Comments on: Break a News Addiction in 30 Days

By: Nathan

Nathan — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:22:11 +0000

So true. I am a big current affairs addict. I need to kick the bucket of this habit. Newspapers/Magazines/Websites/CNN./etc.

Looks like I need to pick up a book and give its own time.

Starting my 30 days from today so will share how it went!

Please visit my blog (also starting from today) – http://escaping-paradise.blogspot.com/

Thanks
Nathan

By: Sarah

Sarah — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:39:09 +0000

I’m not quite as addicted to news itself as I am to speculation about what is coming up so I can be prepared for it. But it’s running my life. Any thoughts on how to overcome that?

By: Alex Shalman

Alex Shalman — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 21:58:58 +0000

I’m sorry to hear about the depression you’re going through surfmadpig – I can see how news would add to the negativity and generally not up lift your spirit.

If you are going to be watching TV – you can filter what you’re watching and choose an uplifting DVD. You can choose to go to websites where optimism and positivity are a given on any day of the week.

I hope everything works out for you and you’re feeling better. If there’s anything you want to further discuss or you have any questions you can always feel free to e-mail me. I would be more than happy to chat with you.

By: surfmadpig

surfmadpig — Sun, 29 Jul 2007 15:56:06 +0000

i definitely agree with you, especially this year, during which i suffered a case of mild depression, i found out how news would siege whatever was left of my optimism and devour it in a millisecond.

i’d already stopped watching tv years ago, but i frequently log on to social news and social bookmarking sites, where it’s very frequent that some very gruesome and depressing stories are upvoted.

i’ve found that what i can do is simply not click on the link, although even the headlines terrorize me sometimes..

By: cottage

cottage — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 13:00:36 +0000

… just kidding.. good luck with kicking the habit!.. I’m not a news junkie my self, but I’m an internet junkie for sure!

By: cottage

cottage — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:59:31 +0000

ahh come on… news ain’t that bad.. come on just try a little.. its free.. it’ll make you feel good…

By: Yuri

Yuri — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 17:26:38 +0000

I quit watching TV couple of years ago, and only watch occasional games by local team. I’m yet to quit dropping by news site few times a day, and I’m making progress in it. What I did is I installed RSS reader in my smartphone so I have the news in it and read whenever I’m stuck somewhere like traffic jam. This prevents me from reading the news at my desk and saves time which I’d rather spend on more productive things.

By: Alan

Alan — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:37:39 +0000

It’s true that negative news give a negative effect. But how are we going to learn from them if we don’t know what went wrong? Some of it may also happen to us, but with the knowledge we acquired from watching news, we have a high chance of avoiding the same scenario.

By: Fran

Fran — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 06:13:11 +0000

I agree that negative news will only bring us a negative view about the situation. However, there are facts which can be learned in different situation. We can’t always assume that they are all the same.

By: Lodewijkvdb

Lodewijkvdb — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 22:04:33 +0000

I wanted to react to your call for a Positive News Network. It reminded me of an experiment that our local newspaper (Eindhovens Dagblad; about 150k readers) had a while back.

They took up the challenge to make a positive newspaper, bringing the news of the day in a positive way. They printed it on pink paper (as if looking to the world through pink glasses) and added it to the regular newspaper.

It sure was a lot more positive and pleasant to read, however some news just isn’t positive. They found out that when you feel compelled to find the positive twist that it actually hurt the objectivity of the news.

But reading all the positive news alongside it, was a pleasant change. So a positive news-biased network would be a great addition

By: Anna

Anna — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 14:15:08 +0000

I am glad to read that someone else shares my dislike of the news. I stopped watching it a long time ago.. sometimes I’ll tune into CNN to see if anything important is going on internationally, but for the most part, I try to avoid the news for many reasons that you stated above.. i can see the impact that the news has on certain family members of mine who after watching the news everyday become fearful and somewhat paranoid to a small degree; taking precautions and not engaging in stupid activity is one thing (like not walking out at nite by yourself).. but you don’t need to hear about murders on the news to know that.. you can just use your common sense…listening to all that negativity just makes you have uneccessary fears and doubts that prevent you from having faith in the good things that can come about in life.. plus who knows if what we’re listening to is actually true- much of news is exagerrated, false, propaganda etc.. i’ll watch a half hour of Seinfeld or Friends over the news anyday..