“Also I consider how the nation has weathered past periods of “ current events”, much of which was carried out in secret.”
Interesting perspective. Worth pondering.
Adding: not sure it’ll do if for me, though.
Another distraction which has led me down the rabbit hole is opening a Ancestry.com account. Doing genealogy has been a very fun distraction and reminds me how previous generations have also had challenging times!
Not to mention if you are a woman during the colonial period and had upwards of 10+ kids you probably found most of life WAS a distraction.
I am also in the camp that feels it is not good to disconnect. I kind of lean into the problem. I do try to consume info from sources that are less histrionic.
I am probably letting some bias slip through, but I find comedic news much more accurate and less stressful.
I am also a programmer by trade, so I try to do fact checking while I polish my data science skills. It is impossible to do so, but I try to reverse my opinions and biases by finding data that refutes the way that I feel about an issue.
Things are rarely as good or as bad as news programs make them out to be. There are exceptions of course. False equivalencies drive me batty.
Finding the data and trying to figure out how to tease the truth out of it is enormously satisfying and relaxing for me.
But then, I am a little strange…
I think some have misinterpreted my initial post or I didn’t communicate clearly…
I’m not advocating anyone drop out, disengage or put their head in the sand rather I’m saying I know I’ve needed to take a break from and/or dial back on the 24/7 news coverage that is quite depressing.
I work with MS kids and found after listening to my morning news I’d arrive to work completely annoyed, disheartened and generally negative. That doesn’t bode well when you have to assure our next generation that they matter and have a vested interest in participating and staying engaged.
I’m simply looking for productive and life preserving activities and balance :-)…if it exists.
I grew up with a father who valued information and current events. When we arrived each morning at the hospital when he was dying he’d say, “did you bring me The New York Times?”. We all discussed and dissected the news when I was a teenager and we didn’t stop if we didn’t like what we saw or read. I can’t stop, won’t stop now. It doesn’t depress me, it motivates me.
I actually watch more news now than I did before, but I watch more stations, even those whose POV’s I don’t ascribe to to find out how they think. I am of the school that thinks you can never have too much information.
What I do watch for relaxation is true crime, like Deadly Women, snapped, Homicide Hunter and almost anything on Crime and Investigation and I try not to miss Jeopardy. It appeals to my competitive streak.
On the other hand, a flood of garbage can mean that finding out the true story can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Looking at news from places you usually agree and do not agree with can be useful, but (in both cases) you have to use care with those outlets that deliberately lie, are so sloppy about fact checking that they regularly publish false things, or are themselves easily misled into believing lies promoted by others. Also, even with more trustworthy (in these ways) outlets, with some of them, you have to treat all articles as opinions and editorials.
Sigh a lot … sure do miss the days of my childhood when most people watched the same, unbiased news source. I used to think the news my parents watched was boring, but now I wish we could go back to David Brinkley and Chet Huntley or Walter Cronkite. (OK, I do like that there is more newscaster diversity. I just don’t like the divisiveness of today’s reporting. in search or rating.)
@ucbalumnus - You are absolutely correct. I began college as a journalism major and even after I switched to poli sic, I continued to be involved in journalism. I am a fairly educated consumer of news media and can judge for myself what I believe to be real as opposed to “fake” in terms of news. I don’t take much of what I see or read at face value. In many instances, the search for the truth is like a game of compare and contrast. After you do that, the question is what is still left standing that can be believed. I never watched certain purveyors of “news” before last year, but now I pay attention to them. In the morning, I often watch all 3 major networks, as well as CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. I listen to which stories each one emphasizes and, just as importantly, deemphasizes, how much time is spent on a particular story, where it is placed in the newscast and the like, as each are important to my determination. This isn’t actually something I think about consciously. In fact, I had to think about what I do and how to categorize it to formulate this response.
I will also add that, for the most part, I watched TV news with my kids as they were growing up. The only time we didn’t watch the news was for a couple of weeks after 9/11 as it was too close to home. Eventually, we began allowing the 2 oldest (then 10 and 11) to watch the early news with us so we could talk about it. I felt it important to help them develop discerning viewing habits when I could still exert some influence, LOL!
I enjoyed reading this thread. Count me in if there’s a virtual knitting club. Too many UFOs in my bedroom.
As for news … I avoid TV and don’t have cable, but newspapers and NPR are essential to me. But for the days when I can’t bear hearing a certain voice, I have started a new project: playing all the songs on my ipod in A-Z order. I’ve gotten to the middle of the H’s since the election.
I am looking forward to watching the Olympics. It will help me avoid the negative news cycle (although I listen to NPR every day in the car). It doubles as a great distraction while we wait for college decisions!
I may the only person around who doesn’t like NPR. Oldest son loves it and I listen to it when he is driving as our rule is it’s driver’s choice on radio.
In addition to NPR, I watch the Newshour on PBS.It’s a solid hour (no commercials) of intelligent news and commentary.
I don’t have cable, just a digital antenna.
I listen to NPR while driving around, but not so much at home. Have never been able to watch TV news. We get the local paper every day and the New York Times on the weekend. For distraction - it’s work, college confidential, sci fi novels (or other fiction), gardening, and crossword puzzles. I’ve done some knitting and I wish I were a knitter at heart, but I’m not. I’d like to go back to doing more watercolor painting, it just doesn’t seem to fit into my life right now.
Duplicate bridge. It’s a great distraction from all sorts of problems.
I like to read the news online. Every week or so, I’ll watch some clips from YouTube and catch up on more news, with humor. Seth Meyers, Samantha Bee, John Oliver, Trevor Noah, etc.
I love audiobooks and podcasts, and walking the dog.