If you don't follow the news

[Bellesavage]

How would you know if you'd gone into local lockdown or what the current rules are?

I'm trying to avoid the news and thinking about having a social media and news free month but worried we might go into lockdown and I would have no clue until I rocked up to town and all the shops were shut, or I let my child.play in a park (god forbid) and get arrested or at least a few tuts from curtain twitchers.

Do you get a phone call or a leaflet or something?

Could you ask a trusted friend or family member to tell you? I don’t think you’d know otherwise.

Surely you'd know when you stepped outside your door?

A friend won't watch the news or read newspapers as 'It's all so depressing'. She relies on everyone else to tell her. She hasn't a clue.

There are the covid 19 government links which give all the basics.

www.gov.uk/coronavirus

You'd know when you went out and there are cars on the street/drive but none on the road. At the beginning of lockdown every car was outside the houses, even now at 7am most are gone as the owners are travelling or at work.

Good idea OP.
There is so much depressing news.
Radio 4 seems to have so many sad stories (people trafficking, racism, dying of rare diseases, last moments with loved one on death bed etc) - did no one get ill or have a sad life before covid?

There was a leaflet posted out to start with, I think after that, even news averse people would have the news on for half an hour a day...

I'm.not sure you would know from changes in traffic. It would depend on what the new lockdown changes are.
People in manchester and surrounding areas can still go out to work and meet in the restaurants/pubs.
Either check the government website or ask a friend to let you know?
Or your local council website
Could you watch one news bulletin a day? Local news? Rather than online where you can end up reading more than you want/intended or social media with misinformation

Some local councils are sending texts to the people in their areas to warn them.

It's a fair point, I only learned it from the news and I do keep needing time off from the news

If you want a short, factual, very basic news update that isn't depressing then I can recommend CBBC Newsround.
It sounds like I'm taking the piss but I'm not... there was a couple of weeks earlier in the year when I had to switch off from most news sources for my own MH but I still wanted to stay updated with the basic so I watched Newsround every day!

The news was still bad, but no horrific details or unpleasant images and a nice lady said reassuring things.

@ScorpioSphinxInACalicoDress

Surely you'd know when you stepped outside your door?

Not necessarily. We can't socialise indoors or in private gardens but can do pretty much else that everyone else can. OP wouldn't know that by stepping outdoors

@HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime

You'd know when you went out and there are cars on the street/drive but none on the road. At the beginning of lockdown every car was outside the houses, even now at 7am most are gone as the owners are travelling or at work.

This won't work as local lockdowns don't stop people going to work. People are still going to work unless they are personally isolating for a reason ( symptoms or contact with) . From what I can work out it seems to be mostly about not mixing households though I imagine some.local non essential shops ( whatever that means) might be shut so there may be somewhat fewer people travelling to worrk . If be interested to hear from people who are living in Leicester and other places in with enhanced local restrictions if it feels like when we were in national lockdown . I think probably not

Just check on Mumsnet
If you’re lockdown, there will be plenty threads

@SquishySquirmy

If you want a short, factual, very basic news update that isn't depressing then I can recommend CBBC Newsround. It sounds like I'm taking the piss but I'm not... there was a couple of weeks earlier in the year when I had to switch off from most news sources for my own MH but I still wanted to stay updated with the basic so I watched Newsround every day!

The news was still bad, but no horrific details or unpleasant images and a nice lady said reassuring things.

Great idea. Might start that myself.

squishy also they tend to finish with a story about fluffy animals don’t they?

Im not sure id know stepping out the door, we live on a very quiet street anyway and since lockdown most people have shut themselves away. We also walk most places so wouldn't necessarily see traffic volume.

So maybe the gov website is the best but then no option to avoid tech in general.

I had thought this too. Not just the people taking a break from news but those who don’t keep up with news.

As depressing as it is, we are in the middle of a pandemic. It's up to everybody to at least check up on a reliable summary of the news on a daily basis.

About 18 months ago I decided to limit myself to 30 mins in the morning of reading the news online and after that I steer completely clear - no TV or radio news, no newspapers, no social media. 30 mins is enough for me to feel informed about what is going on in the world without wasting hours of my day immersed in depressing or frustrating news that I can do absolutely nothing to change. I also completely quit Twitter, and only look at Facebook once a week to make sure I ‘like’ a sufficient number of my friends posts to stop them getting offended. Thoroughly recommend it.

I have the BBC News app - it pings up headlines on my phone every so often. I mostly don’t actually read the stories, the headlines are enough for me to feel I’m not missing anything big.

I know this isn’t exactly a news free option but it’s a lot less exposure than watching or reading the full news?

I'm in an area that has a local lockdown and it feels no different. We're just not allowed to have people In our house or garden, you can still go to the pub or meet in the park. We were following it until a friend put photos of herself and all her mates in the local arms wrapped round each other. The local pub was also packed so we thought bollox, we now have people in our garden at a social distance and we have visited friends. I cannot see the harm.

If you don't speak with anyone outside your household, I can't see what difference to your life it will make. Pubs or supermarkets will have signs for their rules to alert you. Your employer will explain any change. If you do ever speak to other humans such as neighbours, they'll bring it up.

My mother refuses to watch the news. Then she repeats what others have told her (often not factually correct and a rehash of a dramatic Daily Mail headline).

It's not just refusing to read the news or not being interested. If you don't speak English well, you haven't a clue what's going on.

I think it's a social responsibility to keep updates with the news. Especially with the chance of local lockdowns coming into force.