Watching the news causes more stress than it’s worth
There are so many ways to spend your free time, ranging from walking and watching TV, to even something as simple as reading a book. What these activities all have in common is that they typically bring a person some form of enjoyment. With that being the case, it seems odd a person would knowingly expose themself to something that does just the opposite.
Watching the news is an activity filled with such an array of information that it typically does not really affect the viewer watching. While some stories may be beneficial to understanding and comprehending future stories, oftentimes these stories are completely unrelated to an average viewer’s life. Hearing the details of how a person three towns over died in a car accident does not contribute in any meaningful way to a viewer’s understanding of the world. While perhaps it could result in the viewer being a more aware driver, this is likely just another unfortunate story which will leave no long-term impact on the viewer, other than growing malaise.
When news is political, it is not uncommon for it to divide people. Depending on the network, a viewer may be exposed to ideas and beliefs they already agree with and only further confirm their perspective. Regardless of political party, when the other side is presented as the “enemy,” a real problem is created. To read the straight facts of a topic seems to be a more meaningful course of action as there is no possibility of the passion of a broadcaster influencing a viewer’s opinion.
Many of the stories that are shared in the news are also topics that a viewer has no way of controlling. While there is a fine line between being an informed citizen and being an individual that does not know much about current world events, it seems that knowing specific issues in distant countries does not mean very much to the average citizen as they have no real way of changing the outcome to these issues.
If a person is seeking to assist in world issues, there are organizations such as the Red Cross that can assist countries and people in need, eliminating the need for deep investment on part of the average viewer on the issue. With the exception of politicians and world leaders, it seems that if a person was to attempt and know even a small percent of the world’s issues intelligently, there wouldn’t be enough hours in the day; this begs the question of what world issues are worth engaging with the news for.
When reviewing the population’s time spent watching the news, the question that should be asked is how often does it make a person happier? In an age where people consistently reinforce the idea of having a healthy mindset, how often does the news contribute to that for the better? With already enough stress in the average person’s life, there is no reason to add more in unneeded forms of it.