Comments on: Why I Never Watch the News http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/ Writings about spirituality, the paranormal, and personal development Wed, 09 Jul 2008 02:39:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Почему я никогда не смотрю новости http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-18866 Почему я никогда не смотрю новости Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:33:18 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-18866 [...] Оригинал статьи: Why I Never Watch the News Автор: Erin Pavlina Перевод: Сергей Бирюков [...] […] Оригинал статьи: Why I Never Watch the News Автор: Erin Pavlina Перевод: Сергей Бирюков […]

]]> By: kay http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-1969 kay Sun, 29 Oct 2006 19:31:49 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-1969 Am writing from Sweden and completely agree with you. Have noticed here that newspapers here, when they run out of bad Swedish news will scour the world for foreign bad news, even to fill just a 2 cm 'empty space', like: ' man in Australia bitten by deadly snake, fighting for his life.' We get 3 free newspapers here each day, all very very negative, read by most people on the way to work. Imagine how they feel getting filled up with all that fear day after day! And at the start of the day too. A large part of the population here is depressed and sick, feeling the future is hopeless. there is just no balance at all ´, just bad new on TV, in newspapers...you really have to search to find something positive and happy! Am writing from Sweden and completely agree with you. Have noticed here that newspapers here, when they run out of bad Swedish news will scour the world for foreign bad news, even to fill just a 2 cm ‘empty space’, like: ‘ man in Australia bitten by deadly snake, fighting for his life.’ We get 3 free newspapers here each day, all very very negative, read by most people on the way to work. Imagine how they feel getting filled up with all that fear day after day! And at the start of the day too. A large part of the population here is depressed and sick, feeling the future is hopeless. there is just no balance at all ´, just bad new on TV, in newspapers…you really have to search to find something positive and happy!

]]> By: Nascent Life » Archives » Lose Your Perspective http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-1733 Nascent Life » Archives » Lose Your Perspective Sat, 21 Oct 2006 23:33:21 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-1733 [...] So you can see how powerful it is, to be able to choose how you percieve your reality. To some extent, everyone has perceptions of reality that they take as fact. For example, you may watch the news every night, with its endless parade of deaths and sadness, and you may feel you have to, because it’s important to know what’s going on in the world. Yet these tragedies and violent events are only a tiny, tiny part of what’s going on in the world. What about the billions of people around the world who had a perfectly fine day today? Thinking you “have” to pay attention to something negative is just as silly as believing you “have” to pay attention to your left big toe! Imagined if you focused on your big toe for an hour every night! And you felt like you needed to do it because otherwise, you won’t know what’s really going on with your body. Of course, you don’t need to pay active attention to your toe - if something is wrong with it, it will let you know on its own! The same is true of the news, or anything else. (For more reasons not to watch the news, check out these two articles by Erin and Steve Pavlina) [...] […] So you can see how powerful it is, to be able to choose how you percieve your reality. To some extent, everyone has perceptions of reality that they take as fact. For example, you may watch the news every night, with its endless parade of deaths and sadness, and you may feel you have to, because it’s important to know what’s going on in the world. Yet these tragedies and violent events are only a tiny, tiny part of what’s going on in the world. What about the billions of people around the world who had a perfectly fine day today? Thinking you “have” to pay attention to something negative is just as silly as believing you “have” to pay attention to your left big toe! Imagined if you focused on your big toe for an hour every night! And you felt like you needed to do it because otherwise, you won’t know what’s really going on with your body. Of course, you don’t need to pay active attention to your toe - if something is wrong with it, it will let you know on its own! The same is true of the news, or anything else. (For more reasons not to watch the news, check out these two articles by Erin and Steve Pavlina) […]

