izwozral
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Should we stop reading the news?
Mark Twain once said “If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.”
Apparently, being mis-informed is now a national habit. Many of us wake up, immediately reach for our phones, then scroll through the most recent news to see what's gone wrong overnight. Then all through the day, we'll keep checking as more and more bad news pours in, making us anxious and listless. But even if we wanted to it is now almost impossible to escape the news.
News addiction has become so widespread, more of us are glued to rolling updates than ever before. The problem is that it’s doing our physical and especially our mental health, no good at all. Scientists now know that the brain is continually reshaping. Nerve cells break off old connections and create new ones. This ever-developing process of renewal depends on our habits and choices.
Nicholas Carr, a leading researcher say's that our brains are being rewired to adapt to “cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning.” This means the neuronal circuits necessary for deep thought and careful reading are dwindling.
Even if you were once a serious bookworm who could think deeply about what you were reading, you might now find that your mind wanders after just five or six paragraphs. Even worse, you might find yourself involuntarily reaching for your phone.
In the words of neuroscientist Michael Merzenich of the University of California: “We are training our brains to just read crap.” Unfortunately, news consumption is a vicious cycle that’s hard to get out of. Sensational headlines with negative dialogue creates stress, which in turn weakens our willpower. Without the willpower to put our phones down or turn off our computers, we just consume more and more news. And so the pattern continues.
The key to breaking our news habit is by what's called radical abstinence. We need to make a complete break lasting 20 days or more of no news at all. This is impossible for me as I need to keep up to date with event's that might affect my Client's money or security, but if you can handle the significant withdrawal effects, it might be worth you giving it a try.
By the end of these 20 days, you should be feeling the benefits, a new calm and the ability to think more clearly. I don't know if this is achievable, especially during lockdown, but as we all come out into the light on the other side of this horrendous pandemic, the science shows that if we take significant steps to reduce our consumption of mainstream worthless and depressing news, it will make us feel so much better.
Mark Twain once said “If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed.”
Apparently, being mis-informed is now a national habit. Many of us wake up, immediately reach for our phones, then scroll through the most recent news to see what's gone wrong overnight. Then all through the day, we'll keep checking as more and more bad news pours in, making us anxious and listless. But even if we wanted to it is now almost impossible to escape the news.
News addiction has become so widespread, more of us are glued to rolling updates than ever before. The problem is that it’s doing our physical and especially our mental health, no good at all. Scientists now know that the brain is continually reshaping. Nerve cells break off old connections and create new ones. This ever-developing process of renewal depends on our habits and choices.
Nicholas Carr, a leading researcher say's that our brains are being rewired to adapt to “cursory reading, hurried and distracted thinking, and superficial learning.” This means the neuronal circuits necessary for deep thought and careful reading are dwindling.
Even if you were once a serious bookworm who could think deeply about what you were reading, you might now find that your mind wanders after just five or six paragraphs. Even worse, you might find yourself involuntarily reaching for your phone.
In the words of neuroscientist Michael Merzenich of the University of California: “We are training our brains to just read crap.” Unfortunately, news consumption is a vicious cycle that’s hard to get out of. Sensational headlines with negative dialogue creates stress, which in turn weakens our willpower. Without the willpower to put our phones down or turn off our computers, we just consume more and more news. And so the pattern continues.
The key to breaking our news habit is by what's called radical abstinence. We need to make a complete break lasting 20 days or more of no news at all. This is impossible for me as I need to keep up to date with event's that might affect my Client's money or security, but if you can handle the significant withdrawal effects, it might be worth you giving it a try.
By the end of these 20 days, you should be feeling the benefits, a new calm and the ability to think more clearly. I don't know if this is achievable, especially during lockdown, but as we all come out into the light on the other side of this horrendous pandemic, the science shows that if we take significant steps to reduce our consumption of mainstream worthless and depressing news, it will make us feel so much better.