No News is Good News

My first post! I’ve had it in mind to start blogging for a while, but yesterday I finally got the motivation I needed. I read the news…it was awful, as usual, and I realized that I needed to break my addiction. Not my internet addiction, just my news addiction. It’s not really an addiction that I enjoy every time I engage in it, just when something big happens. But there’s always that possibility. I guess my internal news monster was created because of stuff like the Bush/Gore election controversy, and then of course 9/11. Those were big stories. Then after they died down, I still checked the news every day. No, multiple times a day. So yesterday morning I sat down to read the Drudge Report and Fox News online, probably around 6:30 am when I was giving my baby a bottle. Immediately I noticed the story about a woman who had killed her kids – how horrible! I never miss those, and even if I don’t read them, the headline sticks with me and I wonder about it. Other murders, too, and bombs and shootings that go with war and terrorism. Politicians that hate. Athletes that are cheating at their games or in jail for being idiots. The celebration of all sex, gay and straight, and the utter chasm where morals and ethics used to exist. I found myself cringing, and shaking my head, and disappointed, and bothered. Why do I need this? It dawned on me that I don’t. Do I really need to know about Michael Jackson, or Scott Peterson, or Ted Kennedy, or Andrea Yates, or Jessica Simpson, or Paris Hilton, or Lindsay Lohan, or any news celebrity? I don’t think so. And the stories really aren’t very interesting, only mindless time-fillers. I think they’re collectively polluting my brain and turning me into a news zombie. Now, I am not advocating crawling into a hole of total isolation from culture and current events. I should know when there is a 9/11 or a war or a Katrina event. I should know where I stand politically and I should vote. I should know what to beware of for myself and my family. But beyond that, I really think the news is a waste of time. Have you noticed that it isn’t just news? Not only do they tell you the facts, but they have to help you process it – otherwise there wouldn’t be enough fodder for a 24 hour news station. And one story can be milked for days on end, with multiple articles when there really is no new information. And of course, differening opinions always have to be represented by two or more people who won’t stop yelling at each other.

I had gotten pretty tired of cable news a while back. It started to grate on my nerves the way the stories were reported with the specially designed ominous music and graphics, and the catchy titles for every event. The anchors seemed more and more like vultures, eagerly waiting for a tragic story to report, wiping away the fake tear while privately rubbing their hands together with excitement. Even worse, watching the news made me feel like a vulture myself. I would never watch (or read) the news and feel happy after a slow news day where nothing bad or controversial had happened. The feel-good stories just aren’t as exciting as the mass cult suicides, if you know what I mean. I am the first to admit that I have a certain morbid interest in such things, but enough already. I need to move on with my life! I started watching less cable news, but didn’t want to get out of touch, so I still perused the headlines online several times a day. Now I find that even browsing the headlines is a real downer. So I’m quitting, cold turkey.

It’s been about 36 hours since I started my news blackout. I still come over to the computer, but I am doing other things. I have this blog, for one, and if I am really stumped at what to do online, I can always write here. I have checked the weather, and read other blogs, and cleared out some of my inbox. I’ve listened to music on yahoo. I’ve played a lot of JT’s Blocks and Text Twist. I know there are a lot of great sites to visit that I have filed away somewhere but never gotten to because I was too busy reading the news. I am embarking on a new adventure! Who knows where it will take me…