Guide on How To Eliminate COVID-19 News

According to the American press institute, the purpose of news and journalism is to provide citizens with the information they need to make the best possible decisions about their lives, their communities, their societies, and their governments. 

Unfortunately, constant notifications on the same topic may lead to fatigue or anxiety. It happened with the Brexit and now is happening again with Covid-19. A study provided by the Pew Research Center at the end of April found that about seven-in-ten Americans (71%) say they need to take breaks from news about the coronavirus, and 43% say the news leaves them feeling worse emotionally.

Actually, when was the last time you have googled news about coronavirus? Probably just to check the quarantine measure. Nevertheless, we constantly have to consume this information without our consent. Metro, advertising, people around, journals, almost everywhere someone or something reminds us about COVID-19. 

The question then must be raised: how can one eliminate at least a small proportion of this contagious news?

Here is a quick guide:

The Google browser extensions store, Chrome Web Store, has some specific tools to avoid the news about the pandemic. One of the options is CoronaBlocker, Chrome extension that allows substituting the word coronavirus on any website for love or for any term you choose. 

Another option is to use Corona Blocker (written separately). This extension blocks all mentions of coronavirus or COVID-19 on both web pages and social media.

Twitter also allows you to block the words coronavirus, COVID-19, or pandemic. For this, you have to enter Settings and privacy. Once you are there, in the Privacy and Safety option you have to click on Muted and click on Muted words, where you can specify the terms to avoid.

The feed settings are quite flexible: you can hide hashtags, tweets of some users, words, or phrases. The most convenient thing is that all this can be hidden for a time from a week to a month. Suddenly then you forget about it and wonder why you do not see news about the pandemic.

Instagram offers this option from its Settings menu. Go to your profile and tap on the three lines in the top right corner. Then go on the gear cog for settings, select Privacy > Comments and finally activate Manual Filter. Once you’ve done this you can enter the text you don’t want to see.

In 2018, Facebook allowed hiding posts with certain words, but then changed its mind and removed this function. Two extensions will help Mute Words and Social Fixer.