Cultural Ritual of the News and “Being Informed”
Marla Skibbins MCC, CPCC
Founder of Level Up EQ, Providing Senior Leadership Development & Team Effectiveness Coaching for Organizations
I want to talk with you about something a little spicy today… most everyone I talk to has some kind of opinion about it: politics, news, and being informed.?Yes, I know, I know… but I am not going to have a partisan conversation with you. It is more about how people and their minds/brains/biology are being hijacked by the news about politics and issues that have been politicized. I want to discuss how news is used by either party to get our amygdala – a primitive part of the brain that controls our fight/flight/freeze mechanism – to engage.??
No matter what political persuasion you are, I imagine you have had a moment of sadness, anger, or fear come up at some point while ingesting the news.?During the days following the most recent election, I opened a check-in with my clients so they could voice how they were feeling about the election results.?I noticed that their concern and/or excitement were directly related to how much news they ingested.
The same was true before the election when people I knew were getting more and more agitated by the degree they watched the news.
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I am curious about what you think you really need to know.?Most likely you knew who you were going to vote for, or what the candidates supported. Most regional issues were handled by going and educating yourself via websites and conversations. You either did additional things like giving your time or money or both to causes or candidates that you felt strongly about. And you voted.
It is time to step away from the news.? What is done is done.?You are either happy about it or you are not.?Either way, do you need to keep “informing” yourself?? How will it make a difference to know? The fearful part of our brain thinks that if we are “informed” we can somehow control the outcome. It is a form of worry and being in a mild or sometimes extreme fight/flight/freeze state.?So, if you want to be resourceful to those who you can actually make a difference with, step away from the news, stop having your brain hijacked, and take back your happiness.?
Just saying!
Coach for Individuals, Relationships, and Teams | Leadership Expert
1 个月?? The news agency are now focused on selling advertising, not informing the public. So much sensationalization and amygdala hijacking! Toxic in my opinion.