Although it's typical for me to forget where I left my eyeglasses on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis, I can still remember the front page of The New York Times from September 1, 1997. My boyfriend (now husband) and I were coming back from a long and lovely Labor Day weekend away with his parents. We hadn't turned on a TV or radio the whole time, the internet was in its infancy, and there were no such things as iPhones and iPads. But there it was, the newspaper on his doorstep, waiting for us with a large headline that at first perplexed us:
"Charles accompanies Diana back home to a grieving Britain"
It wasn't long before we, too, were plugged back into the worldwide news of sadness and shock. Even if you go on a "news diet" for a few days, the Big News most definitely will catch up to you.
Depressing as it can be, it's not so much the Big News that worries me. It's the "little" news, the faux news, the non-news that has a way of insinuating itself into our everyday lives like an airborne virus. The Big News may catch up to us, but it's the Little News that sticks in our throat like a nasty cough that never quite goes away.
In the book Simplify Your Life: 100 Ways to Slow Down and Enjoy the Things That Really Matter, author Elaine St. James writes about two of her friends: "He is a physicist; she is an artist. They've never watched the news on television. While most other people are reading the morning news, this couple is reading their favorite novels. They are well-educated, literate, interesting, vital people who long ago came to the conclusion that reading the daily newspaper did not contribute to their mental or emotional well-being, and they arranged their lives accordingly." As the author says, "Cutting back on the negative input you're subjected to every day is a positive step toward simplifying your life."
I've never been a newspaper person, but as I admitted in "Changing the Focus", I used to be a chronic Huffington Post reader, checking in to the latest headlines several times a day. It made me a little nuts and a lot depressed, so I gave it up and haven't looked back. The truth of the matter, at least for me, is that the news I "need" to know finds me (with social media, it's a given), and if I want further information on a news story, it's ready and waiting for me with a few clicks. (News is like that: eager and available.)
So, unless your job requires you to be plugged in to the minutiae of the universe, consider a "news diet." Start slowly: Try one morning without reading the news. Read a book or listen to music instead. Or go for a walk. Or cuddle with the dog. Anything but scanning the headlines. See if you feel better or worse. I know how I felt, and how I still feel, without the endless barrage of "news."
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How 'bout you? Are you a news junkie or a news avoider? How long could you go without checking the latest headlines? Could you put yourself on a news diet? Let's hear it in the comments section below! (Email subscribers: Click on the blue title of the post to get to the main site; then you'll see the comments section at the bottom.)
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