]]> By: J http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-1419 J Wed, 20 Sep 2006 05:19:19 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-1419 I agree with you about the TV news. I haven;t watched it on a regular basis for years. I think it is important to have some idea of what is happening in the world but I'll look at the papers, they usually have more of a range in their reporting. Most of what goes on in a news report is negative. You often come away from it feeling sick inside. The way I describe it to people id you get put through 1/2 an hour or so or predominantly nasty things then they finish it off with a "fluffy duck story" (Something light hearted like a duck that has been taught to ride a surfboard) as if that makes up for it. Anyway I haven't missed it, if I want to know what's going on, I buy a newspaper. I agree with you about the TV news. I haven;t watched it on a regular basis for years. I think it is important to have some idea of what is happening in the world but I’ll look at the papers, they usually have more of a range in their reporting. Most of what goes on in a news report is negative. You often come away from it feeling sick inside. The way I describe it to people id you get put through 1/2 an hour or so or predominantly nasty things then they finish it off with a “fluffy duck story” (Something light hearted like a duck that has been taught to ride a surfboard) as if that makes up for it. Anyway I haven’t missed it, if I want to know what’s going on, I buy a newspaper.

]]> By: Komic Kaze http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-1244 Komic Kaze Fri, 01 Sep 2006 15:13:50 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-1244 The news is terrible. I can't stand what they have on there all the time. Now they have the Jonbenet Ramsey thing on there. They take a story and spin it out of control. Jon Stewart did some thing on his show yesterday. It went like this: "3 years of war with Iraq The news is terrible. I can’t stand what they have on there all the time. Now they have the Jonbenet Ramsey thing on there. They take a story and spin it out of control. Jon Stewart did some thing on his show yesterday. It went like this: “3 years of war with Iraq

]]> By: D3NIS http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-920 D3NIS Wed, 26 Jul 2006 15:48:13 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-920 I completely agree with you, Erin. News is mostly a fear-instilling business with fear being the most efficient way to control the masses. Ultimately, we live in our immediate surroundings and only what directly impacts us is real. Whatever is happening on the other end of the world is somebody else's reality, not ours. So why do we keep looking for ways to upset ourselves? I completely agree with you, Erin. News is mostly a fear-instilling business with fear being the most efficient way to control the masses.

Ultimately, we live in our immediate surroundings and only what directly impacts us is real. Whatever is happening on the other end of the world is somebody else’s reality, not ours. So why do we keep looking for ways to upset ourselves?

]]> By: Ken http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-892 Ken Mon, 24 Jul 2006 02:39:13 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-892 I cancelled my cable tv subscription about 4 years ago. I don't miss a thing about tv. It's great because of all the extra time I have. Think you'll be bored? Just start doing all the things you love to do. Very soon it will feel like there's not enough hours in the day. I am never, ever...ever bored. Part of the reason had to do with avoiding negativity, especially with the news. Those stories are there only for marketing purposes, titillation, etc. But they do impact you in subtle ways you aren't aware of. And it's not like I'm sticking my head in the sand. I ask myself if I'm better off knowing about all those things. I'm not. I'm 48 and have seen plenty of the negative stuff. I always thought if there's something really, really important for me to know, I'll hear about it somehow. Well...guess what? No one has contacted me to tell me about something I just HAD to know. My life has only gotten better for reasons other than no tv. I haven't missed a thing. Try it...then you'll really start living! Erin's husband, Steve, talks about giving things a "30 day trial." Try totally giving up tv for 30 days. You'll be amazed. If you try it, just think about things you like and want to do. And do them, more often! I cancelled my cable tv subscription about 4 years ago. I don’t miss a thing about tv. It’s great because of all the extra time I have. Think you’ll be bored? Just start doing all the things you love to do. Very soon it will feel like there’s not enough hours in the day. I am never, ever…ever bored.

Part of the reason had to do with avoiding negativity, especially with the news. Those stories are there only for marketing purposes, titillation, etc. But they do impact you in subtle ways you aren’t aware of. And it’s not like I’m sticking my head in the sand. I ask myself if I’m better off knowing about all those things. I’m not. I’m 48 and have seen plenty of the negative stuff.

