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Obsessed with Media Abuse
What does it mean to be obsessed with the media? Some of my friends have declared their liberation from following media because it is so outrageous: biased, distorting, and discouraging. They find they have become obsessed with what is happening in this country, and that obsession leads to dysfunction and unhappiness. It’s not that I don’t understand what they mean, but recently I noticed that the intensity of my own obsession is lessening, and I’m feeling just a little less stressed about the future of this country, so I thought I’d share the reasons I think I’m feeling less anxious. First, let me define my definition of being obsessed with the media:
Obsession is a compulsive preoccupation with a fixed idea or an unwanted feeling or emotion, often accompanied by symptoms of anxiety; a compulsive, often unreasonable idea or emotion. In pathology, a constant brooding upon any subject, such as the thought of death, until the mind becomes dominated by that one idea.
You can decide if any or all of these definitions apply to you; at one time or another, I have to admit they still apply to me. It’s not a positive, constructive way to live one’s life. When I am in an obsessed state, everything else seems to take a backseat. So, at some level, I think I’ve made up my mind to at least spend less time in that state. Here are some of the steps I’ve taken to move me in a healthy direction:
- I’m not on Twitter or Facebook. I think I’ve heard every reason for people being on those sites, but if they are damaging to your mental health, maybe you shouldn’t go there, or at least go there less often. But I’ve heard lots of people say that setting limits for those sites is very hard to do. It’s called being obsessed with those platforms. I rely on a primitive platform to write to friends: email.
- I subscribe to the Orlando Sentinel e-paper, not the print version (except Sundays). It’s really a Leftist rag. But I do like its daily crossword and puzzles. Every now and then I go to their site and see the front page; they are usually attacking our Governor Ron DeSantis, and since I know that routine, I glance at the headline and move on to a productive page—my crossword and puzzles. Every now and then on my way to the puzzles, an article will catch my eye; if it doesn’t sound like kabuki theater, I may print it off, but those times are rare.
- We subscribe to the Wall Street Journal print version. I’m well aware that the main section of the newspaper is only marginally better than the Orlando Sentinel, but I’m selective about what I read and spend most of my time in the op-ed section. I still think their opinion writers are the best in the business and well worth my time. Not only do I enjoy their pieces, but I usually learn a great deal. And they have a crossword puzzle, too.
- I read The Federalist. I skim the titles and don’t read every article, but their writers are brilliant, with Mollie Hemingway, editor, at the top of the list; she is always tactful but hard-hitting in her words, and fearless in condemning her Leftist colleagues. I aspire to be a mini-mollie one day.
- When I do read outrageous articles, I allow myself to get angry and feel my full rage. I think that many people suffer because they insist on holding in or holding on to their rage, which serves no good purpose except to make them angrier and more stressed. So, once I’ve indulged my “angry gene,” I can move on. How do I do that? Years and years of practice. First, I have to really be willing to let the rage go and make the choice not to obsess on it; second, I mentally and sometimes even physically move on to something else that requires my full attention. Trust me, it works. And I am ever so much happier.
- I don’t ruminate (or obsess) on the injustices of America and the world. See the previous bullet for steps to do that. For example, we hear that the “experts” know so much more about COVID-19, yet the data that is put out is essentially wild guesses and propaganda. That has been true from the beginning; in fact, I think they have found new, draconian ways to mislead and control people. So, I don’t look at the data much anymore. Just give me my vaccine shot.
* * * * *
The way I know that my obsession is lessening is that I’m enjoying my ordinary, everyday activities a lot more. I’m enjoying the beauty and silence of my morning walks, and look for the local rabbit on my path who essentially nibbles on the grass and ignores me. I’m starting to appreciate my morning prayers as I become more comfortable with the Hebrew and can experience the beauty of the moment. I feel so rewarded when I make simple Comfort Calls for hospice, checking in with caregivers, and every now and then getting a thank-you for what we do; since we can’t visit patients at this time, at least I am helping their caregivers by telephone. I sweep and wash the tile floor in my kitchen; there is something so satisfying, not only about seeing a clean floor afterward, but knowing I’m doing a small task to make our home more pleasant and inviting. In other words, I’m returning to that “attitude of gratitude” for my good health and a satisfying life with my loving husband.
Most important: I realized that my putting energy into persistently condemning the media was not helpful—for me or for anyone in my life. In fact, I began to realize that I was turning over my personal power to the very people who wanted to disempower me. I was rewarding them with my unhappiness, my helplessness, my frustration. I want as much as I can to take back my power. It’s a process and won’t happen overnight, but life is so much better.
