About 6 months ago I decided to stop reading the news. Up to that point I had been a frequent visitor to the BBC website and it had become a significant part of my morning routine.
I made the decision to stop because having to read one-sided articles, about horrendous things I could do nothing about, was stressing me out A LOT.
This post is to report that I don’t seem to have missed anything major. I still know who the Prime Minister is (unfortunately) and I am still hearing about celebrity deaths (for some reason…)
I think some people may be surprised about that because I don’t have any social media. I don’t get facebook updates and I am not being randomly notified about what other people think is important.
What I have got are some very carefully chosen blogs to read and the space to form my own opinions.
I have seen a lot of articles about taking tech-breaks, turning off notifications and deleting social media apps…usually only for a few minutes, hours or days at a time. I think this is because people really believe the hype. Yes, they can avoid the headlines and clickbait for a little while, but they do not believe they could actually function without it forever.
I want to function without it forever.
I am a firm believer in the notion that looking at the Big Picture can change your perspective for the better. Would it really matter that much if I DID miss something major? I am a lot less stressed, I have avoided many, many, many celebrity dramas (I imagine) and the world still rolls on.
I declare this experiment a success.
The Errant Moon 
This an excellent article and just what I need to read right now. It’s so easy to get addicted to the constant stream of information, even though that information is wrong or doesn’t improve you life to know it. I find it very hard to resist that stream of rubbish though. I’m of an age where I can remember being bored and not liking it. Boredom serves a purpose though, it prods you to do something, find something that is mentally or physically exercising. Thank you for giving me hope that it can be done.
Thanks Inigo! I think it was more force of habit that I kept checking the news, once it clicked that it was causing me real anxiety I was better able to curb it…it helps that I really don’t care about celebrities and their opinions…and nowadays EVERYONE is a celebrity!
The news stresses me – hello, US political situation – but I feel like a bad citizen if I don’t stay current.
That’s how they get you…
I find it is still possible to stay fairly current through carefully curated blogs, ignoring the headlines I know are going to stress me out, and as long as I am still doing everything I can to try to make things better I don’t feel the need to listen to every opinion or soundbite anymore.
I do understand the urge to know what the sneaky sods are up to though.