Seriously considering a temporary personal news 'blackout'

[Earlybird]

...everything seems so grim atm, whether the war(s), the economy, job losses/business closings, knife crime, child abuse stories, political corruption, crumbling infrastructure, etc etc etc.

I like to stay informed and current with world events, but it is all so relentless, heavy and depressing.

Anyone else feel the same?

yep, i am living in ignorance, have no telly, the radio doesnt work and the last time i accidently clicked on yahoo news a girl had been killed by a telly being dropped on her by her dad.
Head in sand mode works for me right now.

After the birth of my children I found it impossible to watch the news and had to give up reading the paper. I bled for everyone.

It wore off after a few months, but I still know what you mean.

Me.

But I feel like I just can't shut my ears and close my eyes. How disrespectful would that be? But I'm exhausted and miserable by it all. It makes you think the world is full of evil. It can't be. There must be so many good folk out there.

I don't trust the media for one and it's tiring trying to find out stuff from various sources to try and make sure one has a full picture.

I am more than happy to stick my head in the sand

Its all so depressing
Why can`t the news finish with some good news????

There is good news,happy news out there

I am with you all.

I never used to be like this. Becoming a mum has made me an emotional wreck! I can just about bear to read the teletext headlines and that's bad enough. I read an article in the paper last week about pig farming which had me bawling and even now makes me sad!

But the news has become a profit making entertainment freakshow, it is not a factual representation of world events.

Bill Hicks used to talk about this saying he would turn on the news and hear 'WAR FAMINE AIDS STARVATION REPRESSION DEPRESSION' then look out of his window and hear the chirup of circadas and think 'where the fuck is all this shit going on?'.

WTWTW - You are correct that the news is a profit-making enterprise now. Presumably even the BBC, though it doesn't compete for advertising funds, still must compete for ratings? There is, without dobut, a sensationalist slant to everything.

Obviously, with the red tops, the headlines/news are written for maximum impact and shock value. But even the more serious (and can we assume journalistically accurate?) media are filled with complicated conspiracy theories about plots, deceptions, cover-ups, deep and long-standing corruption, insider deals, deep and systemic incompetence, etc.

The constant and far-reaching media negativity about the dire state of nearly everything in the world is depressing, and has completely fatigued me. I am starting to wonder if perhaps I would be better off (and happier) being oblivious rather than informed.

yes

I have found that by far the best way to 'cope' is to

1. ignore all daily press and only buy a sunday paper, which lasts me all week anyway, reading-wise
2. limit the amount of TV news watched. I watch a bit, say one or two full news bulletins a week, but it's certainly not part of a daily habit
3. Read the occasional headline on the internet pages that come up as Yahoo or bbc home pages
4. read one local newpaper a week (which does a 'round-up' of the stories covered in the daily local)
5. concentrate on the issues that will affect us directly

Once you have weaned yourself off a daily 'fix' and once you come to terms with the fact that, as mentioned previously, the news is a commodity and not a true reflection of life, then it's easier to cope with it all. Of course, it's necessary to keep up with world events and not be ignorant to the things that affect others, not just ourselves, but it does help to take this information in in small doses. I've actually found that I'm more interested in world events now I do this: if you see and hear it every day you do become de-sensitised to it.

Yep, me too. I used to work my way through the Guardian daily and listen to the Today programme but since motherhood have become progressively thin skinned and EVERYTHING upsets me, even when I try to think logically about the news sensationalising things. The Baby P thing did it for me, I now actively avoid all news and feel so much better for it! When the eye doesn't see, the heart can't grieve over!

I used to be very well-informed etc, but I have found it depresses the hell out of me, and I find it much easier to stay positive by just "dipping in" to the news once or twice a week.

I listen to the news first thing every morning and then take a view.
If there are things going on that i find difficult then I avoid for the day. Also if I am feeling low I avoid anyway as that just makes me grumpier. I tend to stay interested if it is a big deal like Gaza at the moment or irag etc etc. I can't switch off world issues....

I think it is sensible to do that at times though. I kept away from the news all the way through the Baby p issue and i switch off as soon as there is a headline about measles or the MMR for the sake of my sanity.

A good sports or political scandal though and i am glued.

I agree too. The media revel in misery too and seem to want everything to be horrible. If anyone dares to mention a chink of hope in the credit crunch, broadcasters stomp on it immediately I've noticed. Can't have any good news leaking out

I have the radio on all day which I love. The news programmes keep me informed yes, but god they can get you down some days

I now read The Week as I find this has a really good balance of serious world news, commentary and snippets of obscure/amusing tales. Generally no gratuitous scare stories.

It is news 'lite' to a certain extent, but I read it avidly from cover to cover, therefore reading items that I may have just skimmed over in a wordier tome.

I do love humour and satire though. I read my dad's Private Eye now and again. That seems to get straight to the point on a level I enjoy

i dont have a telly, and i find any great event of newsworthyness i get either off the radio as i am going to work, or on MN

I love not being up to date with sleb twaddle, my mind really doesn't need to know or be influenced by such dross.

my daughter delivers newspapers, this is a recent turn of events which enables me to read a newspaper a week - at random.

other than that

office gossip

i mean thats enough - its not like i am a hermit, but there is a different between trying to keep informed and buying into media claptrap and enabling the media by giving them your power to change the course of things.

Yes. Just decided this morning that I have to stop imbibing it, because I can't cope with spending the day in incoherent tears. head in the sand or not, I have enough crap in my own existence without trying to hoover up all the wickedness in the world and stress about the fact that I can't do any more to make it better than I'm doing already.

it's so depressing isn't it? i do keep in tune daily with what's going on but rely on other sources besides sky and bbc to keep up to date with news. i just don't trust we are getting the full facts all the time....sorry for being a total sceptic but that's how it is for me.

Well it's this thread that I find more 'depressing' than the news qiute frankly. It's very easy to want to opt out isn't it when the bombs aren't dropping outside your windows or it isn't your employer going bust. Not watching the news doesn't mean it stops happening you know. I believe we all have a corporate responsibility for one another and thus knowing what is happening to our fellow man - even if we can't help them or influence events is nevertheless a vital part of citizenship.
Sure don't watch the news if it makes you feel happier - but then don't be surprised or outraged if bombs do then turn up outside your windows.

that should be 'bombs' not bombs!

northernlurker, that's actually a good angle to look at it from. as my friend from israel said in his email, try and imagine what it's been like for 8 years having bombs/rockets hit your country constantly where you and your families live in fear. try and imagine: key words. he has a good point too. the truth is, we have no idea how difficult that kind of life must be to be so frightened day in day out.

No ahfeckit we don't - I was watching the new year fireworks and worrying about them waking the baby - then I thought a bit about what it must be like to live in somewhere where you don't worry about that - you worry about them hitting your house and killing your child. We are so, so lucky - the least we can do is stand along side all those other mothers and children across the world by at least knowing what hell they are going through.

I don't like to be ill-informed but I do 'escape' occasionally from the sensationalist news coverage and just quickly have a gander at the teletext headlines and then duck out.

All the broadcast formats have lots of human interest stories designed to tug at the heart-strings or blanket media coverage which feels almost hysterical (bird flu/MM are two that quickly come to mind). If you look back at 80s, the news coverage was dominated was parliament/politics/industry which was worthy but hardly a ratings winner.

That's true heated - it was always the trade deficit wasn't it? I asked dh why he thought they don't report that anymore and he said because it's so bad that even the economic journalists can't stand to report on it!

No, I don't feel the same, I feel that it is my duty to know what is going on in the world. I agree with heated though, that the media are becoming more and more hysterical.