"Should You Watch the News? Finding Balance Between Staying Informed and Staying Well"

Have you ever felt disconnected from a conversation, unable to contribute because you weren't following the news? That's what happened to host Mark McConville at a social gathering with mates, and it sparked a profound question: Is avoiding the news helping or hurting me?

In this vulnerable solo episode, Mark explores the complex dilemma we all face: How do we stay informed about the world around us without sacrificing our own mental health? So much news is negative, do we really need it?  

Mark examines both sides—the case for staying informed (empathy, civic duty, connection) and the case against constant consumption (anxiety, helplessness, media negativity). Drawing on research about news consumption and mental health, Mark offers practical strategies for finding balance in an age of 24/7 news cycles, social media, and information overload.

If you never watch the news OR are feeling overwhelmed by consuming too much of it, this episode is for you.

• the empathy and civic case for staying informed
• how negative news drives anxiety, stress and helplessness
• the role of algorithms, bias and deepfakes in shaping belief
• setting a 15‑minute cap and choosing balanced sources
• adding credible positive news to counter negativity bias
• turning anxiety into action through volunteering or donations
• creating news‑free times and digital detox weeks
• checking in on mood, sleep and overwhelm as feedback
• inviting listener strategies to refine a sustainable news habit

Share your thoughts: message via the Laughter Clinic website, comment where you listen, or leave a note on the Laughter Clinic Facebook page. Hit subscribe, share with a friend, and as always, "Be kind to yourself,  and be kind to those around you." 

Website: www.thelaughterclinic.com.au

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thelaughterclinicAus

"If you or someone you know needs support, please contact one of these Australian mental health services. In an emergency, always call 000."

Lifeline Australia
Phone: 13 11 14 (24/7)
Web: lifeline.org.au

Suicide Call Back Service
Phone: 1300 659 467 (24/7)
Web: suicidecallbackservice.org.au

Beyond Blue
Phone: 1300 22 4636 (24/7)
Web: beyondblue.org.au

Kids Helpline (for people aged 5-25)
Phone: 1800 55 1800 (24/7)
Web: kidshelpline.com.au

MensLine Australia
Phone: 1300 78 99 78 (24/7)
Web: mensline.org.au

SANE Australia (complex mental health issues)
Phone: 1800 18 7263
Web: sane.org

QLife (LGBTIQ+ support)
Phone: 1800 184 527 
Web: qlife.org.au

Open Arms (Veterans & Families Counselling)
Phone: 1800 011 046 (24/7)
Web: openarms.gov.au

1800RESPECT (sexual assault, domestic violence)
Phone: 1800 737 732 (24/7)
Web: 1800respect.org.au

Headspace (youth mental health, ages 12-25)
Phone: 1800 650 890 
Web: headspace.org.au

13YARN (Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander crisis support)
Phone: 13 92 76 (13YARN) (24/7)
Web: 13yarn.org.au

Music by Hayden Smith
https://www.haydensmith.com

Transcript

Setting The Dilemma

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to the Lapter Clinic Podcast with the comedian and psychologist Mark McCombill. Bringing you practical, evidence-based and care strategies, the latest research in mental health, along with conversations that inspire, educate, and entertain. This is the Laughter Clinic Podcast with your host, Mark McCumville.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Hey my friends, welcome to this episode of the Laughter Clinic. Hope you've all been well wherever you are in the world. And thank you very much for tuning in. You've just got me this week, just me by myself, and because I've actually got an episode a few things that I want to chat about in relation to this week's topic, right? And this is something that's been sitting with me for a little while now, and I was tossing up whether I'd have guests in to talk about this, but no, I'm going to tackle it myself. And so this week's topic is to watch the news or to not watch the news, right? To stay informed with what's going on in the world or to not be informed as to what's going on. That is the question, because surely I can't be the only person that thinks about this sort of stuff, how much news that we should and shouldn't be watching. So now I want to share with you a uh a reason. There's a reason why this has become a podcast episode, right? So recently I was at a social gathering with some friends of mine, and they were, you know, this group of guys, they were all talking about what was happening in the news, right? They were talking about global stuff and local stuff here in Australia. And you know, I've known these guys for a long time, and it was interesting that I it I stood there and I was listening to the conversation, and I had nothing to contribute. I I I couldn't contribute in the conversation because not that I I didn't care what they were talking about, but because I genuinely wasn't informed enough to make any, you know, meaningful contribution

