As the news cycle seems never-ending it’s no surprise that people feel burned out. From cable news television, to print media, to online sources, to social media—we’ve never had this much access to “news” (we put news in quotation marks because what constitutes news these days?). 

We understand the climate right now. People are choosing where and how they get their news, and they don’t want to feel overburdened. 

A new study from the Pew Research Center shows that Americans are following the news less frequently. 

As of August 2025, 36% of U.S. adults say they follow the news “all or most of the time,” according to Pew. That is down from 51% in 2016, a remarkable jump. 

This varies by age group, with the older population more likely to follow the news and those younger less likely; however, the attention to news has declined among all age groups since 2016.

This data tells us something we all probably knew already: that more and more people are not “tuning in” to news.

As journalists this makes us question what we can do better. And shortage of content isn’t the problem. It’s about what people actually want to read. 

As Pew writes, “Americans saying they follow the news at lower rates does not necessarily mean they’re getting less news than before. For example, 54% of U.S. adults said in early 2025 that they mostly get political news because they happen to come across it, rather than because they’re looking for it (45%).” 

To end on a positive note, we say thank you for picking up the paper. We hope you find the pages are filled with newsworthy stories, and that your fatigue is dwindling.