A News Junky Unplugs
About 3 years ago, I stopped watching the news and programs that were "background TV noise" and only watched two one-hour shows during the week that I enjoyed (maybe three). I stayed informed by glancing at national headlines from my internet homepage or from friends or family. If I needed to know more, I could look it up on the internet. This was amazing for me as I had previously been a news junkie. In fact, I have a degree in Journalism and Public Communication and worked in print media for several years before moving into technical writing and proposals. The TV morning news, CNN all day, and the nightly news were always on around me. I read a few papers every day. Junky hardly describes my immersion. This was air to me.
So to turn off the news was a big deal. But when I did, I felt the benefits right away. I felt good all of the time, and my thoughts and conversations were more positive. On occassion I would "run into" a TV that was airing the news. It was like running into a wall, and immediately I would begin to feel bad.
BREAKING NEWS: You Will Not Only Survive Without the News, You will Fluorish
About 2 years into my Unplugging from the News, and about 5 years after the U.S. had invaded Iraq, I "ran into" a TV in a doctor's waiting room with these words blazed across the screen: "BREAKING NEWS: Terrorists Found in Afghanistan".
The 'snerk' noise that I expelled through my airways was not received well by the waiting room watchers, who were engrossed by the details of this shocking informat
ion. Their disdain for my disdain made me check the TV again - maybe I'd misperceived what I saw and it was actually a documentary on the history of the Iraq War or something. So, I quietly sat down, assumed a respectful posture, and peered intently at the screen waiting for The Truth to Unfold.
ion. Their disdain for my disdain made me check the TV again - maybe I'd misperceived what I saw and it was actually a documentary on the history of the Iraq War or something. So, I quietly sat down, assumed a respectful posture, and peered intently at the screen waiting for The Truth to Unfold. But the reporter was live and commenting that indeed, terrorists were in Afghanistan. I studied the faces in the waiting room. None of them seemed to think this was beyond bizarre. Five years into a War on Terror, many innocent lives lost in Afghanistan, and no one thought this breaking news was ridiculous? Thank God CNN was there to report it, because who would have thought there were terrorists in Afghanistan?
But I need to Know About the Presidential Election...
Travel forward about a year ... The U.S. presidential election. I wanted to be an informed voter in one of the most fantastic, powerful voting opportunities in the history of the U.S. (all 230 years of it.). This vote would not just impact me, my state, my nation, but the world. I developed a morbid fascination in watching the polls and the politics.
I turned the news on to see the debates. But did it inform me? Yes; I saw how far the presidential candidates were willing to go to discredit each other. I heard some policy mentioned during the debates, but it wasn't anything that I didn't already know. Democrats want to help the middle class; Republicans want to help businesses and the rich...trickle down and all that. It was not a debate on policy, it was a debate on who was the biggest liar. That should be a new show: The Biggest Liar. Infact, the debators consistently lobbed untrue accusations at each other and fed the listeners misinformation, which included statistics that shored up their positions. What was the truth anymore? I felt I knew less when I turned off the TV debate.
But I need to Know About the Economy...
It stinks. And what you focus on, you get more of. But I didn't listen to that wise and compassionate voice inside telling me to "Knock it off! Turn that off! It makes you feel bad!"...
I couldn't help myself. I wanted to watch the news so I could see the plunging and rising of the Dow and global markets. I'm kinda twisted I guess. The demise of greedy lenders, bankers, and CEOs was rather refreshing news. But in truth, I have a belief that things will get better once the corruption and greed is passed, and once money is not considered more important than people or the Earth. I truly believe our economy will one day be based on wellness. that's another story entirely, but that is my belief, so maybe it's a little less unsettling for me.
So I'd watch, every day, two or three times a day, as the Dow plunged, then went up, plunged, then went up. But even in my hopes that its massive thrashing would eventually bring a better, more enlightened economy, watching it got old because it made me worry. There was nothing I could do to change the Dow or my worry over it when I watched.
But...But...But...
But there was so much more to watch ... there was the political scandals and news from my own backyard: I turned the news on to see Alaska's own sweetheart governor, Sarah, take the national stage and Uncle Ted (Stevens) be drug across the arena tied to the media chariot. I turned the news on to see if Hurricane Whatsitsface was going to wipe out Houston, Galveston, New Orleans, Miami, and make another run for Cuba. It seemed I had to sate some strange urge. (I even checked out those cool hurricane tracking websites. Technology is so amazing these days! You can zoom all over the planet on those websites.)
And along with this urge to watch news, I began watching the background-noise shows again. They were not interesting, they were just making noise.
WAKE UP CALL: News Makes You Sick
Wow. I felt drained. Physically, mentally and emotionally. I had developed what I can only describe as a negative background cocktail of fear, concern, morbid fascination, and dread. Actually, just writing about this makes me feel yuck. It goes away only when I apply serious amounts of meditation, clearing, grounding and positive visualizations.
So when I recognized this was happening to me a few weeks ago, I turned off the news and background shows. I went back to watching those two (or three) shows that I have always watched.
Just a Matter of Time: Will the Negative Cocktail Nausea Take Out Prime Time?
Yet I am still noticing something isn't quite right. Maybe I'm coming to a point in life where I just need to let go of TV. 
AAAGH! Did I type that out loud!? I don't know what's more unsettling: that I have to miss Survivor or that I'm treating TV like it is a requirement to stay alive...like it's air.
