Poll confirms the media stresses people out
“Adults also indicated that they feel conflicted between their desire to stay informed about the news and their view of the media as a source of stress.”
A poll published Wednesday by the American Psychological Association confirmed what most Americans have complained about at some point — the constant onslaught of news stresses people out.
The APA’s ‘Stress in America‘ study set out to identify key stressors and their overall effect on the country’s climate.
Unlike the good ol’ days where news was consumed via newspaper each morning and once nightly on a national broadcast, these days, news is inescapable. And it’s evolved beyond basic information. Where news was once purely informative and opinions labelled as such, increasingly polarized and ideologically oriented news purveyors have created a climate that almost demands a response from consumers.
Health care, the economy, and hate crimes top the list of respondent concerns.
According to the APA:
When asked to think about the nation this year, nearly six in 10 adults (59 percent) report that the current social divisiveness causes them stress. A majority of adults from both political parties say the future of the nation is a source of stress, though the number is significantly higher for Democrats (73 percent) than for Republicans (56 percent) and independents (59 percent).
“We’re seeing significant stress transcending party lines,” said Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, APA’s chief executive officer. “The uncertainty and unpredictability tied to the future of our nation is affecting the health and well-being of many Americans in a way that feels unique to this period in recent history.”
The most common issues causing stress when thinking about the nation are health care (43 percent), the economy (35 percent), trust in government (32 percent), hate crimes (31 percent) and crime (31 percent), wars/conflicts with other countries (30 percent), and terrorist attacks in the United States (30 percent). About one in five Americans cited unemployment and low wages (22 percent), and climate change and environmental issues (21 percent) as issues causing them stress.
Trying to get a sip from a fire hose of news comes at a price. Particularly when the political media has moved from reporting what has happened to speculating on what might happen.
Adults also indicated that they feel conflicted between their desire to stay informed about the news and their view of the media as a source of stress. While most adults (95 percent) say they follow the news regularly, 56 percent say that doing so causes them stress, and 72 percent believe the media blows things out of proportion.
“With 24-hour news networks and conversations with friends, family and other connections on social media, it’s hard to avoid the constant stream of stress around issues of national concern,” said Evans. “These can range from mild, thought-provoking discussions to outright, intense bickering, and over the long term, conflict like this may have an impact on health. Understanding that we all still need to be informed about the news, it’s time to make it a priority to be thoughtful about how often and what type of media we consume.”
The APA’s advice for reducing stress? Unplug, get outside, hang out with people in real life, and pray:
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Comments
I stopped reading the news (other than LI and other trusted sites) after the election because I was tired of all the fakery. Since then I am much more relaxed and my stress levels are way down.
ME TOO!!! Sometime in early 2013 following the election, I gave up watching TV news shows, stop listening to talk radio every day, and began listening to my DirecTV music channels. I read my fav sites in the morning for 30 minutes and about 20 minutes in the evening. The rest of the time it is work, home projects and golf. My BP is lower and friends and neighbors have noted my relaxness.
I highly recommend cutting back on viewing and listening to the media’s soap opera interpretation of current events.
Crappy “media” doesn’t bother me much … but crappy “polls” really burn my biscuits.
Walter Cronkite used to sign off, saying.. and that’s the way it was on [date]. Thing is, he was gas-lighting the public about a great many things. Few understood that – he and his pals pretended impartiality and honesty and practiced neither. Once you realize the press has always had an agenda it makes it much easier to process – you set the expectations so low, you see.
The media has been one long whinefest for decades, and growing ever louder as we turn away from them. I think Watergate was the inflection point, where two ‘brave reporters managed to take down a disliked (by them) president’ which they proceeded to attempt with Reagan by hammering Iran-Contra into the ground, then the ‘it’s all about sex’ meme on Bill Clinton where supposed sex-obsessed Republicans were willing to do anything to impeach their beloved Bill.
