TV/News media = temptation to despair?

[iwillrisenow]

I recently spend some time at a relative’s house where the TV was always on and blaring one thing after another from dusk 'til dawn. As someone who very rarely watches anything apart from special live events and streaming shows nowadays, I have to say…does anyone else find something very draining, possibly even demonic, about TV broadcasts? After a few days of exposure to the constant advertisements, hundreds of channels with nothing on, the shows that focus heavily on violence and murder (fictional as well as Lifetime-type movies…including graphic depictions, in some cases), and the nightly news that promotes paranoia by focusing on the worst of the day (including gruesome descriptions of ongoing investigations and scares about local criminal behavior)…I feel unusually anxious and a bit sick to the stomach. I remember feeling much the same way about it when I was younger (even before I was Catholic), but my TV viewing went down a lot once I left for college.

I just wondering whether or not I’m alone in this!

 

[randomuser]

Well, I do think “local” TV news broadcasts are absolutely hilarious in their silliness and incompetence. So, I don’t think there’s anything remotely sinister about that - not when you’ve got the weather guy reporting from a BBQ joint’s grand opening, or the sports report leading with a water-skiing squirrel.

And some of the commercials are more entertaining than the shows themselves. The Jack In The Box commercials are always funny. A lot of the car insurance commercials are funny (except for Flo…she’s creepy.) And the cell phone commercials usually play better music than what you can hear on the radio.

 

[GLam8833]

I agree with the OP, I once spent two days at a lodging place
during labour day weekend, it was raining out and so we
had to stay in. The TV was in every room and there was a
marathon of movies, music videos and violent crime series.
Well, anyway I found it hard to CONNECT with anyone and
I noted how the movies and crime shows affected everyone’s
mood. The sexual content, esp of the music videos planted
seeds of temptation too.

 

[katy]

I experience the same thing as the OP and stick to streaming or a very few shows on broadcast TV (Downton Abbey, etc.) I’m usually appalled at what passes for comedy and don’t want to view horrors special effects people can manage to show us.Some ads are soft porn. But I do enjoy Flo.

 

[Neofight]

Silly, tasteless, of no redeeming value? Probably.

Demonic? A bit of a stretch in my mind, and an over reaction.

 

[3DOCTORS]

I recently spend some time at a relative’s house where the TV was always on and blaring one thing after another from dusk 'til dawn. As someone who very rarely watches anything apart from special live events and streaming shows nowadays, I have to say…does anyone else find something very draining, possibly even demonic, about TV broadcasts? After a few days of exposure to the constant advertisements, hundreds of channels with nothing on, the shows that focus heavily on violence and murder (fictional as well as Lifetime-type movies…including graphic depictions, in some cases), and the nightly news that promotes paranoia by focusing on the worst of the day (including gruesome descriptions of ongoing investigations and scares about local criminal behavior)…I feel unusually anxious and a bit sick to the stomach. I remember feeling much the same way about it when I was younger (even before I was Catholic), but my TV viewing went down a lot once I left for college.

I just wondering whether or not I’m alone in this!

No, you’re not alone. Some of us overload more quickly than others if we’re tenderhearted and wish we could fix what’s broken in the world, but know we can’t. Only God can. Instead of despairing, we must remind ourselves to pray for these situations; we can do more good that way.

Remember, too, that those who produce TV programs, whether news or fictional or game shows or infomercials - or any other type you can think of - have gotten what they do down to a science. They have all the tools of their trade to hook in the human brain’s receptors and keep a person watching/listening, whether with lighting, sound, timing, directing, you name it. It’s marketing - they have only so long to grab the average human attention span and try to hold it. And the average human attention span has decreased . . . since so much media abounds and so many have grown up OD’ing on it. :hypno:

It gets to be like a bloody car wreck that you want to look away from yet can’t. It’s also sensory overload, and - someone correct me if I’m wrong - it does things to our bodies like raise blood pressure and stress hormones. In other words, it’s not healthy in large doses.

Best thing to do, IMO - limit your exposure to it, and keep praying (St. Michael Prayer is a good antidote). I have been “stuck” with people who watch and watch and watch - there are some times when you can politely suggest they lower the volume a bit, or that you all do something else like go for a walk. If it’s someone you don’t feel comfortable using those tactics with, get a big glass of water and you’ll have an excuse to get up and go to the restroom a lot! Whatever works!

 

[Christianus_Dei]

Think about the fact that modern crime data says violent crime rates are going down. It’s the sensationalist news that makes you think otherwise. The world isn’t scarier than when preteen kids could walk through town to get through school, it’s safer. That would put the media out of business though.

 

[Catholic1954]

My parents used to tell us, “Turn off the boob tube and pick up a book”. Good advice then, good advice 45 years later. :bible1:

 

[AnneElizabeth]

…

It gets to be like a bloody car wreck that you want to look away from yet can’t. It’s also sensory overload, and - someone correct me if I’m wrong - it does things to our bodies like raise blood pressure and stress hormones. In other words, it’s not healthy in large doses.
…

Could be why this nation has an obesity epidemic too, as stress hormones can play a part in whether or not we retain fat.

 

[3DOCTORS]

Could be why this nation has an obesity epidemic too, as stress hormones can play a part in whether or not we retain fat.

And if we’re eating while watching TV and then we’re more stressed even when away from it and eat to calm our nerves - I’d vote yes.

 

[The_Reginator]

I keep the TV off. DW turns it on all the time.
What strikes me is the constant immorality that is being shown as normal behaviour.
I am very disturbed by it and tend to take refuge in another part of the house.
(My wife is a fallen away Catholic, and doesn’t mind the ****, just so long as she can find it entertaining.)