EyesOnly News App

News Anxiety Is Real — And It's Getting Worse.

Indians consume 2+ hours of news daily across apps, TV, and WhatsApp forwards. Most of it is designed to trigger outrage, fear, or helplessness. There's no filter for what actually matters to your life. The people who care the most suffer the most. They doomscroll, feel overwhelmed, can't distinguish noise from signal, and eventually either burn out or tune out entirely.

We need a news experience that respects your attention, gives you honest context, shows you what's actually changing, and helps you stay informed without sacrificing your mental health.

1. Core Idea Overview

Build a news app that filters for progress, adds context, and personalizes impact - so caring people stay informed without burning out.

For this to work, we need 3 things:
- A curation engine that filters news by real-world impact, not engagement bait
- A personalization layer that connects stories to what matters in YOUR life
- A context system that shows trends, not just headlines — so you see where things are improving and where they're not

2. What You See (Reader-side Experience)

- Daily briefing: 5–10 stories that actually matter, with context
- Impact scores: How big is this change? Who does it affect?
- "What it means for you" — personalized relevance based on your location, interests, and life stage
- Assumption tests: Think things are getting worse? See the actual data.
- Hope that's honest — progress reported without sugarcoating

3. What Powers It (Infrastructure-side)

- AI-driven curation filtering thousands of sources for signal over noise
- Context engine that links stories to historical trends and data
- Personalization based on location, profession, interests — not clicks
- Mental health-aware design: no infinite scroll, no outrage hooks, no breaking news dopamine loops

Let's look at a day with the EyesOnly News App:

You open it in the morning — not out of anxiety, but because it's become a habit that actually leaves you feeling grounded. No flood of notifications. No clickbait titles. Just a briefing, ready when you are.

1. The Briefing:

Eight stories. You scan them in thirty seconds and already know which two you want to read properly.

You tap the first — a change in air quality regulation in your region. On a regular news app this would have been a headline designed to alarm you. Here, there's a chart beneath the story. Air quality in your city over the last decade. The trend isn't perfect, but it's unmistakably improving. You didn't know that. You spend three minutes with this story and come away with something you didn't have before — not anxiety, but actual context.

2. What It Means For You?

The next story is about urban school funding. Normally you'd skim past it. But you have a school-age child, and the app knows that — so there's a short note beneath the story translating the national picture into what it could mean for your specific situation. Two sentences that turn a distant headline into something worth filing away.

3. Putting It Down

There's a natural end. No need to doomscroll. When you're done with your briefing, the app is done with you. You put your phone down after fifteen minutes knowing more than when you woke up — and without the low-grade dread that used to follow a morning news session. Not because the world got better. Just because you finally have a clearer, calmer view of it.

The World Economic Forum’s 2026 Global Risks Report identified Misinformation and Societal Polarization as top existential threats to global stability. The traditional media model - which profits from fear, outrage, and distorted realities - is directly fueling these crises. We are building the antidote.

Our app is a cognitive recalibration tool designed to rebuild trust and agency. We curate fact-based, positive impact news to counter the doomscrolling epidemic. By providing historical data comparisons, we neutralize the misinformation that thrives on historical amnesia. Finally, our personalized impact analysis translates overwhelming global events into actionable, local insights. We are not just building a better news aggregator; we are building infrastructure for a more resilient, less polarized, and fundamentally optimistic society.

"The Anxious Informed Citizen"

Demographics:
- Lives in urban India (metros and tier-1 cities)
- Age: 24–45 years old
- Income: Middle class and above
- College-educated, digitally fluent
- Active on Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, WhatsApp news groups

Psychographics:
- Genuinely cares about society, politics, climate, and justice
- Feels personally affected by bad news
- Wants to be informed but hates how it makes them feel
- Oscillates between doomscrolling and total news avoidance
- Distrusts mainstream media but hasn't found a better alternative
- Values nuance over hot takes

Behavioral Traits:
- Checks news 5–15 times a day across multiple apps
- Shares articles in group chats with commentary
- Has muted or unfollowed news accounts for mental health
- Searches for "good news" or "positive news India" periodically
- Listens to podcasts or long-form content to get "the real story"

Their Core Pain Points:

1. The Doomscroll Trap
- Opens phone to check one headline, loses 40 minutes
- Feels worse after every session but can't stop
- Algorithm feeds them the most upsetting content because it "works"

2. No Context, No Clarity
- Every headline feels like the world is ending
- Can't tell if something is a trend or an outlier
- No way to compare: Is this better or worse than last year? Than other countries?

3. Caring Feels Like a Punishment
- The more you care, the more anxious you get
- Friends who "don't follow the news" seem happier
- Guilt about tuning out vs. burnout from staying plugged in

4. Nothing Feels Personally Relevant
- National headlines don't connect to daily life
- No way to know: Does this policy affect MY city? MY taxes? MY kids' schools?
- News feels abstract, distant, and overwhelming

5. Trust Deficit
- Every outlet has a slant
- WhatsApp forwards are unreliable but feel more personal
- Wants a source that respects their intelligence without an agenda