News

Photo by Stas Ostrikov on Unsplash

It’s been a long while since I have written anything here. But now seems like as good a time as any to return. Let me try to share what’s going on in my life, in my head, and in my heart.

My most recent realizations have stemmed from a change I made in my life in early November of 2024. After the American Presidential Election I decided to stop watching any news from any media source. No more checking the web to see what was happening, no more sitting around the TV to get the scoop. It was an impulsive decision (and one that even I wondered how long would last), but 3 months later I am beginning to notice some things that have changed in me as a result of my news fast. These are realizations that have come slowly, but I am thankful for what is going on in me, and I thought I’d share the fruit of my experience.

First, I find that I have so much more “mental real estate” for other things. Because my day often started with reading the news online, my day would necessarily continue with checking in to see how things were playing out. That took a lot of time and attention. I felt a little twitchy at first, as my habits left me wondering what was happening and I’d have to physically stop myself from instinctively checking to see. But as the habit weakened over time I found that I could breath a little easier and my heart felt a little lighter. And it wasn’t just the extra time that increased my ability to think about other things. It was as if my brain opened up to more ideas. I was able to read more and in more depth without distraction. I found that writing and journaling came easier. It was as if my constant soaking in the news media had put up barriers that restricted the freedom of my mind to focus on other things. Less news has created an openness and freedom in my ability to think and to concentrate on aspects of life that I really care about.

Second, I still get to hear the news, but it’s only in the context of relationships. People I know tell me what is happening, but it is such a different experience to get it from a person instead of technological source. I have the freedom to ask questions and get perspectives that the typical media diet doesn’t allow. All of my current conversations about news events are anchored in real life relationships which helps to clarify what is important and what isn’t important. Because of the human element so present in the discussion it’s easier to avoid the fast track to outrage and to think reflectively about what I’ve just heard. We’ve all heard McLuhan’s dictum that “the medium is the message”, but until I changed the medium through which I accessed the news, I didn’t understand the depth of what he was saying.

Finally, I have realized the depth of desensitization that constant news exposure in the past has given me. Several weeks ago I heard in conversation about the mid-air collision outside of Washington DC between a regional jet and an army helicopter which left no survivors. The news washed over me with a tremendous amount of grief. I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I thought of 67 people who died instantly and all the family and friend circles whose lives had forever changed in that moment. The heaviness of the event resonated deep within me. I realized that previously I had read news stories that were even greater tragedies on an almost daily basis. But the constant nature of the news feed had hardened me to the impact on real human life. In that moment I realized that over exposure had shifted something in me and I had forgotten the real human impact of a tragedy. It was as if I had learned to distance myself from the emotion so that I could keep up the steady diet that CNN and Fox News served up day after day. In this moment of epiphany I realized I wanted to be more human and not less. That’s when I started thinking about writing this post.

So not watching the news has changed me for the better. I’m different than I was 3 months ago, and I‘m happy with the change. Often it takes a little distance for us to see what our normal routines do to shape the people that we are becoming. Would I recommend not watching the news? For sure. What if we all had more mental real estate to think and engage other ideas? What if our news sources became anchored in real relationships? What if we recovered some of the softness of humanity that cringes in tragedy and shares the feeling of pain with others that we don’t even know? I think that could be a good step in making the world a better place.