“This book offers a profound analysis of the complex and real relationship between people and the news, making it essential reading for both scholars and industry professionals.”
— Stephanie Edgerly, Professor and Associate Dean for Research at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism

“Can even good things become excessive? Mo Yitai‑Arne has conducted a landmark qualitative study on selective news avoidance. The respondents’ answer is a resounding ‘yes.’ Even those who are interested in public affairs and willing to engage with them feel that the news is overly intrusive, trivial, depressing, riddled with uncertainty, and disconnected from reality.”
— Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Professor of Communication at the University of Copenhagen

“This book refutes the notion that people’s detachment from the news stems from indifference, vividly illustrating how individuals make sense of an increasingly saturated media environment.”
— Marieke Van Den Abeele, Professor in the Media, Innovation, and Contemporary Technologies Research Group, Department of Communication Sciences, Ghent University

★ A joint work by Halvard Moe, Professor of Media Studies at the University of Bergen in Norway, and Brita I. Arntzen, leading scholars in information science and media studies! Focusing on the phenomenon of news saturation in the digital age, this book challenges the conventional belief that audience detachment from news stems from indifference.
★ Based on the long-term empirical and interdisciplinary research conducted by the renowned “Bergen Media Use Research Group,” this book rigorously analyzes the phenomenon of “news saturation” in the digital era. From intrusive push notifications and information fragmentation to crisis-induced anxiety and disconnection from reality, it systematically explains why ordinary people are increasingly choosing to actively block, turn off, or distance themselves from the news.
★ This book offers clear diagnostic insights and practical strategies for journalism and communication scholars, media professionals, platform designers, and researchers of public policy and communication, addressing how to redefine the boundaries, meaning, and public value of news in an age of information overload.

We live in an age of incessant information. News—delivered via push notifications, scrolling feeds, and streaming media—permeates every corner of daily life, leaving many people feeling overwhelmed by the sheer volume. This book explores the increasingly apparent phenomenon of news saturation: why even regular news consumers are increasingly choosing to block, turn off, or distance themselves from the news.
Drawing on interdisciplinary research, this book reveals how information overload, passive news‑consumption habits, and news fatigue are reshaping our relationship with media and with democracy. It is an invaluable resource for readers seeking to understand the significance and limitations of news in an era of digital saturation.

Halvard Mow
Professor of Media Studies at the University of Bergen, affiliated professor at the Norwegian Institute for Social Research (ISF), and member of the editorial board of the internationally renowned journal Nordic Journal of Media Studies. In 2022, he secured a prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant with a highly competitive research proposal, launching the cutting-edge project PREPARE (Distributed and prepared, 2023–2027), which examines how citizens maintain social engagement and crisis preparedness through media in an increasingly digital and crisis-prone society. He also serves as a scientific advisor to KODEM, Norway’s national research infrastructure for democracy and governance studies, and is a core scholar within Norway’s national digital think tank on democracy.

Brita Ytre‑Arne
Professor of Media Studies at the University of Bergen and former co-chair of the European Consortium for Emerging Audience Research (CEDAR). She currently leads the IMAGINE project as principal investigator (PI), part of the University of Bergen’s humanities strategy, focusing on how younger digital users—such as those on TikTok, Instagram, and X—perceive the authenticity of AI-generated content and the digital folklore and popular theories that emerge around AI. She previously directed the “Media Use in Times of Crisis” project, which investigated phenomena such as “digital fatigue/information overload” and “deliberate news avoidance” among individuals facing large-scale crises like pandemics and climate change.

The two scholars have long collaborated closely and jointly founded and lead the internationally influential Bergen Media Use Research Group. While both focus on “audiences/users” in the digital age, their respective research emphases and scholarly contributions differ. Together, they introduced the concept of the “intermittent watchman citizen.” In a landmark 2018 paper, they challenged the conventional political science assumption that “qualified citizens must constantly stay fully informed about current affairs,” arguing instead that modern digital citizens typically remain “generally informed but only occasionally vigilant.” They also co-developed the “folk theories of algorithms,” exploring the “digital frustration” and adaptive psychological responses that ordinary people exhibit when confronted with opaque algorithmic recommendations. Furthermore, they co-authored systematic media methodology textbooks widely adopted across Nordic universities, including the standard teaching resource for media studies programs at institutions such as the University of Bergen, the University of Oslo, and Roskilde University in Denmark—works like Understanding Methods of Media Use, Future Audiences in a Datafied World, and The Media Welfare State in the Digital Age.

Chapter 1: Introduction—When News Goes Too Far
Chapter 2: Excessive Intrusiveness—News in the Attention Economy
Chapter 3: Overly Trivial—News in the Context of Celebrity Culture
Chapter 4: Oppressive—News in an Era of Multiple Crises
Chapter 5: Marked by Uncertainty—News in an Atmosphere of Skepticism
Chapter 6: Detached from Reality—News in the Realm of Everyday Life
Chapter 7: Conclusion—Toward Higher-Quality Journalism