What is an infodemic?

We are increasingly getting our information from social media, where we browse for news from around the world. Young people also rely on artificial intelligence chatbots to receive updates and answers, according to the new 2025 Digital News Report by the Reuters Institute. The risk is a growing infodemic: waves of information, not always of good quality, which, combined with hyperconnection, undermine our overall health.

What is an infodemic?

Infodemic is a word composed of two parts: “info” for “information” and “demic” for epidemic. The Treccani dictionary describes it as: “The circulation of an excessive amount of information, sometimes not carefully verified, which makes it difficult to navigate a given topic due to the challenge of identifying reliable sources.”

Since the end of December 2019, this term, first used in 2003 by American journalist David J. Rothkopf, has become popular again. For the first time in human history, we found ourselves with so much news and updates on a single topic in such detail—not just for a short period, but for months, if not years. While having news about the pandemic situation provided comfort, on the other hand, not knowing which news was true or false created anxietyAnxiety is an emotional response characterized by feelings o... More that, over time, turned increasingly into a perpetual state of uncertainty. This led us to literally overload our brains with news and information, which do not make us feel good but move us further away from a state of psycho-physical well-being.

Navigating and informing ourselves responsibly

In 2020, alongside seeking a cure for the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) also had to deal with the infodemic and the difficulty of countering it effectively. Each of us therefore has two responsibilities in tackling this new “disease”.

• The first is the social responsibility to share only verified news
• The second is the individual responsibility to seek information consciously.

In the era of social media, where news travels at unprecedented speed, this can sometimes be difficult, as not everyone has the tools to distinguish true news from false. Yet, we are increasingly getting our news from social media: “The percentage of people accessing video news via social media has grown from 52% in 2020 to 65% in 2025,” according to the 2025 Digital News Report by the Reuters Institute.

Infodemic, hyperconnection, and mental health

An infodemic can increase anxiety, stressWhat is stress? From a clinical perspective, stress is a phy... More, and depressionDepression is a disorder characterized by persistent sadness... More, also leading to more frequent cognitive distortions, which cause our brains to overgeneralize and engage in “all-or-nothing” thinking. This type of thinking, also called dichotomous, simplifies reality into two categories—black or white, good or bad, true or false—excluding deeper reflection.

With the onset of wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, from an informational perspective, we find ourselves in a situation similar to that during the pandemic: a stream of news that keeps us glued to our phones, exacerbating an already increasing state of hyperconnection, driven daily by the desire to stay informed and, more generally, to connect with others and the web.

It is estimated that 91% of people check their smartphone every hour, waiting for notifications, with peaks up to 80 times per hour, according to Censuswide. Thus, hyperconnection and the infodemic risk dragging us into a condition of anxiety mixed with uncertainty about the future, lasting until the evening: 28% of people in our country check notifications until bedtime, and by the end of the day, 83% of Italians feel stressed, according to the same Censuswide study. Already the 2024 edition of the Digital News Report showed that 40% of Italians feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of news we are immersed in.

Updates: the illusion of control

If the magnetic pull of digital gratification keeps us glued to our smartphones, in a worrying nomophobia, the risk to our well-being is exacerbated by continuous exposure to alarming news. “Constantly checking your phone for updates on bad news happening in the world gives you the illusion of being in control, but it is not true,” says psychologist and psychotherapist Ronke Oluwadare. “Being glued to your phone doesn’t put the world under your control; it only feeds your brain with terrible news and facts, while making you forget to feed it with all the good things happening around and near you.”

The commitment of Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti

Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti conducts neuroscienceThe human brain is one of the most complex and fascinating s... More research to investigate how our brains function and to promote both its and our well-being. As Oluwadare states, referencing the WHO definition of health from 1948, “Well-being is not the absence of discomfort, but comes from an individual’s ability, with external and internal resources, to use the right tools to deal with both the good and the bad that surround us daily.”

To ensure quality information for all people increasingly seeking updates and news online, Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti maintains a direct link to neuro-psychopedagogical research through its portal for dissemination and self-education on healthy lifestyles. Through articles, downloadable EduKits, and webinars curated by the editorial and research team, Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti responsibly meets the growing demand for updates, as well as the need for clear, reliable information aimed constructively at global healthWhat is the definition of health proposed by the WHO in 1948... More.

Strengthening inner resources

Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti particularly invests in youth well-being, supporting the strengthening of their positive inner resources, for example through the project “Prefiguring the Future”. Its goal is to help educators, teachers, parents, and students recognize and manage their emotions to, as the name suggests, prefigure a future with less fear and more hope. From this project, which combines educational activities with psychopedagogical research with young people, the report “Focus on AdolescenceWhat is meant by adolescence? Adolescence is understood as t... More: Challenges and Positive Resources in the Post-Pandemic Era” was created, presented at the Chamber of Deputies and freely downloadable here. It summarizes 5 studies published by Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti in collaboration with the University of Padua, involving over 2,000 adolescents.

Educating young people in emotional intelligenceThe first definition of Emotional Intelligence as such was p... More, self-awarenessIl termine autoconsapevolezza si riferisce primariamente all... More, and self-regulation also lays the foundation for developing healthy critical thinking, capable of distinguishing functional information from dysfunctional information. By learningIl termine apprendimento - con i sinonimi imparare, assimila... More to inform ourselves in the right quality and quantity, we can grow and improve every day, for our own well-being and that of others, building a fairer, more evolved, and happier society together.