I stopped following the news and I feel so much better.

[Seahawks Fan]

I realized a while ago that I have a very unhealthy obsession with the news. I literally check the news on an hourly basis and spend way too much time thinking about it. I have an app on my phone that pings with breaking news stories, I still get hard copies of news papers delivered to my home, we have a TV at work that stays on CNN all day, whenever I get downtime I scroll my phone for little droplets of news, when I wake up in the morning the first thing I do is check my phone for any news developments that might have broken while I was sleeping, on my days off I spend hours watching political news shows on youtube and reading tweets from pundits on twitter.

I knew this behavior was unhealthy but I didn't do anything about it until recently. I'm now on my 10th day of successfully avoiding the news. It's been hard as hell and I literally feel withdrawal symptoms and restlessness that was bordering on unbearable but has started to get a little better.

One thing i noticed was a reduction In my anxiety and negative thoughts. For example, a few times a day I'll have the thought that the world is heading towards WW3 because of Russia and Israel conflicts, or that America is heading towards civil war because of the border crises and the chaos surrounding Trump. It might seem stupid and trivial to you but these thoughts would literally give me severe anxiety and cause minor panic attacks occasionally. But since I've avoided the news these last few days my anxiety has basically disappeared.

Another epiphany I had is how much of the news is actually bullshit. When you're getting flooded with news it's hard to stop and think critically about everything. But now that I've created some separation i can clearly see that much of what I was consuming was fear mongering bullshit that did little to make me smarter and more informed

Of course I can't avoid the news forever but right now I'm planning on how to reintroduce it into my life In a healthy way. I don't know what that'll look like but it certainly won't be an hourly compulsion like before.

 

[LoopingRight]

Sounds like a solid move to me. The majority of news is pure distraction and serves to separate us from and create division within our local communities.

 

[ColemanwastheGOAT]

Didn't you already do this exact thread like a couple of months ago?

 

[KALEWYTEE]

That's a really good thing to do. Like you said it's not healthy for yourself. The War-room idiot's should do the same thing

 

[Sweater of AV]

That's nice. I believe Sherdog falls under "news" so...

 

[syct23]

Not like this…

 

[Felya]

Hit the gym, play some video games, watch some movies, read a book, get a dog, take dog for walks, live your life.

 

[560ti]

My ex wife and her mom where both obsessed with just coming home from work and watching the local news. To no surprised they're both depressed, insecure, and have anxiety.

 

[Mesos]

The news for sure exaggerates and highlights things that tend to be misrepresented. Its all to get more viewers and it does create an artificial anxiety in its viewership. Its best not to watch to much of it for all the reasons you have said. And no ww3 is not happening the news just makes it seem that way to get attention. Journalism in general has declined in quality and many of its writers are just glorified bloggers basically trying to get clicks for ad revenue.

 

[lsa]

Brb gonna read the news

 

[Bobby00]

WW3 just kicked off ts dont check the news leave right now and head to nearest bunker i will inform you as soon as its over. No need to bring your phone i will get to you when its time.

 

[ipowerslapmywife]

Who tf watches the news lol. It’s always a negative story to put you in a bad mood or anxious and agenda pushing. They know what they’re doing and it’s intentional

 

[Otto!]

Disconnecting is good for the soul.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

Look at what the news did during the fake covid crisis.

I spent the time making money, with family, and enjoying life.

 

[fedoriswar37]

The only news I watch is my local news and that's only if something that's happened in the community/saw something on the way home I'm curious about.

Shit is toxic for your brain.

 

[fedoriswar37]

Look at what the news did during the fake covid crisis.

I spent the time making money, with family, and enjoying life.

My favorite around here was when they decided to STOP daily posting of hospitalizations of the vaxxed vs unvaxxed cause it would cause "vaccine hesitancy" .

 

[Renard]

The human mind is wired to prioritize paying attention to threats. Negative information tends to be given more weight than positive information because all it takes is one threat to kill you. This works for people as well. For example if you know Steve is an honest man, but you also know Steve can have a temper, the latter information will be given more weight in your decision making when dealing with him. News media exploits this tendency by inundating you with negative events so that your attention is constantly captured by one "imminent" threat or another. On a deeper level the purpose of the news is to shape your perception of reality, but most people haven't reached the point of understanding what that means. In any case, nothing that happens on the news is serious and worthy of attention, nor will consuming the news make you more informed. Most people lack the skills to set apart a news article narrative or spin from the underlying truth of the matter and consuming the news simply makes them more misinformed than if they had consumed nothing at all.

Maybe it would be helpful to find another hobby, a positive one, to occupy the little hamster in your mind during moments of downtime. Although you could go the other route and, instead of indulging the hamster, practice keeping your mind in stillness and engaging in relaxing hobbies.

 

[Cajun]

I still read the news but just take it with the knowledge its usually slanted. I quit watching commentary on the news years ago....

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

i follow one news source on instagram called nobullshitnews or something to that effect - generally will outline the quick facts and then gives a perspective from each side.

i like that.