Recently during a conversion with my husband about worldwide affairs, I have been accused of living under a rock. According to him in fact, I am completely unaware of what’s happening around me.
I corrected him, by adding a very important detail: I am blissfully unaware.
It wasn't always like that though. I grew up with a father that to this day cannot miss his daily news report and a mother who devours newspapers as if they were some amazing delicatessen. So growing up I always thought it was normal to sit and enjoy a meal while watching the atrocities and corruption of our modern society followed perhaps by a just as violent movie.
Eventually a very hectic life style and tight budget forced me to put the TV in the ‘unnecessary luxury’ category. I still read the newspaper every morning but the lack of TV made feel a whole better, lighter. I then extended the experiment to news papers and magazines and never looked back.
The TV did at some point make a reappearance in my household but I am not very selected about what I watch and aware that if I am not very careful about my choices I’ll end up bombarded with toxic garbage.
It seems that the media industry is determined to support the general public’s belief that pain, struggle, poor health, crime, depression and most of all anxiety are a norm. Dont take me wrong, I know there is some degree of truth in all that is broadcasted but why is the focus so heavily pointed to the negativity of it?
Even numerous TV shows seem to center around drama, cheating, crime and drugs and the worst part is that lot of people starts to identify with some of the characters.
I am not saying that everything broadcasted is of that nature of course, ma certainly enough to raise concern.
Concern because majority of the audience is unaware of the devastating effect such exposure has on one’s life.
What we focus on we attract so by exposing ourselves to this constant negativity we bring to life pretty much the same and most of the times without even being aware of doing it.
So drama will call for more drama and so on.
And what about the news? Is it me or reporters are hungrier by the day for tragic stories, catastrophes, celebrity gossips? Is that really all that the audience is interested in?
With the danger of sounding a naive hippy, what about the good in the world? Why is that so little advertised?
Why is it that someone on youtube had to create a specific channel (restore faith in humanity I believe its called) to raise awareness to the good that is out there that seems to go unnoticed every day?
As parents we try to shelter our kids by only choosing TV programs and books that we believe are suitable and enriching for our little ones so why not apply the same criteria to ourselves?
The conclusion is simple: if you are trying to improve your life by changing all those self destructive negative patterns, the wrong choices of watching or reading material would just make that process a lot harder. It may even make it impossible for you to really change your old way of thinking. So from now on, try to pay attention to what you are exposed to and ask yourself if it’s really aligned with your goals and desired mindset.