No News is Good News
It is the beginning of Spring and many folks have either started new resolutions for Lent or have abandoned those they began for New Years. While I haven't made any New Year's resolutions, I do participate in Lent and have decided to make this year's Lenten sacrifice (?) a giving up of my daily online news addiction. Truth be told, it really only included homicides, child abuse trials and middle eastern violence/politics). I'm a crime news junkie--and not one of those I-need-to-keep-up-with-what-is-going-on-in-the-world-so-that-I-can-feel-somewhat-socially-responsible, but an addicted to murder trials and the newest whooping cough tragedies type. It wasn't helping me develop as a person and it certainly wasn't helping me sleep at night.
The first few days were tough--my iPod is bookmarked and after reading my morning emails, my first impulse is to check the big mainstream headlines, then onto the independent news outlets. I could easily spend an hour or two scanning down the headlines, completely immersed in the tiny computer in front of me, unaware of the chalk designs my kids were drawing or the clouds speeding overhead or the smell of coffee in my kitchen. It was truly a waste of time, and while I at first felt deprived of knowing what was going on in the world, I told my friends that if something truly momentous occurred I would know about it. And the very next day--Japan had an earthquake. And I heard about it, within moments of it happening.
It shouldn't have been a surprise, but I didn't need those headlines in the first place. They didn't really add to my knowledge (just my anxiety), they didn't enrich my day, and they actually sucked hours out of my life that I could have spent breathing--really breathing--not poised over my iPod, brows furrowed, heart breaking at every little tragedy from here to Mumbai. I can actually start putting my time and energy toward making the world a better place, not despairing as I read about the world's sorry state. Those first few days of withdrawal were tough, but now that I'm free of the shackles, my morning coffee's never tasted so good.
The first few days were tough--my iPod is bookmarked and after reading my morning emails, my first impulse is to check the big mainstream headlines, then onto the independent news outlets. I could easily spend an hour or two scanning down the headlines, completely immersed in the tiny computer in front of me, unaware of the chalk designs my kids were drawing or the clouds speeding overhead or the smell of coffee in my kitchen. It was truly a waste of time, and while I at first felt deprived of knowing what was going on in the world, I told my friends that if something truly momentous occurred I would know about it. And the very next day--Japan had an earthquake. And I heard about it, within moments of it happening.
It shouldn't have been a surprise, but I didn't need those headlines in the first place. They didn't really add to my knowledge (just my anxiety), they didn't enrich my day, and they actually sucked hours out of my life that I could have spent breathing--really breathing--not poised over my iPod, brows furrowed, heart breaking at every little tragedy from here to Mumbai. I can actually start putting my time and energy toward making the world a better place, not despairing as I read about the world's sorry state. Those first few days of withdrawal were tough, but now that I'm free of the shackles, my morning coffee's never tasted so good.
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