I believe that the economic collapse woke many people up, maybe some of you reading this article right now. I know it did for me. It caused me to seek answers. I started to dig into the whole system. Why are they giving billions of dollars to the same people whose actions caused them to fail in the first place? Surely if they fail they deserved it, and now a new fresh business can step in to take over the void? Heck, it could even be said they caused the whole collapse in the first place.
I was reading or watching hundreds of news stories about it. Oil was rising to incredible heights, were we at peak oil or did we already pass it? This whole thing called civilization is going to collapse and everyone who isn’t prepared is going to be fucked. The end of the world as we know it, TEOTWAWKI. Shit, I better get some freeze dried food. I better get some silver and gold. I better stock up on ammo and get more guns. I better…
I was injecting myself with all this bad news like a crack addict looking for a fix.
I was fearful and angry (anger is good at times, but that is for another post) and stressed and only found the negative side of things wherever I looked. Maybe I was safer, but at what cost to my mental state?
One day it just clicked.
Was all this negativity helping me or hurting me? Even if it was all true, what could I possibly do about it? What if everything continues to muddle along? All the news was doing was making me miserable and stopping me from bettering myself. I bet it’s the same for you, too.
I have eliminated basically all news from my life and have only become better off for it.
BUT I NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON!
By now I bet that some of you are saying that I am wrong. That the collapse is coming. That you need to know about every development in the world, so you can be prepared for it.
Ok, I understand, and I am not telling you how to live your life. But let me ask you this: Can you still prepare, but stay away from the news?
Can you still grow your heirloom seed garden? Can you still stock up on this, that, or the other without reading about how Russia is about to start WW3 or that the Shemitah is the start of the collapse?
I think you can. I think you can do it and be happier and less stressed. I think you can do it and have more time do to things you want to do.
Or maybe you aren’t like that and you say ”How am I going to know what’s going on in the world?”
I will ask in response ”Why do you NEED to know about it?” How is it going to better your life? Or is it just noise blocking you from really hearing what you need to know?
If something is truly important enough, you will find out about it – trust me.
Let everyone else get their blood boiling about something you can’t help while you are using that time to better your own situation. Instead, read great articles here on steemit, or a well-written book.
WHY NEWS IS ALL BAD
There is way more bad news that gets reported rather than good news. It comes down to our evolution, in a hunter-gatherer society bad things needed to be handled immediately to survive. If my ancestor, Cavetrain, heard that a cave bear moved into the area and was running around killing people it would be top priority to know that. It has caused us to search out negative (dangerous) things so as to be prepared.
Now we live in the modern world and things such as layoffs or which liar is going to be placed in charge of us takes over that spot in our brains.
Since we notice or seek out bad news we tend to get more fearful than happy. The fear causes stress hormones to be released.
When a town of a few thousand people read their local news it was rare that something bad happened. Compare that to a city of millions where bad things are happening all the time. Now we get it from all over the world, billions of people cause bad things to happen every second. We get to hear the worst of it reported to us 24/7. A constant stream of stories to make you scared and angry, a constant stream of stress.
So is it any wonder so many people are walking around scared, angry and stressed - taking three types of anti-depressants, while we, collectively in the western world, arguably enjoy the easiest and most luxurious lives over all of human history?
WHAT NEWS IS
News is just entertainment:It all about getting your eyes on the screen, whether that is TV news or online, heck even print. They are there to sell advertisements. It is something to keep you watching between car commercials, that's it. They choose which stories to run only to get what they think will get the maximum amount of eyeballs to pay attention. It is their only goal.
What can you do about it? Tell me when the last time watching the news made a positive impact to your life? I don’t know if you can. Let me tell you what I think most people do. They get all angry about something and post it to Facebook, where they can just get more people angry about it. Do any of those people change anything about it, or does it just bring a negative into their lives?
Which brings me to the next point. The news picks stories that are meant to keep you scared and in fear, because it will make people watch, see the first point. Have you ever heard “This thing has been linked to 50 gazillion deaths and it could be in your home right now! Tune in at 11 to find out what it is.” All this does is build up fear to create anxiety and depression.
The news wastes time. Think of all the time you could be doing positive things in your life. You could write more steemit posts. You could do more things with your friends or family. You could learn new and useful things. All much better options than having crap shoved in your face.
The news gets it wrong. In the day of 24/7 news they have to manufacture things to talk about, so they get to speculating. They don’t care about being correct, they can ‘apologize’ for the error later. They are there to keep you watching so they can make money selling advertisements. Journalism went out the window decades ago.
News makes you think everything is worse than it is. By all accounts most countries are safer than in years past. But when anything happens anywhere it will be reported all over if it is seen to get people watching. So you end up thinking the whole world is dangerous, but it is all just an illusion. While horrible deeds are still happening, they are not happening at any greater rate than before there is only more news reporting on it. It is just distorting the perception of tragedies.
TRY IT OUT
Stop reading or watching the news for all the rest of November. No news November. The world will not end.
Do things that make you happy instead. Do things that make you a better person. Learn things. Do things that help others.
I’ve eliminated nearly all of it and am so much better for it. If something that actually matters to me, I will be told soon enough.
So stop worrying about it. You will come out better on the other side. You will find that you don’t miss it one bit.
When you fill your mind with depressing things, is it any surprise that depressing things will fill your mind?
(Pictures: 1 2 3 4 5 6)
My moment of honesty:
- My interests vary but I strive for quality work, check my blog for proof.
- I will not fill up your feed with crap, I have only resteemed twice.
