Michael

I regularly read a photography blog by Scott Kelby called Photoshop Insider. So, I was surprised several days ago to see one of his daily posts to be completely outside the realm of photography. In fact, he discussed a subject that I’m passionate about; negative news stories.

For a week in January he recorded just the negative headlines. You know the ones; the killings, the bombings, the diseases, the kidnappings, war stories, tragedies, accidents and etc. During the short amount of time he read the headlines on both CNN.com and FoxNews.com he tallied 54 negative and sensational headlines. FoxNews.com appeared to have the most which I find interesting since they are supposed to be the “balanced” news channel. Remember, Scott only looked at the headlines for a few minutes each of the 7 days. There were probably much more than the 54 or the almost 8 a day. In a broader perspective, this was a sample from only two news sources. There are many, many more news channels.

Scott really nailed the problem here. He did this informal study because he starts his day by reading the news to catch up on world events. But, he was feeling depressed after reading the headlines. He was tired of starting his day off in such a low state. I completely agree. What happens when you are a real news junkie and watch the news all day or read multiple news websites and newspapers? Maybe you aren’t starting off depressed, but many studies are showing that negative news can affect you in other ways; increased anxiety, stress related diseases and a lower immune system.

If you read or watch the news on a regular basis, I recommend re-evaluating that choice. Your attitude about life could change in ways you don’t know. Maybe you’ve been grumpy and couldn’t figure out why. Maybe small things get you riled up for no apparent reason. I can’t say the effect on you, but there is an effect. Do yourself a favor and boycott the negative news stories and channels. You’ll be better off.

Michael