It’s enough now I’ve got to stop watching the news…

I'm toying with cancelling the daily newspaper but can't quite do it. I've largely given up on the 6 o'clock news for all the resons stated above. But...

If you want to stay in the loop without feeling swamped, then I highly recommend subscribing to one or two newsletters from your papers of choice - you don’t have to pay, you can get daily or weekly digests and to an extent you can choose what you get updated on. So if you just want UK news, you can get a newsletter for that, or if it’s environmental stories you want, or culture - it’s like a hand-picked mini newspaper!

I didn't watch the Funeral on Monday. I used the time constructively to put up a shelf. Very satisfying!

I’m another who scans the news so I know the main items.
It’s not that I don’t care but mostly I can’t do anything about all the things that are going on.

We only buy the weekend papers now for the crosswords and sudokus. It takes all of 10 minutes to read the rest. Plus it costs $5- ridiculous price.

Newspapers rely so much on their editorial slant. Its hard to know which to trust for truthful comment.

I subscribe online to Reuters - costs nothing, they send daily news summaries, you can choose what you receive information about, read the brief summaries and read the rest if and when you want or ignore it all if there is nothing happening that you want to know about.

If only my husband would stop listening and informing me.
I don't want to know!

Well I’ve done it, one whole day avoiding the news except for this morning when the headline came up on my phone although I had deleted the news apps. I am very proud of myself ?

I’m living in the US. When Trump was President I watched all the news and was up to the minute on every bit of news. The things happening really frightened me! After several years of the craziness I chose to tune out when I realised it was causing anxiety. I’ve been away from news for a few years and I feel much better.

There’s a lot to be said for….... Ignorance is bliss!

DH watches the news and I pay vague attention to the headlines and choose to watch any items that interest me but I was advised recently to avoid paying attention as it just makes my depression and anxiety worse.

I'm starting to avoid the news. I used to like keeping up with all the politics. But recently I'm having issues with the presenters. They seem to make everything worse. It's the breathy almost in tears that's really annoying me. BBC seems particularly bad.

I was ill a little over 5 years ago. A breakdown caused by stress. I can't really remember the first 18 months after but as I was starting to get a bit better I made a conscious choice not to hear/see news for a whole year. I'd heard an article on radio 4 about a lady doing this. It helped her and it helped me. It was quite hard with a newspaper reading/news addict partner, but I think I did it.
I listen to radio 4 mostly, but use the news as a reminder to to a chore if I'm daydreaming so I don't listen. But I do enjoy a good chuckle at the weather forecasts X
Good luck and carry on with your mindfulness ❤️

Normandygirl

That's the problem with the 24hr revolving news cycle now, they have got to fill it with something. even the radio seems to have far more "news" breaks than it did.
Remember when we only had the 6 and 10 o'clock news and a bit of regional stuff after it. No hours of talking heads and experts predicting doom and disaster for us all. I don't remember Reggie Bosanquet treating us all to his views and opinions on the news he was reading either.

I assume you all know about:

"18 April 1930, the BBC's news announcer had nothing to communicate. "There is no news," was the script of the 20:45 news bulletin, before piano music was played for the rest of the 15-minute segment."

I only listen to and read the news in the mornings, rarely in the afternoons and avoid completely in the evenings enabling hopefully to sleep better during the night. I listen to the BBC podcasts Fortunately to sleep on.

Petera

Normandygirl

That's the problem with the 24hr revolving news cycle now, they have got to fill it with something. even the radio seems to have far more "news" breaks than it did.
Remember when we only had the 6 and 10 o'clock news and a bit of regional stuff after it. No hours of talking heads and experts predicting doom and disaster for us all. I don't remember Reggie Bosanquet treating us all to his views and opinions on the news he was reading either.

I assume you all know about:

"18 April 1930, the BBC's news announcer had nothing to communicate. "There is no news," was the script of the 20:45 news bulletin, before piano music was played for the rest of the 15-minute segment."

I do remember Reginald Bosanquet occasionally dissolving into absolute fits of giggling and I think one time was something about a cat stuck up a tree! ?

I suffer from depression, so I decided to limit my exposure to the ‘news’ years ago. So much of it was about things that they predicted were going to happen, or previews of what a politician was going to say ‘in a speech later today’, then speculation about how this would affect us all, that bit seemed very uninformative about what was really happening in the world.

I usually watch Channel 4 News, then on Wednesdays I’ll watch Prime Minister’s Questions (but often turn it off, because it contains nothing of interest).

I know someone whose anxiety is set off by the thought of war, watching the news is a bit of a minefield for her.

I stopped watching the news a year ago. I'd rather not know. I read the headlines a couple of times a week that's enough for me.

Shinamae

There’s a lot to be said for….... Ignorance is bliss!

I think a big problem nowadays is we know too much about everything.

So difficult to know which way to go on this; I feel it important to have some knowledge of what’s going on without drowning in too much analysis and opinion.

We have been reading the i newspaper for years (when it cost 20p) and when it was more of a round up of news from Britain and around the world. Then came the referendum, Brexit, changing PMs, etc etc and the paper was pages and pages full of the stuff. The last straw has been days and days of 40 odd pages of the late Queen etc etc etc. If him indoors wasn’t bothered I’d cancel my subscription.

The BBC used to be my go to - the Today programme - but it started to overload on one topic. Just give me the facts and straight forward interviews and don’t have on any politician that won’t answer honestly, without just repeating parrot fashion what the spads have trained them to say.

Is it an age thing when we finally realise that we can’t change the world, and that the world doesn’t actually change.

If I don’t know what’s going on how can I have an opinion? If I don’t have an opinion how do I know who to vote for? Not voting is not an option for me - it took women long enough to get it.

Your final para sums it up perfectly Madashell.

Do as we do: we watch the news twice daily on TV. Neither the BBC nor any other news site I have come across update their news or their blogs more than twice in the course of the day, unless something really extraordinary happens.

I would never check my phone for the news, for the simply reason that my eyesight just is not good enough to read that amount of text on a smart-phone screen.

Perhaps I should be thankful that my sight is as poor as it is!

Another thing you might find helpful is not to listen to the news late in the evening.

Good advice.

I am a news junky. I wake up to the Today programme on Radio 4, listen to The World at One and then at 7pm have Channel 4 News on the TV. I also get newsflashes from the BBC on my phone. I agree it's depressing and scary at the moment but I want to know what's going on.