One more thing: I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know frankly which things may improve, and which ones may get worse. But at least I will be in a frame of mind to take it all in, as it comes, and act, if necessary.
I am proud to be an American citizen and want to celebrate that every day. No Marxist propagandist is going to stop me.
Published in Culture
Engaging, inspiring post, Susan.
Also agree with you about Mollie Hemingway. My husband and I love her work. She’s one of our heroes.
I think you have to accept that you don’t control events, only your reaction to those events. Be informed, but not expert on anything for which you do not hold responsibility, unless it is in pursuit of your own pleasure or enjoyment. But never fail to act in support of your personal liberty.
Excellent point, Reticulator. Very good point.
I’m over 80, so won’t be around for the decline. Don’t know if we’ll decline faster than the Chinese, probably will in which case it’s hard to imagine how that plays out. My 11 grand children and 2 great grandkids which should be dozens before they’re through will have some real challenges. Maybe that’s good, my generation and those that followed had it too easy but got to watch the modern rise and the beginning of the same old decline. Looking across history, such things seem to always be the same. We pretend that the build up of centralized power collects experts who will run matters better than ground up in the hands of ordinary folks. And they do, but for themselves and it gradually rots, and the rot accelerates. The hope is that China rots more rapidly so we might be free to disintegrate and begin again. The center can’t fix things, or at least it never has in human history.
I’m afraid this comment is correct, iwalton. The “experts” only care about meeting their own agenda, not the needs of the country.
That is the fatal flaw in the whole Progressive project. The needs and wants of the whole class of experts and their hangers-on conflict with the needs of the country. If you look at their writings, such as those of Woodrow Wilson before he became president, you get the idea that they somehow assumed that being smarter than the rest of us somehow meant they were morally superior, too, and would put the public good ahead of selfish interests. Which of course they don’t do.
I think the large majority of the American people want to improve things. That’s what makes me cautiously optimistic about the future.
I’m not necessarily optimistic about the next 4 years. I think Biden and Harris are going to make several bad decisions. It’s just that I think that large majority of Americans will, perhaps in 2022 and/or in 2024 decide to make a course correction.
In 2024 Republicans might be able to find a candidate for president who has better communication skills than Donald Trump. I realize that Trump “connected” with millions of Americans. But there were also millions of Americans with whom Trump failed to connect with and possibly alienated.
If unemployment rises and if crime goes up under Biden-Harris, Republicans will be able to go to the voters and tell them, “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
I’m looking forward to 2022 and 2024.
I was re reading Buckley interviews last week. What was interesting was how wildly wrong the left was about everything, and how solid Buckley was. They were always absolutely sure, dismissively so but didn’t come close to what we now know. They take a little current knowledge and predict the future and seldom look back, but always want power in hands that have their great insights.
We need to be careful to distinguish the natural societal outcome that results from the Progressive(Communist) project from the behavior we attribute to the individual elites we may see as leaders or supporters of the project. The Project is Evil with a capital E, i.e. it is pretty much all bad. The proponents and supporters of the Project, just as all of us who don’t support the Project, are human and born with an element of evil nature, self-interest carried to a natural extreme, for example. On average, the Elite individuals probably possess the same level of evil as us deplorables but they have embraced an Evil organizing principle that is destructive for individual human growth and personal achievement.
I like the way you have expressed how you see the current state of affairs. Your view is reasonable and events could play out the way you hope. I just have a concern that we are playing really loose with election integrity and that its a dangerous path to be on.
If it ends up this way, Manchin, Murkowski, and Collins will essentially run the Senate . . .
Not good, but still a bit better than Chuckie Schumer and “Da Nang Dick” Blumenthal.
I view individual freedom as a phoenix constantly burning up in its own fire only to be reborn later. The history is full of individual freedom communities always drifting toward some sort of central totalizism only to fail and the ember to start again elsewhere. The only problem is that we are running out of other places. Maybe space travel will be the answer.
The not so great reset of this election has allowed me to recognize that being emotionally involved in politics is not a healthy thing. The vast majority of Americans pay no attention to politics and although we can deride them as low information voters, they sleep well at night.
Exactly. I use Twitter™, Nextdoor™, and The UT Football News* mainly as a source to point and laugh at. I don’t have Facebook™, Myspace™, Reddit™, TikTok™, Ashley Madison™, Instagram™ or look at any news on the boob tube.
* Also called The Austin American Statesman™.