Why do people feel the need to share distressing news stories

[Mud]

without any comment or potential for sparking a discussion other than 'isn't that sad' it does seem a little like 'car crash tv' and is neither educational nor illuminating. sometimes it feels like people are trawling the news for distressing stories involving children for the sake of it and I wish they'd stop

i like the people that highlight news stories on here - if it hadnt been for mn - i wouldnt know about piano man, the car crash with 7 passengers or the latest on the 5yr old boy.

ooh any news on piano man??

piano man is newsworthy and spawned many discussions, haven't heard about a crash with 7 passengers but wonder why that's worth posting, sad though it might be

Message withdrawn

because it may stop one of us loading up our car with as many teenagers as we can cram in, when our little ones are that age. A lot of these stories are worth sharing on the basis of salutory warnings

think its more about fascination with the grotesque and distressing personally .. the way people will slow down to gape at an accident

could be, or a case of bad news travelling quicker than good.

When you hear a sad story, it's natural to want to share it. Dont we all do it?

And surely you could say the same about newsreaders, Mners are only broadcasting it in the same way.

I cant see the harm.

I'm with you Mud... Some stories I can see the relevence of, like women breastfeeding for 50 years etc, but many are car crash like.

I am the type of person who doesn't watch the news though - I know that crappy things are happening in the world, and help where I can... I don't need to watch it happening. I couldn't watch most of the 911 things either.

Tiffini - no we don't, lots of people wouldn't start a thread if there is no discussion to be had and the only possible comment is 'oh that's sad'

and its depressing so that's where the harm is

Some people use MN just as if they were chatting in RL. It would be perfectly normal in RL to say to a friend - 'did you see that awful story about xyz' this is just the virtual equivalent of that convo!

In RL people like to talk about and comment on news stories - sad or happy. I notice that today we have both sides going. Many people come onto MN, not just for parenting support and advice, but to chat also. Part of that chatting (like in RL) is to comment on such news articles. Usually the thread title will highlight what the article is about - therefore people have a choice as to whether they read or not, and whether they comment or not.

I can see no harm at all in it at all. Suppose it comes down to the same old phrase normally banded around - no one forces anyone to read/comment; just ignore it if you don't want to read.

I think vis a vis that news crash, there were two valid "issues" worth discussing:

1. The overloading of cars and how unaware most people are of the danger of that.

2. Tailgating. The reason the death tally was so high in that accident, was because of the prevalence of tailgating on motorways.

In other words, it's not just an "oh isn't it sad" story, there are some real issues of day to day conduct and traffic policing going on (for me anyway).

I think some people might find it carthartic. I know it sounds odd but I do feel sad when I hear of tragic things that happen to complete strangers ; especially kids...and often want to talk about it with my friends....Perhaps posting on here is an extension of that.

Maybe for some people it's a kind of voyeurism - but for others it's about trying to make sense of / deal with a sick / sad world.

Ah, I'm always disagreeing with you Mud aren't I - but i hope I'm doing it amicably

Being a Mum of 10 we can't afford New's Channels and Sky Digital so I rarely get to watch the news.

MN is where I can find the updates on all the news and stories.

Mumof10

Life must be hectic in your household. Phew!