mistake countries for people rule, we let them win. Because to turn away completely would be to hand over the reins to those who would rather we didn’t look at all. Looking away equals more power for them. Silence equals more power for them. Silence enables them to act for their own profit. If we collapse into ignorance, into numbness, they win by default. Information through witnessing and awareness won’t conquer everything, but it’s a start: A start to keeping truth alive. A start to keeping hope alive. Hope will bring us together, instead of further tearing us apart.
Author: Ella Roth
“Ella’s Take On” is a space to explore whatever concerns, shapes, breaks or inspires us. From everyday thoughts to bigger questions, anything goes. Ella’s little collection of pieces and perspectives that invite reflection, curiosity, and conversation.