I gave up something a few months ago: I gave up reading the news. Sounds a bit odd you may say, you need to be informed. Yes, I agree, but I was becoming a bit of a news junkie. I spent increasingly large portions of the morning reading the news or marking stories up to read later. So now I just have the minute or so news that is on the radio each day to keep me up to date. Unless I specifically look something up, I keep away from news sites and newspapers.
I will say that it's been difficult to avoid slipping back into this trend with the recent terror attacks in the UK. There's a part of me that feels I should be seeing what is going on in more detail than the 2 minute news bulletins on the radio, but from the glimpses of headlines and articles posted on social media that I've caught, I'm really glad I haven't been in a newspaper or news site of any kind because the images and footage that are shown in these situations are quite frankly incredibly difficult to stomach. There are some images that never leave us and the emotions and feelings that these graphic images create within us are potentially damaging to the soul in my opinion. I remember one from last year of a toddler who had drowned, washed up on a beach - one of hundreds who drowned fleeing their country trying to escape the terror there. I could still cry at the thought of this image I saw, even now months and months later. This isn't healthy. Human - yes, but not healthy when you consider that this is one image amongst the hundreds we see each week of a similarly shocking nature from all around the globe, which penetrate into our hearts and minds.
These images are shown by the media to simply attract readers, and the more shocking the image, the better for them. It seems rare now for a journalist to be interested in anything other than scooping the best headline and the "best" images or footage. But as humans we carry these images around with us, and they affect us inside for long after the story has been published. If they fail to affect us, then we've been de-sensitised and that's just as much of a worry.
Maybe there are some things we need to see in order to make a change, or make a stand? Maybe, but on the whole the increasingly graphic nature of the media coverage is disturbing to me. I might be an overly sensitive soul, but there's a difference in hearing about a news item, and seeing the stark, heart-breaking images before your eyes, day after day. Consider that many of the people involved in such tragic instances I refer to (i.e. the terror attacks) are often treated for shock, or receive counselling, or suffer some anxiety or PTSD after such an event. Bystanders or eyewitnesses are often just as traumatised afterwards yet the footage is displayed to the general public in such depth and detail that they too are virtual bystanders, and there is no thought of their mental well-being. We are shown image after image of the events often as they are unfolding via cctv footage, mobile phone clips and at the scene images of those involved, and then....boom... on to the next item of some other atrocity in the world. It's a sad state where we are expected to take in all these things with no counter effects.
The media has a lot to answer for, and I do feel that this 'instant information' age we are in will have lasting consequences. We need to be careful what we're putting into our spirits; the bible tells us to guard our hearts. Letting in such graphic, disturbing images on a continual basis, is not going to be good for us. I have felt a difference for not being bombarded with information and I feel better for not seeing the images that I can imagine the media have displayed recently. It doesn't mean I haven't been upset; I have still felt many emotions and I have still prayed in earnest about the situation. However, I am glad I've not seen the images and footage of the events.
In these days where people get news instantly, where people are "plugged in" most of the time, and constantly getting information overload of some form or another via social media, I feel a great sense of urgency to take a step back and monitor more closely what I am letting into my heart, eyes and ears. The world is changing very quickly, and I feel that we weren't designed for this type of sensory and mental stress that we are experiencing in today's climate. The very fact that people aren't realising the continual assault of disturbing images that we are being exposed to by proxy is alarming. God only has our well-being in mind, so when He warns us to guard our heart, for out of it flows the springs of life we should take heed. It doesn't mean we become ignorant of what's going on around us, rather we examine what we are exposed to for our own well-being.
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