Addicted to News

Am I addicted to the news? I must admit that I watch at least one hour of news, if not more, every day. Sometimes, when I initially turn on the television, the station will already be set to MSNBC. So, I turn up the volume loud enough for it to be like background music as I housework, chores, and cooking. I convince myself that I need to stay caught up on what’s going on around me. However, how much is too much news?

I have friends who watch nothing but cable news all day long. Are they new junkies addicted to what may or may not happen in the world? Gone are the days when we could watch the news for 30 minutes twice a day, and this was our only option. With the dawn of network news, up to 9 Million people are watching network news every day, every hour. How does this affect life around you?

Let me compare a normal newsworthy day 15 years ago to a news day in this generation of Smart Phones:

“The news programs that Americans watch on national cable channels and their local television stations have changed significantly in recent years while the network evening newscasts have remained remarkably stable, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.

On cable, the news structure of the three channels—the mix of interviews, packaged segments and live coverage—has changed. After relying on significantly distinct formats five years ago, the three rivals now look strikingly similar.” 

Therefore, if you just want to hear the bullet points and the breaking news, you should stick to a news landing page in your search engine. But if you want to hear about what people think of the news, you want to tune into cable news networks, because these networks are constantly commenting on what’s in the news at the moment. This is the primary difference. Not much has changed in the last 15 years with people who only want the bullet points. However, for those newsies who feel compelled to be a part of the changing climates that the news makes, then they want to hear the varied opinions of those who would be considered experts in the various fields covered in the media.

I’m beginning to get a little fatigued with the commentary. In fact, I’m put off by it. I want to hear the salient features of the news and want to develop my own opinions about what’s happening and how I might be involved.

This is not to say that many millions of viewers will believe anything that they are told. If you watch “Fox and Friends,” then you will be ultimately swayed to the right. If you watch the rest of the news stations, you will be swayed toward the left. Let’s face it, we don’t want to change our points of view. We want to feel a part of a vast number of people who we can empathize with. Fox has the largest viewing audience. This is surely because it’s the only major news source that is only Republican. If you added up all of the other news outlets and put a number to it, I’m sure it would be much higher than Fox.