There was a brief break after 9/11 for a few months, then everything in the world became Bush’s Fault. After that, we had the massive shove for the Stimulus, without which we would all go broke, the massive push for Obamacare, without which we would all die, and the massive push for Hillary, without which we would all be horrible sexist haters.
I can’t say I really love Trump. I can say I like the way he’s willing to hit back, and with all the spineless surrender the GOPe has been doing over the years, that’s a breath of fresh air and some needed stress relief.
“The Triggering”
The stress is induced by the knowledge that much of the most important news is fake or biased enough to be very misleading and not having the resources to filter the wheat from the chaff and having to so.
That is why there is a fast forward and/or an on-off button on your remote control. FF to the weather forecast and traffic report and then hit the off button.
First off… online poll! Check the stats and you’ll find… tada… 1300 men vs 2200 women. Sorry, but there’s your “worry” or “stress” bias in hidden sight. Totally propaganda poll, only good for stupid articles .
“This just in! An organization with a vested interest in finding mental health problems, found mental health problems… Details at 11!”
Don’t believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see.
And if you’re seeing it on the drive-by media, don’t believe any of it either
I don’t know how anyone goes to sleep after watching the 11pm news. “And right after we finish telling you about the school shooting and terrorist attack, we’ll talk about how to keep your child safe from abductors and what to do if there’s a tsunami. Good news for sports fans of the visiting team though…”
It’s the lies of omission, commission, and creation, as well as unrepentant bigotry (i.e. sanctimonious hypocrisy), that are first-order forcings of an anthropogenic plague in the infotainment industry.
It’s turning out that lots of Trump supporters want nothing to do with the media and its ‘polls,’ and often simply lie to the pollster to avoid a headache.
So the people likely answering this poll are the types stuck in a democrat media bubble (who wouldn’t be freaking out in that ‘reality?’)
For the rest of us, we have better lives.
Now the other ‘half’ knows how we felt during the 8 terrible years of obama.
Pffft. The issue is framed incorrectly. It’s not about stress, it’s about lies and it’s mostly about stupidity. News readers couldn’t tell a political story correctly if their lives depended on it. Their professional lives do depend on it and they still cannot get it right.
Not anything.
Not ever.
Honestly, I think in interviews for news readers the networks look for the dumbest people possible.
And therefore they’re not watched. Not by sensible people. If viewers are stressed it’s their own fault. So go have yourself a big fat breakdown.
No sympathy here. Not even a trace.
A 72 year old acquaintance (ex Navy pilot, successful business owner) told me he read in the newspaper … wait. Stop right there. You still read those things?
How anachronistic can you even get?
Tune into your local news reports one time. Give them five minutes and you have five minutes of pure stupidity. These are the kids at the back of your class not paying any attention, shooting spit wads. They are not to be respected. They all take the same ten minute journalism class on presenting a story. They all do the exact same things in the exact same style! They have their report that can be delivered straightforwardly but then chop it up into fifteen pieces and stitch it together with footage so they say something, show something, describe what they showed, *copy/paste from here*
show something, describe what they just showed,
show something, describe what they just showed,
show something, describe what they just showed,
show something, describe what they just showed,
show something, describe what they just showed,
show something, describe what they just showed,
show something, describe what they just showed,
show something, describe what they just showed,
show something, describe what they just showed, boom, done.
As if their viewers are all retards and need everything spoon-fed them twice.
The narrator says a sentence and inflects their tone upward … pause … then inflects downward for concluding profundity. They all have the exact same unnatural speech pattern without a trace of difference between them. Over and over and over and over and over ad nauseam. They take ahold of mic and cannot even speak naturally. They’re stupid. Too stupid to abide.
So if you do abide them, if you do rely on them for your sources of information, then you deserve all the stress you allow yourself. You’re much better off watching cartoons. America has no legitimate media. They’re all corrupted to 100%. They’re all party propaganda, all useful idiots, and nothing more.
Which is why I don’t watch the media.