Feeling Disconnected From Mates

SPEAKER_00 2:10

to this conversation because I wasn't aware of the news stories that they were talking about. And and I I gotta tell you, it was interesting because at that moment I was kind of standing on the periphery watching this conversation happen in front of me, thinking to myself, well, I actually feel a little bit disconnected to these guys that I usually feel connected to and you know a little bit isolated at the time. And, you know, they were like, Oh, you're pretty quiet, and one of them said, Oh, you know, he doesn't watch the news, and and and so we had that conversation, and but it really made me think about you know, whether or not me not watching the news and wearing it as a badge of honor kind of thing is is is a good thing, you know, because I have. It's been something that I've been proud of, you know, talk to everybody about, not watching the news and minimising your news input and that sort of stuff. And because, you know, we all know it's so negative, you know, there's so much negative news, and I'm just like, I don't want that shit in my brain. And, you know, when doing mental health presentations and laughter clinics, you know, I talk about minimizing the amount of news that you watch. So it it is something that I've I've talked about for a few years now, but you know, it's one of those things that depending on what's going on, like during COVID, I was, you know, glued to the television like everybody else, finding out what the hell's going on. So but anyway, so this this is where we're gonna unpack today, right? To watch the news or to not watch the news, right? To be informed or to not be informed. So this encounter with my mates made me think of sort of three, uh I approached it from three things that it kind of brought up for me. Firstly, it was to I I I'm I was thinking to myself about uh about how effective I can be in relation to supporting people's mental health, right? Because it it made me question like, can I be as effective as possible in supporting people's mental health and talking about things that they're going through if I'm unaware of of what it is that's worrying them, right? And what's what's making them feel sad and what's making them feel angry or frustrated or or you know, things that are in

Empathy, Connection And Civic Duty

SPEAKER_00 4:15

the news that are keeping them up at night, you know, basically all of the things that are affecting their mental health, you know. So it made me kind of look at it from that aspect, right? How can I effectively support and empathize with these people if I'm I'm blissfully unaware of what's going on? And it on along the same vein, it kind of made me think, you know, does this lack of awareness of what's happening in the news and all this sort of stuff negatively impact my ability to actually form meaningful connection with people? Whether it's with my mates, you know, the other night or whether it's with, you know, people when I'm doing a mental health presentation. And so yeah, that connectedness made me kind of look at that as well. And another thing that I kind of thought about was in relation to do I have do, you know, do we have a civic duty to be informed? You know, is it a response are we responsible citizens if we're not informed as to what's happening in our country or what's happening on the global global stage, you know, is is is it being irresponsible to be ill-informed? Or, you know. So that's yeah, it's like I said, it's complex. These are all the sort of things that I want to unpack, right? And so the conversation in particular that my mates were having at the time, right? You know, like I said, social gathering, we're just you know, they I don't even know how it came up in conversation, right? They started talking about what's going on in Gaza and and you know, Iran and Israel and all that sort of and the protests, right, that are surrounding all of that sort of stuff and and you know what's happening with Russia and Ukraine, and you know, obviously I'm I'm kind of aware of what's happening, you know, on the surface, right? But I do not have any information or details as of facts. I just have the kind of the headlines, right, myself. And, you know, they're talking about obviously at the time, like I said, it was a couple of weeks ago, and they're, you know, the United States going into Venezuela, these ice shootings that are happening over there, and and then the conversation shifted to kind of closer to home, what's happening here in Australia about got these hate speech

