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Modern Life May Be Overloading the Human Brain, New Research Suggests

A new review argues that constant news, social media, and overlapping global crises may be creating an evolutionary mismatch for the brain.

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If the modern world feels like too much, like you’re constantly drowning in bad news, social media, workplace pressure, and a constant barrage of bad news, both global and personal, the problem may not be you. According to a new review published in the journal Behavioral Sciences, the human brain evolved to live in small communities, and it’s struggling to cope with life inside sprawling cities and an internet life that never stops being as dramatic.

Researchers say that the cause of your brain constantly feeling like it’s being stressed and on the verge of frying out stems from what they call an “evolutionary mismatch,” which means that our brains are still running on software designed for relatively small villages where everybody........

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