thisNZlife

EDITOR’S LETTER

Greetings from the desk of Kate Coughlan

week of a break from the daily news. I’ve gone cold turkey, and it’s somewhat disconcerting to be without it.

It seemed to me that being “up with the news” was almost a civic duty. Staying abreast of information and trying hard to understand why things happen might somehow stop the world from going to hell in a handbasket. I know: no matter how much information we amass, it amounts to diddly squat when it comes to world peace or a better state for humanity.

Why did I take a break from a daily routine I enjoy? Good question. I wonder that several times a day as, like an addict, I reach for a device. Where are the morning headlines and favourite international news sites? What about walks in the sunshine with earbuds delivering a gripping podcast on an issue of the day (the collapse of crypto or global grain supply), the evening commute eased by entertaining radio hosts, and dinner cooked to the background of television news? Why give them up?

For my health, that’s why. One aspect of news consumption is recognizing just how grumpy so many people are — everywhere in the world. They are cross about pretty much everything; I guess the crab in the Kremlin worst of all. Why? To avoid joining the ranks of the furious, I stopped consuming the news in case reading about angry people made me the same.

I’d read a British study showing the news can make people suffer emotionally. Psychologists assigned emotional- quality ratings to a menu of television news items. Negative? Positive? Pleasant? Unpleasant? Calm or exciting? That sort of thing. The study participants completed questionnaires about their primary concerns in life. You got it. Those who watched negative news items became considerably more anxious. Crucially, they were likelier to show catastrophic thinking about their personal problems than those who had seen neutral or positive items. Isn’t that interesting? Negative news makes people feel scared about their lives and worried about the world’s woes.

With all my news-free time, I’m reading more history and had to laugh when I came across Hammurabi, a king of the Babylonians (17th century B.C.), and Habakkuk, a minor Biblical prophet (seventh century B.C.), who both, funnily enough, catastrophized that their societies were heading to hell in a handbasket.

When reading strayed from history into nursery rhyme, I met Hennypenny, the daft chook who mistook a donk on the head from an acorn for the sky falling in and set off to tell the king. She was joined along the way by many mates eager to spread the word of impending doom, including Duckydaddles, Cocky-locky and Goosey-poosey. Sadly, the whole jolly lot was lured into a dark cave by Foxy-loxy. And you can guess how that turned out — such an eerie prediction of social media’s pathway to misinformation from a nursery rhyme.

We named this issue True Colours as we are not defined by how we behave in times of plenty but by what we do in tough times. I’m looking forward to learning from the people on these pages. They work hard, make a difference in their communities, and believe in something bigger than their own ends.

None of this is mindless Pollyanna-ish optimism — but a simple recognition of all the possible outcomes. Disaster is not necessarily sitting around every corner — jumping to that conclusion is an exercise best kept for the gym.

Come to lunch with me and hear some optimistic news about improving your health and longevity. I’m looking forward to seeing you there.

Contents

en-nz

2022-09-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-01T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thisnzlife.pressreader.com/article/281805697744762

NZ Lifestyle Magazine Group