Growing information disconnection: 37% avoid news, eight points more than in 2023

Spain is one of the countries with the highest levels of information fatigue or overexposure to news (44%), one of the main causes of disconnection with current affairs.

AURKEN SIERRA

  • New generation gap: young people avoid news more (44%) than those over 35 (35%).
  • 44% of those who use social media as a news channel are disconnected from the news, compared to those who use TV (33%) or print media (36%).

Compared to other countries, Spain ranks slightly below average in terms of the percentage of individuals who avoid the news. In the DNR countries as a whole, 39% of respondents report avoiding news on a regular basis, two percentage points more than Spaniards (37%). This gap widens with respect to neighbouring countries, which have a higher news avoidance rate (41%).

This positive situation compared to other European countries contrasts, however, with the comparison with the previous year. Since 2023, reported news evasion by Spaniards has increased by eight percentage points, from 29% to 37%.

The increase in news evasion between 2023 and 2024 has had an effect on the news evasion behaviour of women and men. In contrast to 2023, in 2024 it is possible to establish statistically significant differences based on gender. News avoidance is higher among women (40%) than it is among men (34%), a trend that holds across all age groups with the exception of respondents aged 18-24, where there is a tie at 43%.

There is also a disparity between age groups. Forty-four percent of Spaniards under 35 say they avoid the news regularly, compared to 35% of those over 35 who say they do so. This trend reflects a change from previous years, when this disparity was not observed. Education does not seem to have a significant influence on the tendency to avoid the news and there are hardly any relevant differences between groups.

The biggest difference between the two groups in terms of information avoidance is between respondents who say they are interested in current affairs and those who say the opposite. Among the former, information avoidance does not exceed 33%. Among the latter, this value rises to 56%, 23 percentage points more, a difference that is statistically significant and which is closely related to the relationship that these respondents establish with information.

In the same vein, higher values of avoidance are observed among those who use information sources that allow for a higher degree of user interaction. For example, those who use traditional media, in which the receiver exercises a passive attitude, respondents show a lower propensity to avoid news compared to those who use social networks or media websites. Among the first group, the passive attitude of the receiver means that information avoidance values are low. For example, only 33% of those who report that they mostly get their news from television avoid the news, a value that rises by only three percentage points (to 36%) among those who generally use print media. In contrast, on social media (44%) this value is up to eleven percentage points higher.

News saturation leads to a rejection or avoidance of information among many citizens.

Information fatigue, also known as information overload, is a psychological and cognitive phenomenon characterised by feeling overwhelmed, exhausted or disconnected due to overexposure to a large amount of information. It manifests as a feeling of mental saturation, difficulty in processing and assimilating new data, as well as a decrease in attention span and concentration. It can be triggered by constant exposure to news, social media, emails or other sources of information, which can lead to a feeling of exhaustion that can develop into disinterest in the constant flow of data.

The relationship between news avoidance and news fatigue is a complex phenomenon that reveals important trends in citizens’ behaviour, especially in terms of their ideological positioning. In general terms, the values of news fatigue among all Spanish respondents (44%) are higher than those of news avoidance (37%). However, both phenomena prove to be closely related. The feeling of overexposure to news increases to 58% among those citizens who say they avoid news. In other words, more than half of Spaniards who avoid news report feeling news fatigue, suggesting a close relationship between the two phenomena.

Ideological positioning also influences the information fatigue experienced by Spaniards. The highest values of information fatigue are registered precisely among those who are closer to the ideological centre, respondents who also experience high levels of information avoidance.

It is interesting to note that, although the group reporting the greatest information fatigue is those Spaniards on the centre-right (49%), this phenomenon is strongly present in all ideological groups ranging from the left to the right, with particular intensity in the centre.

The intensity of information fatigue moderates as respondents’ ideological location moves further away from the centre. Among Spaniards located at the ideological extremes, there is a dynamic between this phenomenon and information avoidance that is relevant. Thus, despite the fact that extreme voters are the ones who avoid news the most, with a marked 46% of both extreme left and right-wing respondents, it is surprising that only 25% of extreme left-wing voters and 35% of extreme right-wing voters report experiencing news fatigue. Both are very low values compared to those registered by the more moderate groups and represent a statistically significant difference. This could be due to homophilia and in-group behaviour, whereby respondents from the extremes would avoid content that disagrees with or challenges their positions and favour content that confirms their positions. Thus, users would avoid information that challenges their positions and seek out information that confirms their biases, which reduces the stress they feel when exposed to information.

In general terms, the information fatigue recognised by Spanish users is among the ten highest in the world, in line with that felt by respondents in neighbouring countries such as Portugal and France. With a considerable 44% of those surveyed in Spain claiming to experience this fatigue, the data suggests a significant saturation of information that could be influencing citizens’ attitudes towards news and its consumption.

Users who show a high interest in the news tend to admit a lower level of information fatigue, with a percentage of 38%. In contrast, those who show little interest in the news show a higher level of fatigue (58%), confirming the hypothesis put forward earlier that linked avoidance and information fatigue: the Spaniards who feel the most fatigue are also those for whom information is not relevant.

Another striking feature is the marked difference between men and women in terms of information fatigue. This gap exceeds 10 percentage points and is particularly striking. While 38% of male respondents admit to experiencing information fatigue, this percentage rises significantly to 51% among women. This disparity is statistically significant and suggests differences in the way both genders perceive and manage information overload.

The high level of information fatigue experienced by Spaniards is also inversely related to the frequency with which users consult the news. This phenomenon seems to be more intense among those who access information less frequently (58%) than among those who consult the news more frequently (38%).

News fatigue is highest among respondents who access news less often. Specifically, 67% of those who say they access the news at least once a month, although not several times a week, report experiencing news fatigue. The phenomenon remains at similar levels among those who consult the news at least once a month (65%) and among those who hardly ever access information (60%). In contrast, this percentage decreases significantly among those who consume information more frequently. The average for those who access news more frequently who report experiencing news fatigue is 44%, sixteen percentage points lower than those who access news more frequently. Among those who check the news multiple times a day (more than 6 times a day), one third say they do not experience news fatigue.

Interestingly, age does not appear to be an influential factor in the experience of news fatigue, at least according to the data collected in this research. This could indicate that other factors, such as level of interest and frequency of information consumption, may have a more significant impact on the perception of news fatigue and disinterest.