I’ve been a news junkie most of my adult life. Until this year, I never understood how watching the news was an obstacle to personal growth.

The quality of what you produce is directly related to the quality of the thoughts you allow into your mind.

Now I’m sorry to do this, but I’m only doing it to make a point.

I took a screen shot of a local news website tonight – many nights it’s much worse:

Why do I need to know this stuff? So I can stand in the cul-de-sac discussing murder with my neighbors? What is the reason to allow this negativity into my mind? None of these things are actionable, so they serve no purpose other than to anger, shock, or depress me. News gives people a distorted negative world view.

No wonder the traditional media is losing its market share. Why does news need to be violent and negative? Why not a PNN, a positive news network? Please, one of you ambitious entrepreneurs in this audience… start one!

For every one of these violent tragedies, there are a hundred stories about a people creating value and joy in other people’s lives.

Those are the stories I want to read. I want to read about people that overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to do tremendous things. I want to read about the guy who decided he wanted to golf every day, and made a business out of it. I want to hear about the woman who faced down the government regulators and opened a holistic wellness center. I want to hear about bloggers like you that are changing the world.

I don’t believe in avoiding everything that is negative, but if you can’t change something, it is better not to think about it.

For example, if you look in the mirror and see yourself as overweight, you could think about being thinner, imagine what it would feel like to be thinner, and then actively make a plan to exercise and eat healthy. You have the power to change you. If someone across the street is sick and needs you to watch their children, you can help. But watching negative news stories on television filling your mind with negative events which you have no power to change is dangerous and can lead to a sense of powerlessness and depression. Also the sensational feelings of fear these stories produce becomes addictive.

I was addicted to cable news for over ten years. I gave up news in September of 2006, when I began blogging. Occasionally I slip back (mostly reading Reditt or Stumble Upon), but mostly I learn about big news events through conversations with other people.

Scaling back consumption of news resulted in these positive things:

• More time listening to my kids
• More time listening to my wife
• Positive conversations
• Optimistic outlook
• More time to communicate with you
• Building a blog
• Building a deck
• Reading
• Writing
• Forming relationships
• Cleaning up my immediate environment – clearing the buckthorn from my property, which is an invasive non-indigenous plant

These are just a few of the results of giving up news. I don’t miss the news. It added nothing to my life or the lives of those around me.

I challenge you to give up the news for 30 days and then link back here telling us about the results. If it doesn’t create positive results, you can always go back to it if you wish, but I doubt you will.

By Guest Blogger Steve Olson – For People Pursuing Freedom ^[1]

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