I always thought if there’s something really, really important for me to know, I’ll hear about it somehow.

Well…guess what? No one has contacted me to tell me about something I just HAD to know. My life has only gotten better for reasons other than no tv. I haven’t missed a thing.

Try it…then you’ll really start living!

Erin’s husband, Steve, talks about giving things a “30 day trial.” Try totally giving up tv for 30 days. You’ll be amazed. If you try it, just think about things you like and want to do. And do them, more often!

]]> By: Katerina http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-870 Katerina Sat, 22 Jul 2006 21:34:39 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-870 There are no unbiased news sources. That said, despite the tone, http://www.searchlores.org/newsfeeds.htm may be of interest - it discusses various news sources. Moderate doses of The Economist, the BBC, Al Jazeera, and so forth can be educational. Learning to recognize slant, bias, and propaganda and to extract information despite the presence of all of these is an invaluable tool. To learn to do this, and to stay informed with what is going on in the wider world, it is vital to not only depend on one source, but to read several. To the extent that you choose to read news at all, I recommend reading sources from several countries (New Zealand can be a decent source of news). Being able to read in more than one language is also valuable, especially if there is a free press using that language (ie, German is a lot more useful than Japanese or Arabic in this regard - the more state-controlled the media, the less useful it is). Additionally, at least a cursory knowledge of world history helps both to put current news in context and to be able to brush off sensationalism and fear mongering. There are no unbiased news sources. That said, despite the tone, http://www.searchlores.org/newsfeeds.htm may be of interest - it discusses various news sources. Moderate doses of The Economist, the BBC, Al Jazeera, and so forth can be educational.

Learning to recognize slant, bias, and propaganda and to extract information despite the presence of all of these is an invaluable tool. To learn to do this, and to stay informed with what is going on in the wider world, it is vital to not only depend on one source, but to read several.

To the extent that you choose to read news at all, I recommend reading sources from several countries (New Zealand can be a decent source of news). Being able to read in more than one language is also valuable, especially if there is a free press using that language (ie, German is a lot more useful than Japanese or Arabic in this regard - the more state-controlled the media, the less useful it is).

Additionally, at least a cursory knowledge of world history helps both to put current news in context and to be able to brush off sensationalism and fear mongering.

]]> By: Annet http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-844 Annet Thu, 20 Jul 2006 04:23:25 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-844 I agree Paul but a little biasness prevails in every individual today. What would be the difference between a man and a god if he(man) is free of a single negative traits. So better option is to look at the positive side and praise it. Likewise news industry, though may add a little flavour to the news but atleast give you information round the world. You get to know the current issues sitting at your home, where to make donations and help people in case of natural calamities and terrorist attacks and what not. So, think of it dear Paul! I agree Paul but a little biasness prevails in every individual today. What would be the difference between a man and a god if he(man) is free of a single negative traits. So better option is to look at the positive side and praise it. Likewise news industry, though may add a little flavour to the news but atleast give you information round the world. You get to know the current issues sitting at your home, where to make donations and help people in case of natural calamities and terrorist attacks and what not. So, think of it dear Paul!

]]> By: Paul http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-814 Paul Tue, 18 Jul 2006 07:45:29 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-814 According to me the biggest problem with the news industry is that even they today are suspected of an axe to grind(private ends to meet and personal interests in the matter). The news industry too try to add flavour to the news, make it crisp and sensational so as to popularise their channels and print media, how its affecting the person concerned in the matter, hardly matters to the news industry and its a matter of least consideration for them, that's why i dont watch news. According to me the biggest problem with the news industry is that even they today are suspected of an axe to grind(private ends to meet and personal interests in the matter). The news industry too try to add flavour to the news, make it crisp and sensational so as to popularise their channels and print media, how its affecting the person concerned in the matter, hardly matters to the news industry and its a matter of least consideration for them, that’s why i dont watch news.

