I’ve always been a news junky. To use a phrase my hairdresser loves using, I am just that type of a person. You know, the type of person who follows catastrophic events like it’s the Oscars and Leonardo is finally getting one.
It is a horrendous habit. Not only does it take away a chunk of your time, and in my case severely limited personal time, I find it constantly emotionally depressing. Between ISIS, the destruction of historical statues in SA, babies getting raped, temperatures rising and the petrol price, the little bit of happy news out there is drowned under the constant flow of terrible things happening in the world.
So after being bombarded the last few weeks with depressing news, I decided to take a break from entering news sites. I allow myself entertainment news, because even when it’s bad news they are still ridiculous and make me laugh. I unfollowed every news site (sorry guys) and unsubscribed to email updates.
Herewith a list of things that happen when you stop reading the news:
- News will seep through. It may be on the radio, it might be a family member or a friend, it might be your enemy at work trying to make you like her. You will invariably hear some report of some event and it will seem like you took precautionary steps for no reason whatsoever.
- Your crazy aunt will feel the urge to keep tagging you in posts on Facebook about supporting right wing lunatics. I have come to really dislike the presence of older relatives on my Facebook. The young ones I can deal with and to be fair my hipster-grandma is really quite okay on social media. However, I have these two spinster aunts that are the bane of my existence for a number of reasons:
- Their spelling. It is the worst I’ve ever seen and it makes me want to cry.
- Their weirdness. If I see one more thing like “just because I like herbs and magick doesn’t mean I’m a witch” post I will book myself into a ward in a hospital and just rock myself to sleep tonight.
- You can’t delete family off of Facebook. It is asking for familial dramas and petulant Facebook statuses.
- I am so over rightwingers in this country already from both sides, I do not need my crazy family tagging me in posts. EVER.
- These are the people who created a group for Snape and Hermoine fanfiction, remember those, Zoë?
- You will have to stop going on Twitter, a.k.a. the fastest way on earth to get breaking news.
- Stop listening to radio and Stop watching television. Okay, delete humanity and social media altogether in your life.
- You will find ways to be on social media without ruining your day – here is a link to my Instagram account, where I am finally getting into the swing of things (I have four pics up, HELL YES FOR ME)
Ultimately, you will be happier. I love having general knowledge and keeping abreast of the current events, but it isn’t worth the irritation and distress the news is causing me. I might soon delete my Facebook account, becoming part of the large amount of people who just won’t deal with other people’s drama anymore.
Bonus: Your email inbox will decrease in volume and you will get to the emails that need attention, for reals.
Happy weekend!
Life of this city girl 
Great post bestie. It is why I stopped reading news as well!
Ugh, why would you remind me of something so heinous?! Every time I think I have scrubbed it from my memory, you bring it back!
Fruitsy Bkushi
It is so depressing!
I will not carry this burden alone 😀 😀
I frickin’ HATE drama.
Social media has its perks, but I got off FB for a while, and then curtailed a lot of my…not sure what the right term is…visibility? accessibility?…for my personal page there. Especially after some scary weirdness & drama went down. I’m still on there, mainly for promotion, but try to keep my Facebook presence limited, in regards to mass social interaction. And I’m a lot more careful about establishing…parameters?..and try not to disclose anything too personal while still keeping in touch with my propensity for open, honest communication.
I’ve found WordPress users/blog followers, so far, to be very supportive and encouraging! 🙂
Me too!
Social media can be amazing. However, Facebook can drive me up against the wall. People are way too weird on it!
I also really edit what I put on social media.. I think people forget too often that things can’t be deleted off the internet!
Nice post! Quitting social media and news sites is such a tough thing to do. I don’t like to do either very much, but every once in a while I’m filling up time by just “checking in”. I hope one day to curtail it altogether and these reminders of what I’ll gain will help. 😀
Great post! I wonder what the world will be like ten years from now when everyone goes postal because of receiving too much horrific information via social media and the news? I, too, must limit my news time. Sometimes I go weeks or months without ever knowing what is truly going on in the world.
Thanks! I’ve taken myself off news sites completely. They are just depressing and I think the media aren’t always beneficial to society because they deliberately look for drama.
Pingback: Love/Hate Tag | Life of this city girl