Episode 30: News

This week we're talking about News – the kind that comes at you 24 hours a day via all sorts of media. The kind that can make you feel a little crazy and hopeless if you let it. Particularly in times like these, when competing headlines come fast and furious, and when so much of the news seems disturbing or difficult to interpret, it can be tough to moderate your intake – and your response. So here, we share our counsel on how to balance your desire to know what's going on in the world with your need to maintain some sense of sanity and resilience. We also offer some experiments to help you manage your news consumption in ways that work for you. "News" Episode Highlights Why habitual (or excessive) intake of news can distort rather than inform our view of the world, with anxiety-inducing effects "If it bleeds, it leads" – the predominant media bias toward fear-producing, violent, and disturbing topics The increasingly blurred lines between marketing, propaganda, and actual news The importance of understanding where your news is coming from, and discerning the slant or agenda behind a story The value of being informed via a wide variety of sources (including some that don't necessarily confirm your biases and beliefs) Counsel of moderating your news intake — balancing the responsibility of informed citizenry with the physical- and mental-health risks of news overload Get full show notes at http://livingexperiment.com/news/