I used to read/watch the news. Than in around 1983 my dad got a new job – at the local newspaper. Suddenly the news was EVERYTHING. We had months worth of free newspapers stacked all over the house (research?). All the local newspapers were stacked on the table, on the chairs, on the floor, in the car. I was a teenager at the time.
Well, before this point, my reading newspapers was as such: I started with the comics, went on to the advice columns, checked out the book/movie/theater/restaurant reviews, read the obituaries, than scanned the headlines to see if any news of interest caught my attention (stuff involving pets, nature, animals, local businesses, etc). Wars, sports, stocks, earthquakes, death, shootings, those things bored me, so I avoided them. (I was a kid, what did I care about that “adult” stuff?)
Skipping ahead. My dad worked for the newspaper for 21 years. In that time my life became filled with the darkest side of mankind – murder, war, illness, starvation, shootings, drug raids, more murder, this group hates that group, riots, death, violence, bloodshed…and all because every day the only conversation any one in the house had was, “Let’s see what’s going on in the news today.”…”What article will be in the paper tomorrow?” Etc, etc, etc. News, crime, war, hate, death, became the only topics discussed over dinner, around the tv, in the garden, on the beach…in short news, esp really bad news, became the only thing the family cared about, all day, every day. There was no break from it.
Granted it was understandable, I mean it was my dad’s job and all, but I just plain got sick of it. I found the whole thing morbid and depressing. News seemed to focus only on the bad things, glamorizing and glorifying hate and bloodshed. It made me sick. It made me depressed. It made me hate the news.
Today, many years later, as an adult, I do not read the newspapers or watch the news reports. I do read the tiny community papers still, you know the type which give updates and reviews on local businesses and the results of last week’s town counsel meeting and who planted what in their garden last week, how many lobster old George brought in last night, that sort of thing, but world news? BAH! World news can drop off a cliff for all I care. It’s too depressing for my tastes. I have better things to do with my time than focus on morbid world events.
I became homeless after a flood in 2006. I have not had a TV since. Life without TV = freedom. More time to do more things.
Life without TV News = antidepressant. Less worry about what is happening to people in places I’ve never heard of, less worry about the US economy. I remember when I first heard about the 9-11 attack…what really, it did? When? Than there was the Iraq War… what, when did we go to war again? That many years ago? Huh. First I heard of it.
It’s weird, but these BIG events that people worry and fret about (and years ago, I too worried and fret about), I now find out about them 4 or 5 years after they happened, and I can look back on them and think…boy am I glad I didn’t know about that, it certainly didn’t effect my life and I would have been so depressed with worry had I known about it.
My life has been much better (emotional health wise) since both news and TV have been removed from it.
This post was written by Wendy C Allen aka EelKat, is copyrighted by The Twighlight Manor Press and was posted on Houseless Living @ http://houselessliving.blogspot.com and reposted at EK’s Star Log @ http://eelkat.wordpress.com and parts of it may also be seen on http://www.squidoo.com/EelKat and http://laughinggnomehollow.proboards.com If you are reading this from a different location than those listed above, please contact me Wendy C. Allen aka EelKat @ http://laughinggnomehollow.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=viewprofile and let me know where it is you found this post. Plagiarism is illegal and I DO actively pursue offenders. Unless copying a Blog Meme, you do not have permission to copy anything appearing on this blog, including words, art, or photos. This will be your only warning. Thank you and have a glorious day! ~ EelKat
(Picture of Stephen King’s house in Bangor, ME, was taken by Wendy C. Allen on March 10, 2006)