]]> By: Erin Pavlina http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-782 Erin Pavlina Sat, 15 Jul 2006 19:34:54 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-782 You don't want to close yourself off totally from knowing what's happening. I mean if the President is dead you might want to know about it. My suggestion is to find unbiased news sources. I know there are some online but I can't think of their names right now. Anyone? You don’t want to close yourself off totally from knowing what’s happening. I mean if the President is dead you might want to know about it. My suggestion is to find unbiased news sources. I know there are some online but I can’t think of their names right now. Anyone?

]]> By: Jeff Lilly http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-779 Jeff Lilly Sat, 15 Jul 2006 19:15:36 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-779 Hi Erin, I totally agree with everything you say here. Of course, I never watch the news -- I never watch anything at all! No one in our family does, as I explained to you at length before. :-) I do, however, find myself visiting news sites on the internet way too often. Do you find yourself doing that? Maybe I should just bite the bullet and delete those bookmarks... Hi Erin,

I totally agree with everything you say here. Of course, I never watch the news — I never watch anything at all! No one in our family does, as I explained to you at length before. :-)

I do, however, find myself visiting news sites on the internet way too often. Do you find yourself doing that? Maybe I should just bite the bullet and delete those bookmarks…

]]> By: Michelle http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-773 Michelle Sat, 15 Jul 2006 06:49:19 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-773 Oh, wow. I am getting together my efforts to begin a blog to stir people up about peace. But I happened to read this - of course, I was supposed to, to realize that focusing on conflict is not what I need to be doing. I was mainly going to talk about world conflicts to educate people about bad things that are happening in the world that don't get mass U.S. media attention. However, while it's important to know that a lot more ever happens than we ever receive media information about, you've made me realize that I need to instead find creative ways to bring about more peace, instead of just talking. That's my roundabout way of saying "thanks". :D Great post as usual. Oh, wow.

I am getting together my efforts to begin a blog to stir people up about peace. But I happened to read this - of course, I was supposed to, to realize that focusing on conflict is not what I need to be doing. I was mainly going to talk about world conflicts to educate people about bad things that are happening in the world that don’t get mass U.S. media attention. However, while it’s important to know that a lot more ever happens than we ever receive media information about, you’ve made me realize that I need to instead find creative ways to bring about more peace, instead of just talking.

That’s my roundabout way of saying “thanks”. :D Great post as usual.

]]> By: Jaison Davis http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-763 Jaison Davis Fri, 14 Jul 2006 06:20:24 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-763 I believe that it's up to you what yopu would like to watch on TV. I kl=like watching NEWS as i love to know what happened in the other part of the world and what others are doing. I believe that it’s up to you what yopu would like to watch on TV. I kl=like watching NEWS as i love to know what happened in the other part of the world and what others are doing.

]]> By: Jill http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-743 Jill Thu, 13 Jul 2006 02:48:56 +0000 http://www.erinpavlina.com/blog/2006/07/why-i-never-watch-the-news/#comment-743 You got it exactly right, Erin! It's crazy to watch the news as it provides a completely skewed view of the world. At my house, my husband and son and I might be watching a 9:00 PM show and when it's done, we have to quickly turn off the TV because they start right in with what we call "the murders." What's worse is even in the middle of your family shows (or any show) they show scenes from the upcoming news at 10 or 11 and they can be totally gruesome. Sometimes they even break in during early shows the kids are watching at like 7:00 PM! Blech No news is good news as far as I'm concerned! :) Jill You got it exactly right, Erin! It’s crazy to watch the news as it provides a completely skewed view of the world.

At my house, my husband and son and I might be watching a 9:00 PM show and when it’s done, we have to quickly turn off the TV because they start right in with what we call “the murders.”

What’s worse is even in the middle of your family shows (or any show) they show scenes from the upcoming news at 10 or 11 and they can be totally gruesome. Sometimes they even break in during early shows the kids are watching at like 7:00 PM! Blech

No news is good news as far as I’m concerned! :)

Jill

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