The news is horrible. I quit watching the regular news last year. I firmly believe that you can not be happy if you watch the news every day.

With the 24 hours to fill every day everyone on the news is a professional over-reactor. If they don’t have an opinion the minute something happens they will be thrown off the set and replaced with someone who will. For example during the iphone 4 release on CNBC (a financial news network) there were pundits arguing the merits of the phone less than half way through the announcement. Seriously Steve Jobs was still onstage showing off new features and 2 nitwits are questioning the business decisions of a guy worth several billion dollars.

@Bob: Crazy indeed. The news channels are giving us “consumers” what they believe we want and what they believe is right, but I can imagine a point where there’s something of a backlash and a demand for more balanced and reasoned news output.

Right ON! We got rid of our TV years ago but NOW I resolve to QUIT BEING A NEWS JUNKIE via computer. (Instead of saying, “Watching the news” when someone asks what you’re doing, you should say, “Watching the worst.”)
KILL YOUR TELEVISION. Drastic action with drastic results.
-Donna, One American Writer

Last week I read an interesting post on another blog that talked about a camping experience and how life is a lot simpler when you have to do things yourself; no one worries about their higher purpose when they have to chop wood to survive. On the other hand when someone doesn’t have to put in much effort to survive and they don’t have a similarly engaging challenge to replace that, they become aimless. Two ways out are to create new survival fears (even that is convenient and easy these days!) or to drop the fear and give your best gifts to the world, knowing that it’s simply what you do and the results don’t matter because you’ll still survive. It’s fear or confidence – black or white.

I have a lot more work to reach a place of confidence but I recently realized that reading a small positive thought each day is a great push – I now make myself read Seth Godin’s blog daily because it’s inspiring. To that end I just subscribed to your blog as well I would rather hear timeless wisdom than what happened two hours ago.

@Donna: “Watching the worst” – I like that. Nothing wrong with catching up on the news to see what’s happening out there, but you gotta interpret it in your own way to not become spoon fed by the monster…

@Richard: I like your thinking, and agree that when you decide to operate alongside the fear that you reach a place where you’re able to do what you do naturally and best. I’m thrilled to have you here Richard, let me know if there’s anything I can help out with.

The news is like a depressing horror movie that never ends.
.-= Check out Brian | i-Blogger´s last blog…The ABC’s Of Blogging =-.

Wow this SO resonates with me, as I am trying so hard to get my business off the ground. Not a day goes by without me telling someone how I stopped watching the news some six months ago. It really has changed me for the better, because like it or not, I am one of those people who get affected by things going on in the world. Since I stopped this harmful habit, I am more positive and more productive.

I read the advice to stop watching the news ages ago, and the person giving the advice said something like, “Most of this stuff, you don’t need to know. If there’s something important enough for you to know, someone will tell you about it!”

So now, I’ve stopped worrying about the economy and so on, and ignorance really is bliss. I leave it to those who get paid a lot more than I do to sort those things out.

Thanks for a great blog!

Michael

So true, so horribly true! Years ago as a mock-militant Greenpeace loving twenty something I refused to support the press over some scathing remark or other they made about green politics being a joke. I swore I’d never buy a newspaper again. And I never have (30 years and counting). I switch off the news on the TV and radio because, as you so rightly said it makes us more depressed about just about everything. People always say to me ‘but how do you know what’s going on in the world?’. One, do I need to know about all the stuff that’s going on in the world? Two, it seems to filter through anyway and I have a vague grasp of the world situation which is enough for me. If I need to know more about someone or something I go to the source or as close as their website will get me. I refuse to join in with the misery-fest that is ‘the media’ and live very happily without it. I urge you all to listen to Uncle Steve and try it for a month!

@Michael: A great example of how much more nimble you can be without the weight of the world on your shoulders. I don’t think it’s a question of “ignorance” at all, it’s just a choice about where to put your focus and where you get your information from. Thanks Michael.

@Angie: Funny how you can still keep in touch with what’s important out there without needing to watch or read the news media all the time, and I agree that if there’s something that you want to know about in more detail then you can do so without having the wrong kind of information pushed on you. And thanks for the “listen to Uncle Steve” – made me chuckle.

It’s probably true that at one time it was worthwhile to watch the news so you knew what was happening, but at this point it takes the average person less than a minute to get in touch with someone who’s connected to the firehose 24/7. It’s really a noble sacrifice of them to take all that so you don’t have to

I must admit I try to avoid news on TV and newspapers; I’d don’t want to hear all of those negatives. But for whatever reason “pain sells” better than pleasure.

IN the UK papers yesterday there was just the footbal misery, misery, misery. Hardly anything about the English cricket team who have just won three test matches in a row making them the series victors even if they don’t win another game. Although our drivers didn’t win the GrandPrix at the weekend the car that did win was an all British car. There was a serious 170mph smash up during the race. The British designed car was so well designed that when it finally stopped flying through the air and rolling over the driver just got out and walked away. Three absolutely cracking successes. So what did the papers write about to make sure they sold. Football! Hardly a mention of success in other sports. Just the plain misery of Englands defeat and what problems the manager is facing.

@Roseanna: You’re so right – reading your comment really brought home how focused the media are on reporting what’s wrong. It’s tragic – let’s start the backlash right here!

[...] Mainstream media dictates what’s “important” for you to know. But only a handful of corporations decide on what information gets out, and how it’s reported. Much of that brings down your emotional well-being, and hurts your confidence. [...]