News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier

About 6 Months ago I stopped listening to talk radio and watching less tv news. I knew it was having a bad effect on my mind. It was making me worried and angry in equal measure. I started listening to podcasts or lectures in things that actually interest me. That didn't leave me with that horrible feeling you can get after watching the news.

Listening and watching so much fear and divisive content was certainly not healthy and I'm glad I've packed it in. It's not like can do anything to change what's happening in the world. I mean where would one start?

In the past few decades, the fortunate among us have recognised the hazards of living with an overabundance of food (obesity, diabetes) and have started to change our diets. But most of us do not yet understand that news is to the mind what sugar is to the body. News is easy to digest. The media feeds us small bites of trivial matter, tidbits that don't really concern our lives and don't require thinking. That's why we experience almost no saturation. Unlike reading books and long magazine articles (which require thinking), we can swallow limitless quantities of news flashes, which are bright-coloured candies for the mind. Today, we have reached the same point in relation to information that we faced 20 years ago in regard to food. We are beginning to recognise how toxic news can be.

www.guardian.co.uk...

I used to consider myself a news junkie, i would read a paper every day, watch all the news and news summaries. I never fealt better after watching them.

News is irrelevant. Out of the approximately 10,000 news stories you have read in the last 12 months, name one that – because you consumed it – allowed you to make a better decision about a serious matter affecting your life, your career or your business.

I agree

I have a cabin that has no TV access or internet access. When I go to the cabin for a couple of weeks I feel so refreshed and relaxed. I think part of that is not reading or seeing the constant bombardment of the negative issues in the news.

I agree and disagree at the same time. The media in a way is a force of nature of itself. However, I do enjoying seeing what is happening in the world from different perspectives. I just try to see what is reality compared to pointless opinions. There is no need to get paranoid about current events. We need to live life as people who can be happy, but also prepared for anything.

I can under stand people wanting to be informed, but half the time we don't know if we are getting the right information, with the political spin most media outlets have.

I would say the worst thing and I'm sure some ATS members might recognise is the physical response the news has

News is toxic to your body. It constantly triggers the limbic system. Panicky stories spur the release of cascades of glucocorticoid (cortisol). This deregulates your immune system and inhibits the release of growth hormones. In other words, your body finds itself in a state of chronic stress. High glucocorticoid levels cause impaired digestion, lack of growth (cell, hair, bone), nervousness and susceptibility to infections. The other potential side-effects include fear, aggression, tunnel-vision and desensitisation.

www.guardian.co.uk...

It's the old adage, 'Ignorance is bliss'.

I haven't tried escaping the news, but maybe I should give it a try. So what some maniac is threatening to nuke the U.S which in turn could escalate to nuclear armageddon. If you don't know about it, you can't do anything about it, you don't worry about it. If you know about it, you can't do anything about it, you worry about it.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


It is true, as the old saying goes, "Ignorance is Bliss"!

There are many types of people: Few are meant to Lead, Many who are meant to Follow. The Couragous, who take Action, and the Wise that merely Observes.

However, there are times when fate calls upon us to become something we don't want to be, for it takes us out of our comfort zone. The overwhelming feeling of stress is it's way of waking us from our ignorant slumber, for the whole purpose of stress is to make us aware of what is wrong. Stress is only fatal when we consistanty choose to ignore the signs and go back to sleep. Though fate has a way with dealing with the most stubbarant, for "A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it"-(Jean de la Fontaine)

"Finding our purpose in life is not only the question, but may also be the answer!"-(me)

reply to post by woodwardjnr


It should be known as BAD news.....Not news.....There is a very, very, VERY small portion of news that is good....

I stay as far away as I can......I just read ATS for my news and you can pick what you want to read, not forced BAD news....

I agree. I check to see if the world is still here when I wake up in the morning, catch the weather, then I'm out of there. Often the only news I get is on ATS, and I can filter that to suit me. Most of the time the talking heads are promoting agendas of the government, or the corporation that owns them. Not interested in agendas.

If Ignorance is bliss, then a life spent in vehement and focused denial of it is a recipe for misery.

Very clever, ATS..........

reply to post by woodwardjnr


I stopped watching TV pretty much altogether a couple of months ago. Occasionally I will turn on the local news for weather, but that is it.

I found that it wasn't so much the news that was affecting my, it was the media. Since not watching for a couple of months, I will occasionally turn it one and what i find is striking (and never really stood so starkly): the amount of noise that fills every aspect. Not only music, but sounds effects, as subtle as they are. As a video editor, I am aware of the nuanced layers of sound that go into video and broadcasts, but i really actually heard all that crap after not watching it for so long.

I stopped watching cable news last year because I got tired of the agenda and bias (even by my favorite channel, with which I usually agreed in viewpoint). It just got unbearable.

Since then, I have re-subscribed to the New York Times print to stay informed, which I find is generally faily objective, for the most part (even if liberal leaning). I read ATS for other news and people comments, even though most of those comments are just as off the wall and biased as the cable junk, even though I am usually able to read between the lines in other media. I also re-subscribed (after many years) to National Geographic magazine, which I suppose is similar to you listening to podcasts of things you enjoy.

I studied journalism to combat exactly what I hate about the news media, but it's getting hopeless. There are very few actual decent journalists left, which is sad, because the media is supposed to inform the population. Alas, their agenda toes the status quo, makes people afraid, paranoid, keeps them easier to control. :/

It's really sad, actually, and most people can't think for themselves.