AAAGH! Did I type that out loud!? I don't know what's more unsettling: that I have to miss Survivor or that I'm treating TV like it is a requirement to stay alive...like it's air. Even with just the two shows I watch (okay, maybe it's three) I've noticed that prior to watching them, I feel wonderful: My mood is great, my vibration is high, and I even feel excited by the prospect of watching my show! Aaahhh, all is right in the world as I settle in with my gargantuan bowl of popcorn, to just be ... with my TV.
And while I'm watching, I don’t notice how I feel anymore. I start to zone into the reality of the reality show. I'm totally unconscious of my being. Yet I am very good at stuffing my face with popcorn.
When the program ends, I notice that my wonderful-feeling emotions are gone and I've lost my background of inner peace. It is replaced by a low-hum of discontent, which feeds into any issue I may be having in life at that time. And so starts the Negative Cocktail Hour.
Clearly this is not good, but check me out as I struggle with this issue this year! I am definitely processing what TV means to me and how far I am willing to experience the struggle. Usually for me, this level of processing means that the issue is coming to a head. And it looks like I'm leaning toward Total Unplugging.
Life Without TV: What Would This Strange New Unplugged World Look Like?
To move forward in my own "turning-off-of-the-TV," I look at the positives: My daughter and I will be doing other things together that are interactive and pleasant, like playing board games, getting outside for a wild game of extreme badminton in 20-degree weather, and even enjoying that thing they call ... what is it? Talking? I actually can't wait - hm. Coming back to family.
I also keep reminding myself that if I turn off the TV I will save money. That should equal about $60 per month for my particular cable package. Right on! More lattes! It's sad in a funny way that my daughter doesn't understand that when I say I'm going to shut off the TV, she doesn't realize I'm talking about the cable company, and therefore both of the TVs in the house. She keeps telling me I can turn off the TV if I want, but I can't touch her TV. I told her I would never touch her TV. Luckily there's a DVD and video player in that thing. That'll keep her from throwing it through the wall when she finds out what "shut off" really means. *Sigh*...Teenagers.
But if, like myself and my daughter, one is thinking "AAAAGH! What about Survivor!?" (Or insert your favorite show), then at least consider only watching TV when you are willing to be very present and aware. Only watch when you are not tired, and your mind is not empty. In the tired and empty states, your mind is vulnerable to the flood of mis-information or over-information that the programs, advertisements, and the news provide.
Mind Your Unconscious Mind
Eckhart Tolle in "A New Earth" recommends that if you do watch TV, you need to be very present, not “lose” yourself in it. And don't watch TV when you're tired because when you're tired, your mind goes into neutral, and in the absense of your own thoughts and beliefs, programming and advertisers insert their information. Kinda scarey, huh? I suspect that this is why I have been feeling so crappy with just the two (ur ... three) TV shows I'm following. Probably because most channels, except those like PBS in the U.S., have advertisements. My favorite shows have plenty of commercials, most I've seen so many times, I can't bear to hear or watch them anymore. Their meer repetition ignites an agitation and annoyance in me that only is alleviated by one thing: the mute button. Oh beautiful button of silence sent by truly loving gods.
Which brings us to Number 544 of the 1,001 Good Reasons to Turn Off the TV: The over-the-counter and prescription drug advertisers know that the evening news makes you feel bad, and that you're tired during the evening hours - so they intentionally run their ads about drugs that will make you feel better during the news hours. And the impact they may not have predicted: the drug ads may make you feel better because you're so annoyed with advertisements.
To see this for yourself, the next time you watch the evening news, take a pen and paper and mark down every prescription or OTC drug ad you see. In the end, your tally will show that drug commercials are the predominant advertisements during the evening news.
From this former journalist and news-aholic: If you turn the news off, you aren't missing anything. At first your mind will try to tell you you are, but when you come to see that the news is simply one person's perspective, one organization's perspective, one group's perspective, and that there is always many other perspectives for every event, there is nothing in the news that will give you information that you must know in this moment.
Instead of 
looking at all the bad events, look instead at all the good things you can do when you turn off the TV for yourself, for your family, for your community. When you focus on positives in your life, you put that vibration out there that inspires others to focus on positives. This is how you benefit others when you turn off your TV. There's not only inspiration, but there is also a thing that Carl Jung called Collective Consciousness. Scientists at Princeton call it the Noosphere. Spiritual leaders call it many different names like Field of Consciousness and Oneness. All of us are connected to it. You may not be able to see it, but it is there and when you are focusing on beautiful things, like your laughing children and trees while walking in nature, you are feeding the Field of Consciousness the beauty you see. When you watch the negative events of the news and absorb the advertisements consciously or unconsciously, you are not only feeling ill and effecting your own vibration, but this vibration is being sent into the Field of Consciousness as well.
looking at all the bad events, look instead at all the good things you can do when you turn off the TV for yourself, for your family, for your community. When you focus on positives in your life, you put that vibration out there that inspires others to focus on positives. This is how you benefit others when you turn off your TV. There's not only inspiration, but there is also a thing that Carl Jung called Collective Consciousness. Scientists at Princeton call it the Noosphere. Spiritual leaders call it many different names like Field of Consciousness and Oneness. All of us are connected to it. You may not be able to see it, but it is there and when you are focusing on beautiful things, like your laughing children and trees while walking in nature, you are feeding the Field of Consciousness the beauty you see. When you watch the negative events of the news and absorb the advertisements consciously or unconsciously, you are not only feeling ill and effecting your own vibration, but this vibration is being sent into the Field of Consciousness as well. Investigate unplugging the TV, and consider connecting to your wellbeing instead. By sharing your positive, healthy vibration in the collective consciousness, this is where you are effecting real change in your wellness, your family and friends' wellbeing, and that of the world.
