Hey! cut off all exposure to 'News' and Current Events! Your life will improve in 14 to 21 days

Most of us agree that a reasonable goal is to try and live your life and do well by others and hope to manage some degree of self- fulfillment and maximum self-actualization. (Now if you are a scott or a roger , the goals of life will be different (than this) but essentially the same. To find out why, y'all oughta get on over to the Wakefield Doctrine where it will all become crystal clear.)

Lets begin this Hub with (an) agreement on the current state of the emotional/ stress/ anxiety environment we all wake up to every morning.
Who will disagree that today we have more sources of information, of the news and current events variety, than we have ever had before?
Who will disagree that the 'style of presentation' of the news is decidedly headed towards the sensationalistic ? (Way better writers than yours truly have described the self-reinforcing output of a news/entertainment industry that competes for advertisers dollars. Almost without exception, the consensus is that this trend is resulting in more and more sensationalistic crap being pushed on the audience by more and more media outlets.)

So back to the questions.
We all agree that we get bombarded everyday with 'bad news', correct?
I am sure that among the readers out there, someone is saying, "...yeah, thats because there are a lot of bad things happening in the world. I can't simply stick my head in the sand and hope it goes away"! Allow me to say, "Yes, yes you can".

Before I present my 'conclusion', lets back up a bit. I have used the expression 'sensationalistic ', and I do because we all know that the news media 'sensationalizes' their stories; they do this for the very simple reason that that is how they can get viewers caught up in the story. (god, this argument is writing itself)

Think about the word, 'sensationalistic'...a variation on the root word 'sensation', to feel a sensation, get input from external sources, stimulation etc etc.
Why do you think the producers of the news shows think it is necessary to get you to experience a sensation while conveying information (news)? To...get...you caught up in the story.

(btw I am new to this hub pages thing, but I have already decided that the people who frequent these pages are all of certain type. quick-on-the-uptake and very facile to jump ahead of an argument to the conclusion. Getting a kick out you people.)

In any event, to 'cut to the chase':
I no longer expose myself to the "news and current events" environment. I do not read the newspapers, do not read headlines on the google and most assuredly do not watch television news shows. And as a result of this, I find that I am more productive, calmer and less stressed during the course of an average day.
I believe that a rational, reasonable intelligent person, (say...you and me...) cannot watch the end-of-the-world/storm-of-the-Century/wait-until-you-hear-this type TV news shows without spending some part of the rest of the day, stopping and thinking, "no way, they did not say that".
No matter what, if you watch the Today show, or any of the other morning news shows, you will spend some part of your day recalling what they said, the stories they presented to the audience and (you will) waste some part of your day trying to make sense of what they seemed to be saying.
Worse, consider the energy you spend talking to friends and colleagues about the crazy current events! (remember what we said about sensationalism?...share the anxiety with friends and family!).

My solution to the energy drain/ anxiety stimulation is, to steal a line from an episode of 'The Simpsons', that I 'just don't look'.
The benefit of not being-in-the-know? I have more time and energy for the people and things thatdo matter, my family and friends and co-workers and clients.

"Yeah but you can't ignore the news/ you have to know some of the things going on "
..."No, no I don't".
I have not seen any detrimental effect on my work or my family life. And, in the course of a day, when someone comes up to me and says, "Hey man! did you hear on the news...!!" I just don't engage in the conversation. And if they persist, I tell them I do not have any interest in current events.
This actually works. (You know how we all have a friend, family member who we really love, but they are, like a total bigot for one minority or real crude and inappropriate in certain situations? I simply don't enable them).

So there you have it. It is real simple. Try it.

I guarantee that the world will not collapse if you do this one thing. Do it for your mental health, do it for the quality of your family life.

("NBC EXCLUSIVE REPORT!!! ...WORLD IS ABOUT TO COLLAPSE!!! SOME GUY WROTE THAT HE DOESN"T WATCH THE NEWS!!!! ...PRESIDENT SAYS HE IS NOT WORRIED>>>>ASSIGNS A BLUE RIBBON TASK FORCE...EW REPORTS THAT PARIS HILTON HAS BEEN SEEN ON TAPE WATCHING THE NEWS AND NOT CARING....MORE TO FOLLOW!!!!!!!)