Simply..hooked?

I tried (and failed) to take a complete break from the news lately. (See this post.)

It was very hard!

They've got me hooked. I'm interested in politics and how the world works, and I suppose I like to think I'm a well informed, dutiful citizen. I'm a quick reader and good at skimming and I skim The Times, The Guardian, Time magazine, The New Yorker and BBC news on iPlayer. I've not had a television for a very long time and I don't listen to the news on the hour every hour on radio. (I truly believe we humans were not designed for this and that it is probably very bad for our mental health!) So I maybe spend about 30 - 40 minutes a day on news and current affairs. And you?

That felt still too much lately.

The photographs of dead children washed up on beaches - what can I say? You too were  distressed and haunted by them.

I realized that I'd gradually got into the habit of checking the headlines every time I was on the computer.

I did cut back to once a day at a time of my own choosing, and I missed a few days altogether. I felt the better for it and behold! the world carried on in it's usual way without me. Huh! Imagine.

So my break wasn't really a break but I think I have a better perspective on how much I really need to know what the world's bad news is (and it's mostly bad). Reassuring in an odd way as it is only because it is out of the ordinary that it is news. If the deaths/traumas/disasters/cruelties/political scandals and other horrors were the norm they would not be news. ('I feel sure there is a flaw in this argument - feel free to explain it to me....)

I may try mini-breaks. Avoiding media at week-ends perhaps.

I want to thank you for the supportive comments on the 'Hard To Be Light' post. Lotta's words were particularly interesting and helpful to me. I love that this blog is a two-way thing.

On a lighter note - this is how the acer by the grey shed looked at sunset recently. Luminous. Even the swans were pink.