How to stay informed in 5 minutes a day

The short answer: you can stay reasonably well informed in about five minutes a day if you do three things. Fix one time slot, use one source that has an end, and aim to understand three stories rather than skim thirty.

That will not make you an expert on everything. It will make you someone who knows what is going on and can say why it matters. Here is a routine you can start tomorrow, and the honest limits of it.

Why does staying informed feel so hard?

Partly because there is too much of it, and a lot of it is upsetting. The Reuters Institute's Digital News Report 2025 found that 40% of people across markets sometimes or often avoid the news. That is up from 29% in 2017. In a Statista summary of the same survey, the most common reasons were a bad effect on mood and feeling worn out by the volume of news.

The report also says under-35s are much more likely than older people to find the news too hard to follow or understand. So if you feel lost halfway through a headline, you are not alone.

Our post on following the news without the anxiety goes deeper on the mood side. This post is about the time side.

What does 5 minutes a day look like?

Here is a simple split. It is a suggestion, not a study-backed formula, so adjust it.

The last step is the important one. Skimming is easy. Saying the story back to yourself in one sentence is what makes it stick.

How do you pick the right source?

Choose something with an end. A bulletin finishes. A newsletter finishes. A feed does not, and an endless feed is how five minutes turns into fifty. Our guide on how to stop doomscrolling covers why that happens and what to do about it.

Different formats suit different people. The Reuters Institute report found that across all markets 55% of people prefer to read the news, 31% prefer to watch and 15% prefer to listen. Younger groups, especially 18 to 24 year olds, are much more likely than older ones to prefer watching or listening. So there is no single right format. Use the one you will actually open.

Some options, with the trade-offs:

• A morning newsletter. Good for a quick, ordered summary. You are still reading text, and some are long.
• A news podcast or audio bulletin. Works on a commute or a walk. Harder to skim, and you cannot easily go back.
• Short video summaries. Fast and easy to take in. Quality varies a lot, so check who made it and how they source their facts.
• A newspaper or news site front page. Reliable and detailed. Easy to fall into the rest of the site.
• An AI chatbot. Convenient for a quick answer. Treat it as a starting point, not the last word.

We make Qrio, a free Android app of short videos on business, startups and the world, so we have an interest in the third option. The advice above holds whichever you pick.

Where do people in India get their news?

The Reuters Institute's India page offers some clues, with a big caveat. Its India sample is mainly English-speaking, online news users. It is not nationally representative and likely under-represents TV and print. So it describes a slice of India, and a slice quite like many readers of this post.

Within that group, the report found:

• 55% use YouTube for news
• 46% use WhatsApp
• 37% use Instagram
• 36% use Facebook

It also found that 53% of Indian respondents named WhatsApp as the channel carrying the biggest threat from false or misleading information. That is the highest score of any market in the report.

The practical point is simple. If much of your news arrives through forwards and short clips, add one source that names its sources and corrects its mistakes. It does not have to be long. It just has to be checkable.

The same report also found that 7% of people across markets use AI chatbots for news each week, 15% of under-25s, and 18% in India, the highest of any market. Chatbots can be handy, but they can also get facts wrong or leave out context. If a story matters to your job or your money, open the original source.

What will you miss with 5 minutes a day?

Be honest about this, because it is the reason the routine works.

• Detail. You will know a deal happened, not every clause of it.
• Fast-moving events. If something big breaks, you may hear about it a few hours late. For most people that costs very little.
• Depth on your own field. If you work in finance, tech or policy, five minutes is a floor, not a ceiling. Add a longer slot once or twice a week for the area you care about.

This is a trade. You give up the feeling of knowing everything. In return you get your time and your mood back. The research suggests that is a trade many people are already making: when 40% say they avoid the news at least sometimes, a lot of them are choosing relief over completeness.

A simple routine you can start tomorrow

1. Pick one slot. Same time each day, ideally not the last hour before sleep.
2. Pick one source that ends. Open it on purpose, not by accident.
3. Choose three stories. Skip the rest without guilt.
4. Say each one back in a sentence. What happened, and why does it matter?
5. Close it. Do not follow a link into a new feed. If you want more, schedule it for your weekly longer slot.
6. Turn off most alerts. Keep one or two that truly affect you.

If you still find yourself reaching for your phone in between, here are seven things to do instead.

One health note. Feeling unsettled by upsetting events is normal. If worry about the news affects your sleep, work or relationships for weeks, talk to a doctor or a counsellor.

Sources

• Reuters Institute, Digital News Report 2025: Executive summary
• Reuters Institute, Digital News Report 2025: India
• Statista, Why people actively try to avoid the news