- I will also reply to all your comments if they warrant any reply.
- These things I promise to you. So follow me, or don't. I want you to do what you want to.
@getonthetrain
Followed - check out my posts..
If we see it in news 'they' want us to see it (News 101).
All the very best and thank you for posting truth!
Hey, your posts are quality. Thanks for spreading the truth. :D
Yep, totally agree. Ironically I stopped reading most news since I joined steemit. It was then that I realised that it was more of a something to do rather than something that had to be done! That's not too say I use steemit for news as that would be slightly mental but I use steemit for the entertainment that previously I would have used the news for.
Oof, I hope that makes some kinda sense!
It makes complete sense to me :)
Well, you said it - you were using the news as entertainment. That's all it is nowadays. Have you missed it since you have moved to steemit? Try no news November :)
I can handle some news but the bad cruel ones are really getting to me :(
Is any of it worth it though? They have done a study and there are 18 negative news stories for every positive one. Do you really need such negativity in your life, what are you gaining from knowing specifically about it? If you didn't follow the news, anything important to you directly you will end up being told about anyway. So let other people get agitated by it, and you can focus on better things.
The latest news about that poor pony has really finished it for me, hasn't helped my depression, can't stop thinking about it... No more news for me
Everything that you say about the news industry itself is true. and I'll add another point:
The news is propaganda, to the point that sometimes what is "published" is a flat out lie. I think we are all used to news sources omitting details or editing comments to fit within a certain narrative, but over the last 12 years, we have seen the news industry actually editing video and audio tape and inventing facts on an increasing level.
And here is where I will disagree with you.
The old Germanic tribes had a saying..."All free men fight, all fighting men are free". In our system, political power is still determined by the vote IF the level of voting is strong enough to overcome the corruption.
Voting for one politician or another, or even not voting at all, is a power choice which is determined by information. The news industry does provide information, even when it is lying in how it presents that information.
Filtering out good information from bad requires critical thinking; I have a four-parter on critical thinking starting here:
Human Governance and Critical Thinking, Part 1
I will move back into agreement with you on this point:
The news depresses the hell out of you. For the cynical, there might be a claim that this in intentional. On my part, I think the industry is motivated by the combination of sales and ideological pursuit.
But any activity which sustains you also wear you out: hunting for food requires effort; building shelter requires effort; thinking hard to decide your own political future requires effort - the effort to overcome the negative feelings associated with listening to the news, as well.
You (in the general sense, not YOU, getonthetrain) may forget about the politicians in an effort to avoid these negative feelings, but we know the politicians don't forget about you.
I don't want to take away from the wonderful post you have written; I hope this viewpoint adds to your discussion!
(I'm going to use this comment as a post, btw, so your post has certainly sparked some discussion in me, lol)
I understand. What I mean is how is knowing that this politician or whatnot has done this corrupt thing change your life? Wouldn't it be better to go do something to improve yourself or your life. I never said to not think about things, but instead of the news read a well written book about a part of politics, or a book on said politician. If that is what you want to know.
I am glad I got you motivated to discuss it further.
oops, I hope it didn't sound like I was accusing you of telling folks not to think. I tend to be a bit antisocial on these subjects, lol. If so, I apologize!
Maybe we are in full agreement on this point:
Don't let the news get you down...don't wallow in it.
This video supports your post:
This Video Will Make You Angry
CGP Grey has a good series of vids
No, I didn't take it that way at all.
@getonthetrain Another great article. I feel we are on the save wave length about a lot of things.
I learned to quit watching the news long ago too. That isn't to say, I don't keep up with things. But I don't do so through mainstream channels. I do so through sources I believe have a less biased (notice, I didn't say unbiased...only less biased) stances.
This has helped me a great deal although I do find myself occasionally caught up in the ills of the world. I've often wondered whether even further detaching myself would be a good thing. I think it would. But sometimes I feel an obligation of sorts, to try and get more quality information out there. As you can see, I struggle with the matter of degree of detachment which is best for me and those around me.
Everyone is biased, all you can do is recognize it and adjust for it.
It's basically the same thing for your second point. Everyone is different, so you need to adjust to find a point that suits you. That's the thing about advice, it's never a one size fits all. Maybe some people never realize that, and go from self help method to self help method. Maybe that's why there are so many, someone keeps searching for that one that will work for them, when it never can. You need to always be open to new ways, but never allow anything one thing to be the only way. I take bits and pieces that I feel are best, and make my own way. Always reading, always learning, and always morphing the best of the best into my personal way.
Thanks for reading :)
Fantastic article, bro! I couldn't agree more, the media feed you what they want you to think. Switching off from it can make you see things from a much clearer point of view.
Congrats on 65 by the way! So happy for you! :)
Thanks @ezzy, we are all moving up. All you have to do is not stop :)
Advice I need to follow, but what an addictive personality I have! Good blog!
Hmm, get addicted to not doing anything with the news then! :)
Superlative article. promoted it.
Thanks! How's the Mercedes doing? Kicking ass I bet :)
He's fine thx. Your article is the first I thought it's worth being promoted. I really like it.
Well, gosh. Much appreciated!
beautiful post, great truths in those words, now put them into practice congratulations for another wonderful post
This post has been linked to from another place on Steem.
Journal – Feeding Birds, Basic Income and Steem by @lightsplasher
The Daily Tribune: Most Undervalued Posts of Nov 04 - Part II by @screenname
"All free men fight, all fighting men are free" - A look at the news industry and politics by @stevescoins
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