Phetasy News - Turn Off The News
Phetasy News - Turn Off The News
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Greetings from the Phetaverse!
Since I’ve been back East visiting my family, I’ve noticed something about my relatives. Aunts, uncles, parents, siblings, cousins…they’ve all turned off the news. It’s not a partisan thing, either. Whether their drug of choice was Fox News or MSNBC or CNN —they’ve all decided to unplug from the toxic cable news cycle.
They are noticeably happier. More present. Less anxious. More productive. They aren’t completely ignorant of current events. In most instances, they’ve decided to return to reading the newspaper. One relative said, “Writing takes time and reflection. There is space to process the information. Cable news pundits aren’t giving me information—they’re preying on my emotions.”
Henry David Thoreau said, “The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.” We pay a high price for our addiction to the news, to social media, to doom and rage. In exchange for the dopamine hit of being righteous—we are sacrificing relationships. Giving up precious time that could be spent with our children and grandchildren, beautifying our homes, learning a new skill, or developing a hobby.
The trend I’ve noticed amongst my family is anecdotal, but I wonder how many people have done the same thing? How many people have decided it’s not worth it to tune in—and have opted to tune out?
When I ask them about it, particularly the beloved Boomers in my life, they all say the same thing. “It was making me angry. I can’t do anything about it, and I don’t have much runway left.” Why spend the last decades of your life getting mad about things that you have no control over? You don’t need to be a Boomer to feel that way. The earlier we learn to cut out the psychic drains on our peace of mind—the better.
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My father in law, after a decade of always having Fox News on in the background of his home office decided to watch classic western movies. He is transformed! He went from grouchy and argumentative to pleasant and attentive. I stopped watching cable news during the pandemic. It made me feel awful and helpless. I still feel helpless. I, too, read the newspaper and feel so much calmer. Thanks Bridget!! You always nail it.
That’s the same reason I deleted my Twitter account, all it did was make me angry. In general I’m not opposed to things that angers me, but there needs to be some balance.