How do you cope with the news?

[cumbriaisbest]

I feel utter despair. Really.

Like many have said, I don’t WATCH the news, I listen to it. I also read national and international newspapers to get a broad understanding of events.

This is indeed very very sensible.

@OrdinaryGirl One of the most helpful things I have ever read.

Thanks

I guess I'm " too sensitive"

I don’t understand this attitude at all. How can it possibly not impact you?

I get it. There is zero any of us can do about what’s happening.

''@BeSure · Today 02:36

Our brains aren't meant to cope with what's happening beyond our own village.''

You do realise humans have actively sought to develop by travelling to other locations, building empires and trade with other nations and learn from other societies since the beginning? That has been a constant factor in our evolution.

So no your brains is not ''meant to cope'' only with local concerns....

I don’t watch any, ever. I keep abreast with what’s happening locally that’s it.

Not ignorant at all. Wise and healthy I’d say. I’m the same. Being anxious and worried about people I can’t help, doesn’t do anyone any good, instead it harms me and my family here. I focus on raising my children and tending to my home and giving to my local community

I scan the BBC news headlines once a day, honestly it's actually probably just to check there's been no major terrorist incident in the UK.

I then prefer to read the actual papers but I read them on free on Press Reader. Usually on a Sunday I might have a look. Maybe once a month I will read the Economist as it has some really interesting balanced thinky long form type articles.

I rarely switch the TV on or watch news. Similar to PPs I had a huge break during the pandemic and was much better for it.

I don’t. I tell my husband to turn it off if he tries to watch it when I am in the room.

It can be so distressing, can't it? I am really upset about Gaza. I understand why the Israelis needed to respond to the initial attack but what is happening now is horrific, completely unjustified and I fear that it will stoke such hatred that there will be another generation of fighting for decades to come. I feel completely helpless though. I liked PP comment re spheres of influence. I stopped watch televised news during the pandemic as it was too emotive. I listen to radio 4's pm news at 5pm but start it later so that I can fast forward some items. I also read news websites in English and started reading the Swiss news website RTS in French when the BBC became a bit too obsessed with the US in November. The Swiss news is more balanced, somehow both more local and more global and there are often stories about animals or nature that I like. It is available in loads of languages including English (Swiss info) so have a look. I do try to read positive stories where possible and share those with people I care about, most recent example being the BBC on the annual weighing of the animals at London zoo, which I listened to as well. That was heartwarming.

Are you suggesting there is no war in Gaza, Ukraine etc?

Like many others I do not watch the news anymore or listen to it on radio. I do keep up with the headlines in written form only and that's a sentence or two generally. If there's a topic I'm interested in I'll follow it up. Quite frankly a lot of breaking news can be found on this site in one post or another anyway!

I am not immune to what's going on, nor am I unsympathetic. I cannot do anything personally about it, so for better or worse I rely on the Government to react on our behalf. Not much more I can do personally. I will not join protests or anything like that, it does little and can be hijacked for nefarious purposes.

I find my local news TV programme has more optimistic articles. There was a piece the other day about a care home that had teamed up with a small adventure park and arranged days out for the elderly residents where they could have hands on experience with the small animals. They also had a go on the racing track, and the oldest resident going round really fast in a racing car was 102! Really made me smile.

I stopped watching after being glued to it during the pandemic.

Quite easily to be honest.

I watch the news every day. Yes there are lots of upsetting things on there...but quite frankly there hasn't ever been a time when upsetting things have been happening.

Famine? Find me a point in history where someone in the world hasn't been starving. I'm not callous....it's upsetting and if a hungry person stood before me, I'd feed them obviously. But the world is a big place and the truth is we have very little power...to think we play a significant role is either spectacularly naive or spectacularly narcissistic.

I just don’t watch or listen to it any more, which is difficult, since dh is a news addict and positively wallows in it, no matter how depressing. He even wanted it on the other night while we were eating!

I do check the BBC website at least once a day, but can’t cope with TV or radio news any more.

I try to live a fulfilling and enjoyable life because it is a privilege to live in such relative abundance and security.

Rather than get upset I try and think of something I can do to make the world a better place, however small.
So that might be picking up some litter in the street, dropping a £1 in a charity collection box or fetching some milk for my elderly neighbour.
These are just tiny things, but if all 65 million of the UK population did one thing a day, wouldn’t things be better?

Why isn't there a "good news" TV channel that only reports on positive news stories? I think it would do very well.

There is absolutely no point worrying about this week’s media disaster fixation, whatever it is. Take Gaza, for example. The peoples of that part of the world have been killing each other in the name of their religions for centuries. It is deeply ingrained in their history, cultures & mindsets. There is nothing anyone in the U.K. (including Keir Starmer) can do to stop or mitigate any of it, so getting angry or upset or going on demonstrations is a completely pointless waste of time & energy. So turn it off & do something more productive instead.

I don't. That's why I avoid them like the plague.

I haven’t watched or read the news in 5 years, it’s unbearable and only railroads my attention into something horrific instead of my children who are still young. I feel way better and much more able to cope with life. It’s not natural to be exposed to so much bad news 😕

Like others, I avoid it. I hear about the important stories and can follow up on them but I’m not constantly in a quagmire of anxiety and horror.