Does this diet of negative stories affect us badly? Well, yes, actually it does. A non-stop diet of bad news can leave us feeling depressed and helpless. We are more likely to make poor decisions when we feel like this, such as spending too much, or selling investments we own. Even people who don’t actually watch or read the news find it difficult to avoid. People discuss things in conversations face-to-face and social media spreads the word far and wide.