How To Warp Reality To Reduce Stress And Anxiety

Sanjay Says on 
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I originally wrote about the stress caused by news a couple of years ago, but it bears updating and repeating.

Did you see the news a few days ago that asteroid 2024 YR 4 was going to destroy all life on earth in 2032?

Did you see the news a couple of years ago about a billionaire killing himself and other people you’ve never heard of in a submersible?

Did you see the news a few decades ago about acid rain and the hole in the ozone layer? Or the news this afternoon that a pedestrian was killed at an intersection in a large city at 3am? Don’t get me started on the panic caused by TikTok’s 24 hour absence from the national discourse.

You know what all of this news has in common? It is exciting, nerve-wracking, fear-inducing, and… useless.

99% of all news is exactly like this. Empty information calories. Clickbait. It’s not fake, it’s just not important. And the other 1%? Hurricane about to make landfall under your balcony? Your anxious, fearful, news-reading neighbours and friends will tell you, I guarantee it. That’s what they live for, so you don’t have to.

Following the daily news doesn’t do anything positive for your life, and in fact can significantly detract from it. I stopped reading and watching the news myself a decade ago. When people tell me the world is going to hell, I don’t know what they’re talking about. Reading books, reading magazines, and talking to people, I get the sense that the world’s a pretty great place.

Watching the news makes you feel powerless. It makes you feel anxious. It does not make you safer.

The only good reason to watch news is to have a smattering of knowledge of current events as a way of social interaction. It’s the major reason I follow sports, something to bond over with my kids and with my friends. I don’t need to watch the daily news to know Putin is an ass or that Trump did something shocking.

Engaging? Yes. Relevant to my life? Not in the slightest.

It wasn’t always like this. Fifty years ago, the news came on once or twice a day and there was context. But on June 1, 1980, CNN ushered in the 24 hour news cycle, and it’s been downhill ever since. Our parents and grandparents grew up in an era where watching the news made you educated, gave you context on world events, and alerted you to important political developments.

In 1973, ‘breaking news’ meant Walter Cronkite solemnly announcing the end of the Vietnam War. Today, ‘breaking news’ is that someone made a face at Taylor Swift during a football game. These days, the news is generated in newsrooms to fill empty airtime and sell commercials. Don’t fall for it.

You become what you surround yourself with. Be conscientious about the people in the your life and the information you consume. After I read about being the average of the five people you spend the most time with, I deliberately spent more time with the five people who had qualities I aspired to, including my wife. More recently, I’ve signed up for email newsletters that teach me things and enhance the quality of my life, rather than the perpetual doomsayers that frighten and depress me.

I recommend James Clear’s 3–2–1 Thursdays, and also the Morning Brew newsletter that talks about the news, but in mostly optimistic terms and gives you that smattering of knowledge you need to get past the water cooler at work without appearing like an ignoramus. Give it a try if you can’t kick the news habit completely.

You may think all I’m doing is propagating the notion that ignorance is bliss. Like the former and again president who once suggested that the COVID outbreak would seem a lot less bad if we just stopped testing people and reporting the results.

I don’t believe ignorance is bliss. In fact, the full quote is “Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.” But ignoring the daily news doesn’t make you ignorant. It lets you focus on things that are actually important.

So here’s one simple thing you can do right now to make yourself less anxious and happier with the state of the planet. Delete the News apps from your phone or (baby steps) turn off notifications. And if you’re really desperate to find out what’s going on in the world, call your parents.

They’d love to hear from you and tell you the latest news.

1. The only news source I read daily (Morning Brew)

2. Things we worry about (like asteroids) don’t come true

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