Turn off the news!

Hi all

Check out Alain De Botton giving this excellent speech about the effects of mainstream news. I saw him do this talk last night and it was very entertaining and insightful.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=I08u0eKvwUY

Enjoy!
Colly

 

Hi, Colly. I agree totally and seldom watch tv news because it's full of bad news or the
stories covered go on and on and on, like the missing airplane. We're "over-communicated."
News on tv is really just there to sell pharmaceuticals, new cars, and under arm deodorant.

I was a Chicago Tribune reporter for 7 years, most of it covering crime and disasters, and
finally quit because every story began to sound alike. Just the names and locations were different.

I got tired of covering bad news and became a freelance writer of "good news" articles and books
that helped people.

I am not digging my head in the sand because it's impossible not to learn one way or another
what major events are happening. I just want to feed my mind with happier, more positive thoughts.

Thanks for posting the Alain De Bottom video. He got it right!

 

Hi Walt, I never watch the news now, but have my alarm radio set to the local station, and every Monday morning it wakes me up with a scary story about something. It even has the Jaws music playing in the background! I found myself lying in bed listening in fear to these stories, and rather than feeling rested from a good night's sleep, I'd be anxious about nasty things happening in the world. Now I leap out of bed, go to my stretch room and play Dr Emmett Miller instead.

Check out Alain De Botton's other stuff, and his books are great also. He's written nearly as many as you!;-)

 

I'm with you guys. No news for me! Somehow I get the important stuff through other channels.

 

I used to have my clock radio on a stand beside my bed turned so it woke me up with classical music,
but sometimes I got the morning news and it was as you said, Colly, about something bad that was
happening. Usually another murder in Chicago.

So months ago I stopped waking up with the radio and even turned the clock part of it to a wall
because if I wake up in the wee hours of the morning I don't want to know what time it is or
that could keep me awake.

I just wake up now when my biological clock wakes me up, like Annie's does in her.
And I tell myself it's going to be a nice, easy day. Maybe even the best day ever.

When I am up I don't turn on the tv. I learn about the news reading an online newspaper
for local weather and any news. If the news is more bad stuff, I turn it off.

Annie doesn't know what the weather is going to be like and has no idea people are
killing each other in crimes or wars, and she's one happy doggie!