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

I could have written your post Redhead56.

I had to stop watching the news when Covid first appeared on the horizon. Out of sheer fear because it was the unknown until I read up about it. It was depressing and making me anxious which is unlike me but I got used to it and it became a way of life.

My only warning would be NOT to restrict your news to the Daily Mail which is dependant on presenting its own self serving political agenda. Wikipedia does not classify this paper as a news paper as it only contains 30% of truth unlike others which give us 60% !!!! When fed up with news it is only too easy to skim headlines and make decisions of a political nature based on unreliable headlines and easy to skim reports.

Shinamae, I stopped watching MSM, news programmes or reading newspapers a couple of years ago, during covid. Believe me, it is the best thing you have done. My stress levels went down by about 90% almost immediately. If I want to see if anything has changed, I do a quick check on BBC website (not the best place to go) and then get on with my life. One thing is certain, MSM only knows how to tell lies.

I fazed out completely during the nightly blurb during COVID! Btw, has anyone seen our "briefing room" lately? Maybe it's been nicked?! Or maybe it's sitting there....filthy...unused....smelly....because ALL the announcements recently from new leaderene being elected to HRH demise were made.....from tarmac in middle of the road outside #10! We told them they'd never use it, but oh no! Doris HAD to pretend was the president............. Can we have our money back?

#meanall! I've become a telly addict slowly but surely over last say-30 years? I never ever watched news up to my late 30s ish, but a period living alone meant my TV was my only companion through some extremely dark episodes and it's stuck! I agree about"news" I'm sick and tired of watching while upto 8!!! Journos give us their'opinion' on what's just been reported.....why? I sometimes feel as if I'm tooting in on a private conversation between them , half the time they don't even look towards the camera - and the (great unwashed) audience!!?

Chestnut

But if I didn't keep an eye on the news then I'd be worrying that something really important had happened and I knew nothing about it! I have to keep an eye on the news, but not a detailed look.

Each to their own.. I know that the current news is really affecting my mental health so I choose not to engage with it at all..

But if I didn't keep an eye on the news then I'd be worrying that something really important had happened and I knew nothing about it! I have to keep an eye on the news, but not a detailed look.

Second day with no news. I have to say it feels good not to have current world situations going around in my head and preventing me from sleeping…?

I’m not sure if it was T.S. Eliot and I can’t remember the exact quote, but he wrote about couples settling down to listen to the world’s disasters in the evening in the comfort of their cosy homes. An element of schadenfreude obviously.
My MIL every evening, after supper would always say
“Is there a news?” gleefully and of course there was. All the awful things in the world gathered together.
No wonder it can be unhealthy to have too much of it.

I can quite understand why people watch little news or avoid it as much as possible. I listen to some on the radio in the morning and half hour in the evening.
It does seem to some that its burying your head in the sand but feel it’s important to put a limit on it.
I lived with someone who watched mainly just news!
At the end of the day it’s good to be informed but often there is nothing you can do to change a situation.
I try now to focus on some comedy, quizzes and yes I admit soaps( may be crazy but at least it’s not real life!

I’m am watching every move of that murderer Putin. I want to be there at his downfall. Let us hope that could be soon. ?

I turned off all the news about Covid (had all jabs) but now turning all news off about Putin, to keep my sanity.

I love the news. I read the newspapers first thing in bed and listen to the tv news for most of the day when I'm at home. I've just been watching the briefing in Parliament about Ukraine whilst having my lunch and found it fascinating. Each to their own.

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.

Good advice.

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.

Your final para sums it up perfectly Madashell.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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."