Protect youirself from the news

To begin let’s make some distinctions. When I was growing up the function of the news was to inform you about things going on in the world. The function of entertainment was to provide some amusement or engrossing story to give you some relief from the ordinariness of your life. The function of advertising was to capture your attention long enough to get you interested in their product.

Today all those distinctions have merged and morphed into one primary delivery system, the screen of your cell phone or TV. They all share one purpose, increase the time you devote to watching that screen, and they all profit from increased screen time. The entertainment products embed advertising within them, the ad industry leverages entertainment figures to sell their products, and the news outlets focus their visual presentations to activate alarm and fear responses which will keep you watching through the advertisements. All three measure their success in minutes of your one precious lifetime that they have captured your attention.

This week it is the LA fires that the news media is leveraging to capture your attention. Any highly visual footage will be used to lead out the News, and the real, insightful sharing of information is very much secondary to throwing out those impactful visuals.

Mind you, the LA fires are a tragedy, and unfortunately one in a long list of fire tragedies which will only get longer. Last year was the hottest year on Earth on record and that record may not stand for very long. The media outlets want to keep showing horrific images of those fires for the sake of keeping you alarmed and keeping your eyes on their screen. That’s money in the bank for them.

Unfortunately, the brain at its most primitive level cannot distinguish between image and reality. As you watch, your body is releasing stress responses every time you look at those flames. Chronic stress negatively impacts the immune system and reduces your lifespan.

Learn what you need to learn from the news, but then turn away from the repeated videos of raging fires, terrorists, murders, or incendiary political speeches, for the sake of your own health.