Media Overload
Today on my walk down by the beach I came across a tearful young lady. I sat down on the bench beside her pretending that I just needed to take a rest from my walk, and I asked her how her day was going, she burst into tears, and she said that she was just not feeling like the world was going in the right direction. When I asked her why she felt like that she said every day in the morning I watch the news and I hear about covid, the war, the rising economy, the suffering of people in Ukraine, then I feel really bad all day and then I watch the evening news and I feel like the updates get worse and worse.
I wondered if a lot of people feel like that. I know that media has a role to play. However, is it a good or bad effect on people?
I think about when I was in disaster management and how the few leaders would get together in the morning to have a briefing to understand what the situation was but of course we didn’t put this information out to the public because it would be too devastating to hear day after day despair or tragedy so, of course, we kept it among the few leaders. Then what we would release to the public was pertinent information that would help keep them safe and make sure that they felt supported and uplifted. I feel in the last 3 years the media has lost the understanding of doing this job and what the role of media is. No longer is it to support the people but more to sell the news and gather ratings.
You can not listen to hopelessness and tragic results day after day and not be affected. I think about the last 3 years with covid we’ve heard a daily update a few times a day and if I was listening to that it would be hard it might even make me lose hope. I would stress about what’s coming next and I feel like when there’s no hope it’s hard to manage your day-to-day activities.
As I was chatting with this young lady it became very evident to me that she was suffering from anxiety caused by media overload. When I asked her why she needed to listen to the news twice a day she said, “well to be informed of course” Then I asked her what would happen if she didn’t listen to the news? What would happen if maybe once a week you went to a source to get an update? She thought perhaps she would be missing some very important information. I asked her if these are the same important updates that have you crying sitting on a bench at the beach?
Maybe being plugged into negative sources is a detriment to our well-being. Today when she went for a walk along the beach, she really enjoyed it she took her time and looked at the lake the smiling people that were walking outside, the dogs that were playing, and a few children that were on the beach.
So maybe the lesson here is to live in the moment and surround ourselves with POSITIVES as much as we can. We always gravitate to the negative or the unknown fear. What if we just try to breathe in the air and feel the sunshine on our faces. Smile at others and say hello to those that pass by. Have hope!!
Learn More‘Keep your face to the sun and you will never see the shadows.’
– Helen Keller