Recently during a conversation I was talking about how I do not have the television on much at all; only turning it on just before 7.30pm and am happy most nights for it to go off by 8.30-9.00pm. With a look of horror almost I was asked ‘how do you know the news then?’ My reply was that I hear it on the radio.
It was so foreign that I do not watch the news and that it is not a priority in my day. It is the furthest thing from my mind. I know a lot of people hanker for the news each day so they are informed on world events and have something to discuss with colleagues or friends.
I value my time somewhat differently. I do not wish to spend half to an hour a day being bombarded with doom and gloom negative, hate inciting media coverage. Rarely has there ever been a ‘good news story’ covered on the prime time news streaming into people’s lounge rooms.
For me, a couple of minutes of radio coverage or reading for a few minutes at different times of the day news online is suffice to satisfy my curiosity of what is occurring throughout the world. It can’t be helpful for viewers to see story after story showing death through wars, tragedies, natural disasters, crashes and violence. It also can’t be helpful seeing the high-school-like nonsensical behaviours of supposed mature adults who have miraculously been elected into positions of power as global leaders.
This doesn’t mean that I do not care what happens in the world at large and especially to our fellow humans and natural world. I do care. I merely do not care for a barrage of undesirable headline grabbing unsupportive to our mental health ‘news’ that I have seen at times overwhelm folks, especially the older people in our communities.
When I am with the people that I love to share my time with, my preference is to hear about them; how they are doing in life and what their loves are, what challenges they are navigating and how they face their everyday. This could be and has actually been viewed as I lack substance or intelligence as I do not want to know about financial crisis, self-serving politicians or the latest controversy amongst scientists.
If this is how I am viewed, then so be it and I am more than happy to continue my journey seeking out stories and information that nourish my soul and feed my hunger for learning. I am who I am and I make no apology for my lack of news viewing.