What you call a person who loved and still loves the info on news TV but recently chooses not to watch it due to too many negative stories that make you feel bad/stressed if you watch?

Depressed.

Intelligent.

The great psychologist Marian Woodman has much to say on controlling what images we allow to come into our minds and thus our bodies.

A recovering news junkie?

I empathize with the feeling. I love the NY Times but there are some days I cannot bear to read it.

I have to go with Marina.

You need to be able to feel good. If such things are to invasive for you at the time then simply don’t watch.

There are people who do fine watching no TV at all.

I’ve dropped magazine subs for doing this to me, and watching tv news is like snorting Drano, it can only be bad for you. I get my news online, where i control what I see and what I don’t.

Here’s the deal (for me, anyway):

Before the advent of instantaneous world wide news, I think we were able to concern ourselves more with our local environment. We felt as if we had more agency within that environment to be able to help make beneficial changes to the community.

When I watch the news, I know that I can’t stop the Chinese police from beating on people. I can’t get an armoured tank and stop the Janjaweed from what they’re doing. I can’t help the families of plane crash victims. I can’t stop Joe Jackson from trying to exploit his grandchildren. I can only do so much. And when I watch the news, I know that, yes, I can give a few bucks to the appropriate charity, but then what? If I pay attention to all of it and engage it, I end up feeling impotent.

So I’ve cut the news off (to a large extent) and am trying to focus on what I can do in my own backyard.

Selective. Bad news always carries fast.

Someone who should forget all about TV news and start reading Google News feeds instead.

To such a person, I would say ” Get up and get back in the saddle ”.
The first step in solving any problem is : Knowing of its existence.
So if your original motivation for viewing was to be able to ’ help ’, and you feel bruised by the sheer scale of what you have encountered, don’t be put off.
If you can’t ( for the moment ) see any resolutions to the problems that trouble you, don’t despair. Do not expect to be able to resolve all the difficfulties that you encounter. That will be a collective effort. Seek advice, as you are here. But do not let yourself feel ” impotent” on such matters, because your very involvement counts.

Putting your head in the sand doesn’t ease the suffering of others. Complacency is a vote in favor of the status quo.

@benjaminlevi and yet, as a person gets older, he or she will realize that there is no way to save everyone. All young people want to save the world, and all people closer to fifty realize it is hard enough to keep your family safe. You go out and tilt at the windmills and try and save everyone and everything, and someday you will realize that some things are inevitable, and if that’s complacency, then color me as status quo. but you couldn’t be more wrong.

I am a news junkie. I read newspapers (all of ‘em, as Palin says), watch local and national news, and the Sunday Morning news interviews.
After 9–11, my mom refused to watch television, because she didn’t want to see any of what was going on.
At work, a coworker refused to read newspapers because of all the bad stuff that was happening (and that was in the 80s!).
I think you would just say these people were overwelmed with bad news.

simple answer: i don’t need a guy in a suit to tell me that things are bad.

extended answer: i tend to stay away from news sources in general. part of me feels reluctant, because i really should be more informed about what’s happening. the other part of me is grateful.
when i watch the news,
this is what i want: are there any murderers i should be on the lookout for? how’s the war? is it ever going to end? what’s happening with obama in terms of politics (because i still don’t care about his goddamn dog)? anything awesome happening? any breakthroughs in medicine or psychology or the environment or civil rights or something positive?
what i don’t want: this random person died. look at the grieving family members! teehee seriously, look at them! let’s talk to them and see how they feel that their mother/sister/daughter died! oh gosh how awesome. homeless people! they’re still homeless! crazy. celebrities! hey, look! let me follow up this weather report to tell you about that expressionless girl from twilight! wait, look at obama’s dog! again. wait, is it really his dog? did they wash it today? does his daughter still like it?

the point is that i know things aren’t exactly in the best of conditions, and i’d like to get a summary of what’s going wrong with things today. but i don’t need it all hammered into my skull. i need a little bit of positivity mixed in, because, hey! sometimes good things do happen. yes, people die every second. but something positive also happens every second, and i’d like to be reminded once in awhile.