News and Happiness ?

What does research say about news and happiness?

Research has shown that TV news throws off our ability to be accurate judges of life’s risks and rewards:

Psychologists have found that people who watch less TV are actually more accurate judges of life’s risks and rewards than those who subject themselves to the tales of crime, tragedy, and death that appear night after night on the ten o’clock news. That’s because these people are less likely to see sensationalized or one-sided sources of information, and thus see reality more clearly.

 

And studies have also concluded that the news can make depression worse:

This study examines television viewing motives and psychological outcomes of television news viewing by persons in depressive moods. Subjects were measured for depression, motives for television use, and psychological outcomes of viewing TV newscasts. Results suggest that, in general, television viewing can serve as a means of escape from depressive moods, although viewing of news programming may exacerbate such moods.

 

 

And what news bothers us the most? :

People appear to dislike politics and politicians so much that prompting them to think about them has a very large downward effect on their assessment of their own lives. The effect of asking the political questions on well-being is only a little less than the effect of someone becoming unemployed, so that to get the same effect on average well-being, three-quarters of the population would have to lose their jobs.

 

What to do?
Try a news fast. Set a period of time, like a week, and don’t read or watch the news. See what happens.

I think you’ll be surprised how little going without it genuinely impacts your life. And you might end up happier.

(source: E. Barker)

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