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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think everyone should keep up with news and current affairs?

45 replies

Notcontent · 16/02/2022 11:05

Recently on a thread there were lots of people who said they don’t read the news etc as they don’t really want to know about all the depressing things happening.

But I think this kind of “burying your head in the sand” attitude can be dangerous. I have come across lots of examples recently where people have been completely unaware of things that may impact them. People who have been victims of online scams who claim to have never heard of such scams. People who have no idea that energy prices are rising and have no idea why this is happening. Also lots of general information relating to life etc that we pick up from reading news, listening to the radio, etc.

OP posts:
gogohm · 16/02/2022 11:39

@Starlightstarbright1

That in itself is a problem, social media doesn't necessarily show a balanced picture, it's at its best a heavily edited picture of the news, at its worse misleading. Reading the news from a reputable source once a day is far better for mental health because it's balanced

DropYourSword · 16/02/2022 11:39

Recently on a thread there were lots of people who said they don’t read the news etc
People don't actually need to watch or read "The News" to keep up to date with current affairs in this day and age. Scrolling through Mumsnet or social media is also a way to hear about plenty. I think when people say they don't watch the news they mean as it's traditionally presented, but there are so many more ways to consume it now.

Traumdeuter · 16/02/2022 11:45

@DropYourSword

Recently on a thread there were lots of people who said they don’t read the news etc People don't actually need to watch or read "The News" to keep up to date with current affairs in this day and age. Scrolling through Mumsnet or social media is also a way to hear about plenty. I think when people say they don't watch the news they mean as it's traditionally presented, but there are so many more ways to consume it now.
But that is part of the problem - people read specific sources, or through the lens of social media, which distorts their view.
DropYourSword · 16/02/2022 11:48

People's views are also distorted by traditional media anyway! Print newspapers and TV news channels have their own biases too.

oldwhyno · 16/02/2022 11:48

yes, YABU. Some of the happiest people I know pay barely any attention to current affairs, either by reading the papers, watching the news, reading online, or indirectly by engaging in social media orientated around current affairs.

It's not how I choose to live, and there's a balance to be struck, but it's perfectly possible for that balance to be different for different people. And for some people to go through life thinking about entirely different things, like being far more into their immediate social and family circle, or their career, or their education or entertainment choices.

Baileysoncereal · 16/02/2022 11:52

I don’t watch the news or keep up with current affairs
I have two jobs, I’m studying part time and i have a family / home to deal with.
learning about all the terrible things happening in the world that I have no control over and can do nothing about, isn’t near the top of my priority list when I get a few minutes to myself

CharacterForming · 16/02/2022 11:54

Covid figures are something I do find useful because they enable me to have a decent guess at regulations which will affect my life. Likewise energy prices.

Different issue but my (London) teens infuriate me sometimes because they're all over the minutiae of some controversial thing Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez said about Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live but won't know that the London Mayoral elections are next week.

Starlightstarbright1 · 16/02/2022 11:57

[quote gogohm]@Starlightstarbright1

That in itself is a problem, social media doesn't necessarily show a balanced picture, it's at its best a heavily edited picture of the news, at its worse misleading. Reading the news from a reputable source once a day is far better for mental health because it's balanced [/quote]
Not really. I have clicked on a thread here today Wales are offering covid jabs to 5-11 year olds..

Pop up - scotland to offer covid jabs to children..

I don't need to watch the news to get what is happening.

SickAndTiredAgain · 16/02/2022 12:02

I agree a general overview is important. As you said, if you don’t know energy prices are going up, or that NI is going up, you’ll be in for a shock. Without that info you can’t plan as well.

EmmaH2022 · 16/02/2022 12:12

@SickAndTiredAgain

I agree a general overview is important. As you said, if you don’t know energy prices are going up, or that NI is going up, you’ll be in for a shock. Without that info you can’t plan as well.
Again, it depends how you prepare for things

That is news I want to know. I don't care about Prince Andrew.

So it becomes more efficient to avoid "traditional" news and go to sources you find helpful.

So subscribing to a money blog is more useful to me than a traditional newspaper or TV show.

MorningStarling · 16/02/2022 12:17

YANBU to think everyone should be aware of the news but the problem is with the way it's presented.

All media outlets are overwhelmingly negative in their approach. This is done because negativity and fear makes people more likely to keep reading or watching. If everything were OK, there'd be fewer viewers. By stoking the fires and speaking of impending disasters they guarantee more viewers and therefore more revenue.

The problem with this approach is that sometimes many people feel overwhelmed by it and have to take a step back. I certainly have done from time to time, to protect my mental health, though there's an argument that sometimes a disaster on the other side of the world can... not cheer me up exactly, but put my problems into perspective. Act as a wake up call that things could be worse.

Generally I've adopted a rather fatalistic view of the world and the presentation of news probably has contributed to this. My view is the world's shit, but it will only get worse. Years of constant doom-mongering have probably led me to conclude that.

