An actor slapped a comedian.
Someone with perceived status or power has covid.
A couple who is labeled as a celebrity couple is getting divorced.
A woman wanted to wear a black wedding dress, but her friends and family didn’t support her.
A woman’s new in-laws think she is a gold digger. (All from msn.com or yahoo.com).
Does knowing any of this add value to your life?
There is so much information floating around us all the time that is sold as important and as news. Maybe you do consider these things news, but is it important? The better question is, is the majority of what you give your attention to adding value to your life?
It is so easy to get sucked down a rabbit hole and read about topics that might be entertaining in the moment but are not adding value to our lives. It’s like eating something that is easy to eat and tastes good but is doing nothing for us nutritionally. Maybe it’s even harming our health.
If you are going to get caught in the rabbit hole of unlimited content that is instantly available, at least make it positive stories.
Students wrote letters and drew pictures on behalf of shelter animals, and it increased adoption rates. The artificial pancreas is revolutionizing diabetes treatment. Nonprofit protects more than a million acres of rainforest so far this year. (All from goodnewsnetwork.org).
A rabbit hole of positive “news” is probably better than the other headlines, but instead of getting caught in the rabbit hole at all, how about spending your time in ways that add more value to your life?
Read an actual book for learning or entertainment. A book that requires a longer attention span than one minute. Research a topic of interest. Maybe the topic is black wedding dresses but instead of reading one article about it, research it and learn something that expands your mind and doesn’t just hold your attention for 30 seconds. Play a game with your spouse, kids, or grandkids. Cook something new. Work on a craft project you haven’t worked on in a while or take on a new one. Go for a walk or bike ride or do something else that is good for your physical health. Volunteer for something in your community.
If you choose any of these activities instead of going down the rabbit hole with your eyes glued to a screen, would you have added value to your life? I argue yes because these activities are more likely to expand your mind, benefit your body, or help others/your community. Isn’t that more valuable than ingesting content with a poor posture (admit it, almost all of us have poor posture when getting caught in a spiral of what are often just click bait articles), that is not challenging your mind, delivering benefit to your body, or enhancing your community?
Yes, sometimes these little articles are fun. They make us chuckle or might make us share something we read with a friend or neighbor. It might lead to a brief conversation. But so often, it doesn’t lead to anything except a distraction from doing things that would add real value. And then we wonder why we aren’t getting things crossed off our to-do lists, our relationships are in decline, our goals aren’t being met, and we aren’t as happy as we would like to be.
Sometimes we need a little mental break but consume information as part of that break at the risk of slipping down that never-ending time drain of reading endless useless information that we will never likely need to recall, and if for some chance we do, we won’t remember. And if you do slip down the rabbit hole, remember, there is truth to, “garbage in, garbage out,” and your life is more valuable than filling it with valueless information sold to us as important news.