Since I was a little kid I've associated the news on TV with a sinking feeling there's something about it
That would scare me. Not just the terrible things that I was seeing, but how there seemed to be a never-ending supply of it
It's like a constant loop of the same four or five stories
Things really seemed to reach a boiling point for me personally during the 2016 presidential elections
I was glued to the news trying to understand what was going on. I'm horrified by most of what I saw
I was totally sucked in and emotionally invested into a bubble buying into the
sensationalized US and international conflicts and over time
I started to see the consequences of this I could feel myself growing more resentful and
Pessimistic and also cynical I was becoming less trustful about people and about the world
So I started to wonder what things would be like if I stopped watching the news if I remove this entirely from my life
Not just a one week or 30 day challenge but a permanent shift away from me no more Fox Wall Street Journal or CNN
Now now I used to think it was my obligation as a citizen to stay informed
But my perspective started to shift and that's the reason why I chose to do this
First of all stay informed on what when you watch the news you're letting someone else decide what's important and what's worth your attention
You're letting them handpick the five or so stories
They think you should be aware of out of everything that is going on in the entire world
And usually it's the most extreme people and the most extreme images to get all the screen time bold red text in all caps
Breaking news. I'm not advocating for ignorance or denial. I'm just saying that I don't buy into the sensationalization
How is the news helping me? It's a bunch of problems and no solutions. You have to pick a political team
And everyone else is on the other side it honestly sometimes feels like it doesn't reflect reality when I just watch what's going on
I'm pretty powerless to change things. Anyway, I'm not saying it's not possible
I'm just saying that I think it's a better use of my time and energy to focus on myself and what I can contribute to
The world on something positive instead of being a keyboard warrior and condemning something I saw online. I mean, let's face it
There's an infinite amount of material available out there to get offended of so last year
I started to phase out my exposure to the news
I removed all news apps from my phone and also made an effort to remove it from my social media feeds like YouTube
Reddit and Instagram
I stopped using Facebook altogether which meant no more relative sharing a weird combination of political frustrations with cute dog videos
Being on Facebook during an election campaign was like a never-ending Thanksgiving dinner with a divided family
Not good
And finally whenever I would see the news I would make an effort to change the channel look away
Exit the app or leave the room
I don't need to watch a panel of people twice my age
Scream at each other about the same thing over and over. I find that pretty stressful and unproductive at first
I just transitioned to French news, and then I realized that it was the same thing just a different president and different language
So then I dropped that too
the first thing that I realized once I was finally able to detox from the endless stream of news and updates was how unimportant
99% of it is
Humans did okay for thousands of years without knowing about every disaster every hour
I don't think our biological hardware is properly equipped for that deluge of information
Actually, I found that not following the news frees up a lot of time and energy that I can put into other stuff that feels
More practical and concrete in my life like this project of me trying to get my life together
I feel like my outlook on things has lightened up a little bit too. The world's not ending not yet
I see a lot of people trying to figure things out for themselves and it's encouraging people are searching
I'm not trying to plug my ears and ignore stuff like climate change. I'm just trying to focus on what's within my power now
I still consume economic or international news from time to time that isn't dramatized or hyped up
Mainly a couple of podcasts that do a great job and I'll link to them down below if you're interested
But for the most part, I don't follow any news
I think I'm doing all right
I hear stuff from people but in general it doesn't feel like I'm living under a rock and I'm panicking about what's happening out there
There's no point and I bet it's better for my mental health that way too
I'm curious are any of you doing or trying to do the same thing. How do you feel about it this channel?
This project is all about my search for mental clarity and an alternative way of living in the 21st century
I'm increasingly seeing it as
kind of like a series of experiments a way to sort of just
Question established norms and not in like a screw the system sort of way
But just as a way to take responsibility as an individual and to better my own life, you know
there's a part of me that is terrified of sleepwalking through life of
seeing my opportunities and my time pass me by so I'm trying to figure out how I can live more presently and
Just squeeze more of the juice out of life. One thing I can say with full certainty is that it's not clear
It's not a clear path. It's not a linear path and it's not necessarily for everybody
Not everybody's searching is my belief that our minds if they are the most valuable thing that we have access to on this earth
that it's one of them and so it's it's very
important for all of us to make an effort to take care of it to take care of what goes into our minds and
How we treat ourselves and I'm trying to make the whole experience as cinematic as possible
so these videos take a long time and
This project is really important to me and I'm not in it for the money
But of course, I would love to do this long-term
I'd love to put all of my time into these videos and
One way you can help me do that if you're interested is by contributing on my patreon
It's a fantastic way also to get access to some exclusive content and some behind-the-scenes content. But mainly it's a way to help me
Allocate more of my resources to creating these videos. So consider checking it out. There's no obligation
Obviously if money is tight my patreon should not be at the top of your list of things to put money towards alright
Thank you for watching. Follow me on social media do all the things. It is freezing out here and it is starting to snow
I don't know if you can see it. So I will see you soon
You