My second news memory was the Chernobyl disaster and how it would affect the environment for decades to come. Then acid rain was going to destroy our way of life. Then the greenhouse effect. Then it was mad cow disease, I remember vividly watching a BBC report where they were saying that although there were barely any human cases so far, it could take 10 years to develop so by the mid 2000s anyone who'd eaten beef could have it. The atrocities of the IRA were an ever-present threat, then 9/11 happened and it became Islamism that was always lurking, waiting to kill. Brexit was going to ruin the county, then Covid, now climate change again, inflation and the cost of living, the threat of war from Russia, the growing threat of China, immigration.

The point is, there's always one, usually several, potential "disasters" on the horizon. If there wasn't anything wrong the news would make you think there was. But humans have always survived the previous threats, even when disasters happened. Most of the things we feared turned out not to be anywhere near as bad as suggested. (Remember the millennium bug? Planes were supposed to drop out of the sky at the stroke of midnight, literally nothing serious happened.)

Part of the blame has to go towards populist politicians like Johnson, Starmer, Sturgeon, Trump or Biden. (Some will say they're not all populist - they are. Just in a way you've been fooled by.) They feed the media doom and gloom. They need to present the opposition as a total disaster, otherwise why would anyone vote for them.

Rather than avoid news or bury our heads in the sand, it's healthier to adopt a more critical approach. Don't accept the news at face value. Watch or read news from various sources, even ones you don't agree with. If you can't tell what their angle is, what they're trying to make you think, then realise you've been fooled by them.

Remember that news is FACTS, not opinions.

AllOfUsAreDead · 16/02/2022 12:38

I don't keep that up to date with it but know a general idea of what's going on. Just not that interested in the details, it all sucks anyway and it's mainly idiots screwing things up.

How anyone can not know about energy prices rising though is shocking. Companies have been emailing us all about this for months, it's been on the news, it's on fb etc. Unless you've been in a coma, you're quite thick to have not realised. Clearly a rise in prices won't concern them.

DragonSnapCrimson · 16/02/2022 13:12

I've never watched the news much at all but when Covid started I found myself feeling terrible if I even saw 5 minutes of it. At this point I just see the odd headline on Twitter and if anything big/relevant to my life is going on then my friends/family will be speaking about it, then it's my choice whether or not to look into it further. It massively affected me and I'm not ready to dive back into it.

Butchyrestingface · 16/02/2022 13:16

Depends what their mental health is like, surely? If someone had depression/anxiety/intrusive thoughts/obsessive tendencies, NOT watching the news might feel like good self-care for them.

Theladyinthepinkcoat · 16/02/2022 13:23

I will wade into this with my opinion on your point about people not knowing what is happening around them.

I live in Wales. The national news in the UK is England and more specifically SE England centric. Changes in Covid restrictions and guidance in Wales have not reported to the same level as they have in England. It doesn't help I live on the border and travel between the two.

I need to look a lot further past national headlines to find out what is happening around me. I can understand how and why people turn away from national news when they feel like it is not representative of their reality.

Boiledbeetle · 16/02/2022 13:45

I never used to pay that much attention to the news, I might hear odds bits if
I happened to be in the car when the news came on the radio, but I didn't make a conscious effort to keep up to date.

So... On Christmas day 2004 I settled down to watch every single episode of friends as I'd just received the complete box set for Christmas.

Many days later I emerged from my friends induced isolation to discover that I had completely missed the 2004 boxing day tsunami.

I've kept abreast of the news ever since.

EmmaH2022 · 16/02/2022 14:55

Boiled

Not necessarily a bad thing that you didn’t know unless it impacted you personally

Boiledbeetle · 16/02/2022 20:28

Emma,

Thankfully I didn't know anyone (that i know of) that was caught up in it or its aftermath, but I was shocked that something so huge had happened and I'd been completely oblivious.

EmmaH2022 · 17/02/2022 23:17

@Boiledbeetle

Emma,

Thankfully I didn't know anyone (that i know of) that was caught up in it or its aftermath, but I was shocked that something so huge had happened and I'd been completely oblivious.

I had a colleague who was embarrassed to arrive at work one Monday and find she didn't know about the Bataclan attack

She had a much nicer weekend that way!

I lost friends in the Twin Towers, my first call from a desperately worried parent was about 2pm our time (their thinking being, did anyone know if by chance her son was running late). So about 15 mins in.

If the disaster gets you, you will know and frankly you are better off not watching TV about it if you lost anyone.

As for the acid rain etc, it's all just this

I hope everyone is safe in the storm. Useful facts and news are definitely not the same!

Mama234567 · 17/02/2022 23:26

I couldn't watch the news for ages after I had a baby purely because I couldn't cope with any horrible stories about bad things happening to children, and there seemed to be a story like that every time I put it on.

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