Would you be feeling too deprived if you didn’t watch the news or knew what was going on in the world for a day? If you tried to only watch programs that makes you laugh like comedies or other enrichment programs on the television or even bury your head in a book for an entire day; or just focus on family and didn’t listen to the news of the day, could you do it?
I’ve done it before and believe me, when I went back to the television to catch up on the news I missed I turned it off in disgust because it made me so sad. All they seem to report about are the terrors and mishaps that happened here and all over the world! While knowing what’s going on in the world is important (and of course I want to know) I just think its disheartening hearing nothing but bad news.
That’s why sometimes I keep my television tuned on to the Style Network or the decorating channel or just watch cartoons with my daughter and then listen to the major news in the evenings. I remember once I was watching the news and my daughter and son were in the room with me; I can’t remember what they were reporting about but it was something horrible at the time. They both got so upset about what they heard I had to calm them down and switch the channel! Man I was surprised at their reaction. They actually felt scared and thought the bad thing experienced by the person being reported about was going to happen to them. That was the last time I had the news on with them around!
I tell my older children that it is important to know what’s going on around them but I don’t want them to be totally focused on all the bad things that happened everyday. Now I only make them aware of some things, like the weather (and even that can be scary) and any major news in Science or news like that.
So back to my original question. Would you be able to turn off and tune out to the news of the day? Or would you feel too deprived? I think this says a lot about us if we can’t do it don’t you think?
I guess it would be just like some of us are so addicted to the Internet or to food or whatever gives us pleasure. Some people would most certainly go into withdrawal!