The bad news about bad news

To all the news junkies out there…

Watching just 3 minutes of negative news before 10 am increases the likelihood you’ll report having an unhappy day 6-8 hours later.

Worth it? I don’t think so.

Real life can be challenging enough – let’s not hand over the keys to our good day to whatever some news channel decides to put in the headlines.

This might not be news to you (sorry, not sorry), but it struck me this week as social media feeds exploded with fired up folks post-debate.

So I ask myself...why do this to ourselves?

Maybe you’ll make the case that we need to engage in the events that matter in the world. I agree, but maybe the ‘news’ isn’t the best way.

I started digging for the bad news about news and I found this relic from the Guardian. The points made are, at least, worth considering. Highlights below:

• News is irrelevant. Out of the approximately 10,000 news stories you have read in the last 12 months, name one that – because you consumed it – allowed you to make a better decision about a serious matter affecting your life, your career or your business.
• News is not good for your nervous system. ?Panicky stories spur the release of cascades of cortisol. This deregulates your immune system and inhibits the release of growth hormones.
• News increases cognitive errors. News feeds the mother of all cognitive errors: confirmation bias. In the words of Warren Buffett: "What the human being is best at doing is interpreting all new information so that their prior conclusions remain intact."
• News works like a drug. As stories develop, we want to know how they continue. With hundreds of arbitrary storylines in our heads, this craving is increasingly compelling and hard to ignore.
• News makes us passive. News stories are overwhelmingly about things you cannot influence. It grinds us down until we adopt a worldview that is pessimistic, desensitised, sarcastic and fatalistic.

Still think news is worth consuming? Maybe. Either way, try this…

Avoid all news early in the day. Take up pancake art, Duolingo or tai chi instead, and see how you feel.

Or better yet… go out and create some good news. You’ve got to have some good stories to share. The world needs it.

Worth it? I think so.