Why I Stopped Watching The News, And I'm Glad I Did

Are you distracted by breaking news? Then take some leisure time to learn something good, and stop bouncing around- Marcus Aurelius

I’m not one to typically watch the news. I know, I know, that’s bad for me and I should be more informed and blah blah blah. But the thing is, between the screaming pundits and sensationalized stories, it just doesn’t feel like a very positive or productive use of my time. This year, I made the decision to stop watching it altogether. And you know what? It’s been great! Here are three reasons why I stopped watching the news, and why you might want to consider doing the same:

1) It can be depressing – Between natural disasters, terrorist attacks, mass shootings, and political scandals, there’s a lot of negativity on TV news. It can be really hard to stay positive when all you’re seeing is world in decline. So why not just cut it out and focus on the good stuff?

2) It makes you feel powerless – Here’s a newsflash: Bad things happen . And when we immerse ourselves in the stories of these bad things, we can start to feel like there’s nothing we can do to stop them or change them or fix them. But there are literally millions of people all over the world working to make things better. And you’re one of them! So get out there and get to work!

3) It keeps us feeling victimized – When I was watching TV news all day, every day, I had this sense that the world was conspiring against me. I felt like bad things kept happening to me and good things never happened at all. And in a way, that was true! Because when you focus on what’s going wrong with the world , it can feel like nothing is ever going right for you . So why not try focusing on what’s going right instead?

I’m still keeping up with most of the stuff that used to be important to me. However, most people don’t do this, and there’s a good chance you don’t either. If we collected all the time spent reading the news each day, I wonder how it would compare to our estimated ten hours of leisure time?

I think most people don’t change because they are afraid. We mistakenly believe that reading the news is an effective way to learn about what’s going on in the world. We aren’t good at realizing what we don’t know.

I’ve realized that knowing what’s going on isn’t nearly as important or challenging to achieve as most people think. The news has become its entity, overrated and overhyped by many people who aren’t aware of this (myself included).

The majority of journalists are focused on telling a good story rather than the one right next to it. Like their colleagues in other occupations, these people are also under deadline pressure from editors to provide enough material for their readers. The news is sensationalized with sound bytes, cliff-hangers, and so on.

The public is known to prefer bad news. Many journalists know this and exploit it to increase their viewership. Some do a good job, but many sensationalize or dramatize events to get more traffic.

What if someone breaks into my house? What if terrorists attack? I heard about this thing that happened over here, that might occur over there. If you listened to the news every day, you’d have a mental picture of going about your daily business, being afraid of all kinds of things going wrong. You’d be better off just thinking about what’s most likely to happen each day… it’s not very scary at all (unless you live in a warzone).

What you think about you bring about. Your whole life is a manifestation of the thoughts that go on in your head— Rhonda Byrne

I don’t mean to say that if you lived in a warzone, the news might not be that relevant. I’m saying that generally speaking, most people can’t do anything about what’s going on in the world.

Read : Why Everyone Should Watch Less News

For example – if someone told me that there was an earthquake in India right now or that someone got killed by pirates in Somalia, just a few hundred miles from where I’m writing this post. It might not be appropriate to say ‘who cares,’ but it’s true that the vast majority of people do not have anything to do with these events and can’t affect them either.

Be curious, not needy.

We don’t need to know every last detail about what’s going on in the world. We should understand the main trends and who the most important players are. This will help us make better decisions about our lives and how we want to spend our time (income).

The news makes you feel like everything is constantly changing and that you need to pay attention if you want to keep up with it all. Those stories are usually about one-off events rather than the significant long-term trends that affect people’s lives.

Read : 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found a Self-Help That Actually Works – A true Story of Nightline anchor Dan Harris embarks on an unexpected, hilarious, and deeply skeptical odyssey through the strange worlds of spirituality and self-help, and discovers a way to get happier that is truly achievable.  After having a nationally televised panic attack on Good Morning America, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes.

Being aware of these long-term trends can help you make better decisions, and it’s as simple as just reading a couple of books per year on those topics. I’ve read more than ten so far and find that my knowledge of the world is much more accurate, and it helped me make better decisions (like changing my news habits).

This year, I finally feel like I ‘understand’ what’s going on in the world, whereas my mind was filled with unnecessary worrying before that. If you want to be successful in the long run, then focus on your own life and do your best to keep up with the significant trends as much as possible. Don’t worry too much about what you can’t control. Most of the news is entirely useless.

On a related note, I also read a lot of books on neuroscience, how our brains work, etc. Maybe it’s because I’m a guy, but I was interested in all of that.

I would read articles every day about the brain and how it creates our beliefs and thoughts, why we behave the way we do, how we can change ourselves for the better etc.

Anyway, most of those books told me things that seemed extremely obvious: ‘the brain is like a computer, ‘you need to wire it upright if you want results’, etc.

I wonder how many people out there are doing that? I didn’t, except for using my iPhone! Imagine what could have happened if I had applied all the things I learned from reading those books…

It seems that most people just read a few books every year and do nothing with the information. They use it to write Facebook posts or come up with clever things to say at dinner parties. Big deal!

Just one book per month can add years of experience, understanding, and wisdom to your life. Just think about what you could accomplish if you applied that knowledge in your life. It takes about 10,000 hours to become good at something, so think of how much you could accomplish if you dedicated that time to becoming your best self.

I’d be willing to bet that you’ll read more books every year once they start adding up…to whatever it is you want to achieve in your life.

So, I think books are the best form of education. You can learn more in 6 months by reading one book per week than six years in school!

(this is not an exaggeration ).

If you want to be successful maybe it makes sense to prioritize time for reading good quality books over watching TV or spending time on social media?

Of course, it’s not easy to understand every single detail in a book the first time you read it – but don’t let that stop you from reading an important book. You can skim and find out what makes sense for you and then go back and re-evaluate everything once you gain more perspective on the world.

I realized recently how many of the books I’ve read have a common theme:

‘This is how the world works – now go out and do your best to make it work for you.’

I’m not saying the news has no value, but for me it’s just too much. It can be overwhelming and stressful to see so many people in danger every day, all over the world. But I feel better knowing that if something bad is happening somewhere else far away from my home or family then there are other people who are already on top of it–I don’t have to do anything about it myself. If you’re feeling overwhelmed by what’s going on in our society today, take a step back with me and consider whether your daily dose of  news is really worth watching any more! And even if you want to watch some evening programming after work, think about limiting yourself to one hour per night instead of five hours