This is What Happens When You Stop Watching the News
“One reason that cats are happier than people is that they have no newspapers.” — Gwendolyn Brooks
A few years after finishing drama school a funny thing happened. I started roaming the aisles of my favorite book stores (remember those?) looking for biographies on politicians and world leaders instead of books on Marlon Brando and James Dean.
I was suddenly enamored by politics and the world beyond the stage.
I even applied to grad school for a masters in public policy convinced I’d shape important legislation and be a molder of consensus. I’d sit in acting classes daydreaming about famous speeches or ways I could make an impact in my community.
I didn’t listen to the news. I devoured it.
I’d start my day off with NPR, read The Economist, and often spend an entire Sunday morning huddled over a cup of tea scouring the newspaper.
I didn’t realize it, but I was beginning and ending my day with car chases, deficits, robberies, and murders. It took years for me to appreciate the impact this deluge of negative information was having on my psyche.
I felt my normally buoyant spirit suddenly weighed down. My body was quite literally taking on the stress of the world. And my inability to do everything ultimately prevented me from doing anything about the awful things I was reading about.
All of this information wasn’t helping a thing.
Yes, I knew more, and suppose I’d have been decent company at a cocktail party, but I was well-informed about issues I couldn’t directly influence.
I was also blinded by the fact the news wasn’t informing me as much as it was instilling fear in me.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s profoundly important, and even a moral obligation for a respected citizenry to find ways, however small, to contribute to the betterment of its community; and one can only do that if they’re dialed in on the important issues of the time.
But I also think we can delude ourselves (I know I did) in believing that by simply informing ourselves we’re somehow better off. In fact, I think the opposite is often true. We find echo chambers; communities that confirm our biases and work ourselves up over information that is often (a) inaccurate (b) insignificant in the long-run and (c) not within our sphere of influence.
The truth is, very few things are actually worth our time.
MOST of life is noise.
If you can find ways to filter through those distractions you give yourself a fighting chance to focus on what really matters in the remarkably limited time you have.

Last year I decided to go on a “news detox” and am happy to report the results have been overwhelmingly positive. I’m happier, calmer, and still somehow know enough to be informed.
The difference is I now put my energy towards issues I can influence, which I’ve discovered starts with the quality of my presence in the world.
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