News is unhealthy

I do not listen to news or read newspapers. I record a news occasionally and then just watch the items i may be interested in and fast forward the rest. Also record a lot of programmes I want to watch then fast forward over the ads about children dying from bad water, becoming blind etc and poor donkeys etc suffering. I know all about it but can do nothing to help.

If we approach it with 'it will all have changed completely by tomorrow' or simply remember that predictions are just that. NO ONE knows the future. I like to stay attuned to what's supposedly going on and then I further research any item which particularly interests me. Do remember lies, damned lies and statistics and try not to worry.

i don't read newspapers or watch the news on tv - too much doom and gloom.
however i very quickly look at the bbc news uk website in the mornings and also my local paper's website too.
that's enough for me - can't be doing with it!!

We wake up with the Today programme on Radio 4 and for me that's pretty much it for the day, except for snatches on the car radio . I read a weekend newspaper cover to cover as there is more 'comment'.
I agree it's the constant repetition of 'bad'news that's lowering but I don't think one should be unaware of what is going on in the world .I'm not yet ready to 'opt out' .And it's not true to say one can do nothing. Informed debate based on facts might have made a difference to Brexit (and the U.S. election)
And it's possible to for e.g.donate to famine relief or volunteer for one if the charities which helps

I, too, am developing an antipathy to news programmes, however my husband loves them and will have a news channel on all day long if he can.

I am hopefully being daft but to some degree feel we are re-living the 1930's and sleep-walking into major trouble.....

Someone tell me to get a grip!.

Good posts from everyone, and limiting yourself to the amount of news does seem to help, in any case, there isn't all that much real news, it's just all circulating the same items ( ad nauseam!)
I think that it's the feeling of helplessness that so many news items brings on, and we are not,as humans, able to process that feeling.We are designed to solve problems regarding ourselves and those close by/clan/tribe/village etc and when presented with amorphous clouds of doom from afar this just seems to settle upon us without us being able to do anything about it.
So, so sum up, where news is concerned, less is more.

I don't think of it as 'opting out' just as being sensible for good mental health.Sometimes we have to be a little bit selfish.

I went through a period a few years ago when I stopped watching the news as it was so depressing. I don't blame anyone for not watching it if it adds to their anxiety.

I think the news has always been depressing! Unfortunately I have enough domestic and personal things to worry about so watching the news cannot make me worry more as I'm at my limit.

Funnily enough I don't despair over the impact of Donald Trump as I doubt if he'll be able to do all the things he has promised or as quickly as he has promised. I've been enjoying his setbacks and expect them to continue.

A few years ago some friends who emigrated created a newsletter full of good news about things that were happening in their adopted homeland and I was on their circulation list.

Believe me - it was the most boring thing I ever read!

My mom used to call it The Doom and Gloom! I don't think anything has changed.

I laughed at Wilygran's comment. As a retired teacher I would like to know when there hasn't been a shortage? This also goes for doctors, nurses etc etc. It seems to me that the 'going round in circles' is happening ever more quickly. But, it's still called progress :-) All governments continue to rearrange the deckchairs!

I wondered how Mum could stop watching the news because 'there was nothing she could do about it'. Now I'd happily do the same. OH shouts at the TV about everything on the news but watches it for hours a day. He 'can't believe' the lies the media tell here or in the US but watches both avidly! Victor Meldrew move over!

I no longer trust the TV or radio news and certainly not newspapers.
I do listen to the politics show at lunch time on BBC2 because you often get to hear from the 'horse's mouth' not an interpretation of what they said.

I have to agree. It is not doing a lot for my mental health at the moment having to share my life with a news addict. OH shouts at the TV about everything on the news but watches it for hours a day. He 'can't believe' the lies the media tell here or in the US but watches both avidly! Exactly, justwokeup! What he can't watch he tapes so that he can rile and rant later. Any room up there in the Outer Hebrides, roses?

I prefer to listen to the news on the radio. I can't stand the 24-hour news we have nowadays. Early morning and late night news broadcasts are enough for me. I read The Guardian on line and buy the I and put my own interpretation on their news items.

I stopped buying a paper about 8 years ago- I started reading it online but then decided I just didn't need to know all this stuff. I listen to Today programme on radio 4 every morning & that is my lot.

That gives me all I need to know. Even with just that I am sick of the name Trump!

I like to keep up with the news but if you saw "How to survive the end of the world" with Jon Richardson last night on Channel 4 there was a man admitting that newspapers purposely peddle fear stories to sell more.In fact,most of the things we are scared of are very unlikely to happen.

I went to the doctor as I wasn't feeling so good and after the normal tests and questions doc said how much news are you watching. I am a bit of a news junky. Doc said stop now. Since Brexit so many people were being diagnosed with Anxiety. What with the Trump nightmare now etc it is affecting people's mental health. Hard to stop watching though when you like to be informed.

Personally I am sick and tired of all the politics on tv especially the BBC as it is well and truly biased. It is almost working as a propaganda machine for the government at the moment if they want to get a message across be it smoking, anything about losing weight, what we are costing the NHS in blocked beds, BREXIT, Mr Trump. Really gets you down. Also why do they have 2 or even 3 people reading the news? One presenter is enough and look how much it would save the BBC in wages! Why do we want to be told about someone's book, play or new record album when we are trying to get breakfast or getting ready for work?

We never buy newspapers, they are a waste of time because you cannot rely on them to be telling you the truth. I think there should be a ban on 'fake news' myself, they should be prosecuted for selling lies and damn lies. You only have to remember the Referendum on coming out of Europe to know that they try and brainwash people.

We might have too much news but haven't you noticed that they just repeat what they told you in the morning in the evening.

I think being able to SEE the news and the horrible things that go on around the world that makes more of an impression on our minds these days.

I don't feel the News is actually NEWS. They repeat the same story for days so it isn't newsworthy.

It is true that, when I was younger, you did not instantly hear what was going on around the world so you were protected to some degree. As others have said there is very little we can do about it so telling us is not helpful.

This might help!
www.goodnewsnetwork.org/

Breath of fresh air Fitzy54!

I'm amazed at how many people don't read the news, I've always been an avid newspaper reader, made worse by online newspapers, but just lately I've given up. I can't take how it makes me feel any longer, it's so depressing, so negative, so 24/7 and so much of it is things I can do nothing about personally.

A slight problem I have is that DH, like his mother before him, is a radio addict and has to have one on in every room. I follow him about turning them off . He also reads a newspaper every day and insists on watching the 10 o'clock news. Drives me mad!

We dont have a daily newspaper any more, DH reads on his tablet, I look at headlines on my Computer, but rarely read details,I watch one news bulletin a day on TV, thats enough its ony depressing news, hardly ever nice news, and as far as President Trump is concerned I am sick of hearing about him, seeing him, reading about him, I had better not have my blood pressure checked, he will be the cause of it being sky high!

We hear and see far too much in this house - the first thing I look at on my Kindle when I wake up is the news headlines (followed by Gransnet ), I check my email and can't resist clicking on some of the headlines above that, on to Facebook and there is so much bad news on there now that I've joined a local group (who knew there were so many burglaries, vehicle break-ins and, particularly, stolen dogs?), the radio's on all day with its hourly bulletins, if we're about for them we switch on the 1 o'clock, 6 o'clock and 10 o'clock television news out of sheer habit, we still buy the weekend papers which we spend the whole week reading from cover to cover.....

There doesn't seem to be a horrible crime, disaster or act of cruelty we're not aware of these days. We like to be well-informed, but I have said to DH that we'd probably be much happier people if we just kept away from it all.