They want you to freak out

With everything going on in the world it’s sad that people have become reactive instead of proactive. It’s the reason why I only watch 1 hr max of news a day and 1 hour of social media scrolling a day because I don’t want to live my life worrying all of the time. Too much information causes your brain to feel overwhelmed which leads to drastic and toxic behaviors (drugs, junk food, alcohol, porn, fighting etc.) Besides, how much information do you need to consume? How much of this information is true anyway? And is sitting in front of a television or scrolling on your phone going to make you more successful?

In 1976 satire film Network, veteran news anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) finds out that his boss wants to fire him due to low ratings and his age. After a night of heavy drinking, the next day on live television, Howard threatens to kills himself. However, he launches an angry televised rant, which turns out to be a huge ratings boost for the UBS network. Since the ratings went up Executive producer Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) devised even more outrageous programming in order to contribute to the unexpected success.

From 1976 to 2020, not much has changed. Sure the film was a satire but it’s the unfortunate reality we live in. Besides you know what they say, “You can find the truth in a joke”. Social media and the news control your emotions and here’s why? One minute they can show you a clip of the weather being very sunny with a temperature of 70 degrees for the day. Now you’re excited right? Suddenly, the news becomes dark because somebody was killed. Since the average person only REACTS, instead of ACTING, most people are going to stay inside living in fear wondering, “What if I’m next?” instead of just going outside to enjoy mother nature.

Then that same story is posted to social media. Now everybody is throwing their two cents in with numerous Re-post, Re-tweets, comments, likes, and shares typing things such as, “This is what’s wrong with the world today!!” Of course most of us want to be happy. I mean who wouldn’t right? But I truly don’t believe scrolling social media or flipping through the television for our daily inspiration is the answer. We can only hear, “Everything is going to be better” from somebody who doesn’t face the same problems we do for so long right!

To prevent so many of my flare ups and negative thought patterns I read “Peace: The Words and Inspiration” by Mahatma Gandhi. The book is a collection of inspirations and words of wisdom to encourage mankind through the darkest hours of our lives. Gandhi once said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” So instead of wasting your life away watching television or scrolling social media on your phone, get out of your house, clear out your negative thinking and replace it with more positive thinking. Your justified in being upset, hurt or angry but do something about it. Don’t let social media or the news rewire your way of thinking because the world isn’t a terrible place. In order UN-learn our way of thinking about the world through negativity you must RE-learn a positive way of thinking.


  1. You’re on point with this post. I too have scaled back. Often days my television don’t even come on except to catch some tennis. Since it’s not live I don’t even fool with it too much. But the news. Yes, they say if it bleeds it’s pays. Something like that. Basically negativity sells. Great post my brother. Keep em coming. Good morning.


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