These days, the news is a huge source of chronic ongoing stress and for some people, may be one of their largest sources of stress. Why do we put ourselves through it?
I think it’s helpful to think about your Information Diet in a similar way to your Food Diet. Are you exposing yourself to ideas that are nourishing or junk? Are you stuffing yourself? Are you taking breaks between consumption?
I find that many people have an unconscious belief that it’s irresponsible not to consume news on a daily basis. I want to challenge that and ask you where that belief comes from and if it’s really true?
From an evolutionary standpoint, we weren’t designed to have access to all the world events all the time and in many ways trying to do so is making us sick.
If you feel called to keep up your daily news habits, in can be helpful to follow a few guidelines:
- Set time limits - 10 minutes or less is enough time to see overall headlines
- Consider sites dedicated to positive news like the Good News Network
- Consider taking a news fast of a week and see what happens
