As a former journalist I can hardly believe I’m writing this but, please avoid the news!

I know it’s important to pay attention to what’s happening in your society and in the world in general, but news outlets tend to go overboard. And I know this because I’ve worked in a newsroom.

When something big, newsworthy happens, that the public shows interest in, the news outlets go all-in milking that story, finding various angles, repeating and recycling the material to fill their broadcasting slots, to sell more copies/subscriptions, to increase traffic to their websites, to gain views on their social media platforms, to get people to follow a story in detail to eternity, talk about it everywhere, discuss and comment on it…just to hold their attention a bit longer, to be able to say they beat the competition and secured funding for a little while longer. Because it’s a ruthless business but business nonetheless.

And unfortunately, negative news stories cause more commotion than positive ones; horror, outrage, ridicule and overinflated righteousness simple piques our interest too much.

The truth of the matter is, the world is approximately 70% good but the evening news report is about 80% bad. This is why there are so many videos on social media conveying humanitarian acts, where people show kindness to other people, or even animals. Humanity isn’t dead. People are kind in general. Good things are happening all around us; they’re just not considered news worthy enough.

So, if you start your day by reading the news, listening to the morning news on the radio, then receive updates from your chosen news outlet throughout the day until you’re back home from work and watch the evening news, you’re being fed a distorted view of the world.

It’s not a bad world. People are not all horrible. The world isn’t getting worse and mankind isn’t hopeless. The news is just hyper-focused on the negatives.

By all means, stay enlightened about the world around you but please, please, ration your consumption of news! Maybe 10 minutes of news in the morning (but NOT first thing in the morning!) and 10 minutes in the evening (not too late in the evening either) – it should be sufficient to keep you posted about the major things going on the world. Free up time in your day to do something more fun, more constructive, more productive.

Trust me, try this for at least 3 weeks and feel the positive change in your daily mood, your outlook on life in general and not the least, the quality of your sleep at night.