Sometimes, it’s all too much. Too many status updates, too much going on, myriad talking heads, endless chatter, and yet, I can’t seem to turn away. I should rest, read a book, take a walk, anything but stare at my phone, but the pull is far too strong.
Similarly, I’m often awakened by a cacophony of bird sound, and somehow I feel that it’s my duty to lie there and listen. As dawn’s surreal light slowly illuminates my bedroom, instead of getting the sleep I desperately need, I continue listening to the increasingly loud birdy babbling.
In the “Walking Dead” series, in the episode called, “What’s Happened, and What’s Going On,” the character Tyreese shared that he felt it was his duty as a citizen of the world to stay on top of the news. I suppose I subscribed to that theory not only with tumult from my bird friends, but with the incessant blasting bombardment of the news as well.
Since I have the honor of being alive and blessed with functional faculties, then it must also be my burden to observe the constant updates that wails out from our devices, televisions, radios, and newspapers nonstop. Tyreese said that no matter how horrifying the news, he wouldn’t turn away — he called it “paying the high cost of living.”
But what if our duties to one another are more nuanced than exhausting ourselves with near-constant surveillance of news anchor chatter that leaves us feeling drained, futile, and scared? What if we can be even more effective and engaged by turning off the news?
Sheepishly, I also must wonder if maybe taking life advice from a zombie-apocalypse TV show is a bad idea.
No doubt many of us are feeling the impacts of the constant deluge of news updates. Even if we enjoy being informed and find coverage interesting, exciting and essential, it can take a toll.
The connection between news consumption with stress and negative effects on one’s physical and mental health are well documented. According to a study by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health, acutely stressed Americans attributed the cause to their intensive news consumption.
Here’s the thing: Intense or emotional news stories agitate the limbic system, which throws off your immune system, putting the body in a state of chronic stress, which is exhausting, deregulating and draining. Moreover, we’ve learned that high exposure to the news can promote desensitization, anxiety, while also inhibiting thinking, creative problem solving and optimism.
While many of us are very active in our communities, the news cycle can keep us trapped in a cycle of despair and hunger for the latest update. It is truly possible to maintain our daily lives, stay engaged as citizens, anddo good in our communities, all without feeling compelled to subject ourselves to the sensationalized violence and trauma that the 24/7 news cycle promotes.
In other words, it’s truly OK to abstain from the news, take a break, or limit your consumption to reading print articles in a confined window of time.
The world needs you to be thinking clearly, creatively and optimistically, helping us to solve problems and make new connections. Your family and friends need you to be well-rested, and as calm and healthy as possible.
So here is your official note excusing you from listening to chatter of any kind; bird, human, republican, or otherwise. You are now free to take a twitter and Twitter breaks as needed, close your windows, breathe deep and rest. The babble will continue without you bearing witness, and you just might fly freer and sing happier songs without it.
Chelsea Sunday Kline is an author and big hugger who was recently appointed the executive director at Cancer Connection.