What Everyone’s Talking About

SPEAKER_00 6:20

laws that are coming into effect into effect, and you know, gun buybacks and and immigration, which was a big, a big topic of conversation because like it's it seems to be a global conversation. And and then at the same time, you know, we're talking about uh the strange climate that the Australia has, you know, like one half of the country is on fire and the other half of the country is experiencing floods, you know. It's it's it's incredible. And and then I was, you know, this is in Southeast Queensland, and of course the conversation also uh you know brought up youth crime and home invasions that are happening here on the Gulf Coast and that sort of stuff. And you know, so they're covering a lot of things, and like I said, I didn't I you know I didn't really have anything to contribute. I was just kind of listening on the outside and and I I realized that I'm blissfully ignorant as to what is going on, and I felt, yeah, I did feel a disconnect to these mates of mine because I I wasn't able to contribute, I wasn't able to empathize with them as to what it is that all these things that are getting them anxious and getting them so fired up, you know. So, and you know, maybe that's you, maybe you get fired up about what's happening in the news, or or you've got people that you know that watch the news all the time and they get so fired up about it. So this is this is the kind of stuff that I want to unpack today because like like I said, surely I can't be the only person that has this conundrum as to, you know, watching the news or not watching the news and this balance, you know, which is where I want to go at the end, you know. I want to try and figure out how do we balance it out. So to watch the news or not watch the news, my friends, that's where we're going. So now, as I said, I'm a big fan of not watching the news. I do I do get my news in certain ways, right? Like there's um I I'm a big fan of listening to the radio in the car. They have the news like usually on the hour. You only get a couple of minutes and and it's just no visuals, which is cool, you know, social media, you know, get news there. I have Google Alerts set up on my laptop where I I get alerted for, but that's for you know, work research, doc, you know, any research studies that happen around the world with mental health or suicide prevention or human laughter research. So it's obviously not the same as watching the news, right? So I I I get a bit, right, but I don't actually sit and watch like a half-hour news bulletin at night or or read the paper or something like that. So very small idea of what's going on. But yeah, like I said, no facts. So what are the cases for staying informed? Well, you know, firstly, like I said, being able to provide empathy for people who are experiencing anxiety about what's going on in the world, you know, because it's it's hard. How can I empathize with people that are anxious about something that they've experiencing in the news or a or a massive news item if I'm if I'm unaware of what it is that they're anxious about? So yeah, connecting with people and being able to empathize with them, I

Why Stay Informed

SPEAKER_00 9:25

think, is is a really big one for me, a case for staying informed because, you know, so many people are carrying around burdens and and stress that you you don't see on the surface, you know. So I think having an understanding of what's happening in the news probably could lead me to being a more empathetic in relation to, you know, people's stresses, what they're going through. And yeah, like I said, you know, I do I have a civic responsibility to be informed? Because democ at the end of the day, democracy requires informed citizens, really. Because when we vote on something, you know, you're voting for a government or you're voting for a you know referendum or something like this, you need to be informed as to what's going on. So if I'm not informed as to what's happening, does that mean I'm actually neglecting my responsibility to participate in a in a democratic society? So that's another case for for watching the news and being informed, you know, knowing how to vote on on certain issues or knowing what you know different political parties are standing for and that sort of stuff I think is important. Case full, being informed and what's going on. Another one is I thought, you know, does it give me more credibility if I am you know talking to people about mental health? You know, because I do mental health presentations, have this podcast, laughter clinic, that sort of stuff. If I'm understand if if I have a better understanding of what's happening in the news and and the global, you know, the zeitgeist basically of what's happening in the world, does that going to benefit my ability to talk to people about mental health conditions that you know these news events might be triggering? You know, because you know, news events do trigger trigger mental health stuff, which we're gonna we're gonna talk about very shortly. So yeah, and connection, you know, like there's another there's another argument for for being informed and and being able to contribute to conversations with people, you know, having a shared knowledge helps create connection about a certain issue, and obviously you've got to be mindful, right, of who you're talking to about what, because we all know uh what do they say, a couple of topics of conversation. My my wife used to say a couple of topics of conversation, you don't talk about it at dinner parties, politics and religion because they're they're so polarizing, right? You know, like people get so passionate about either one of them. So, you know, you know,

Mental Health Costs Of News

SPEAKER_00 12:00

you know in your tribe who you can talk about certain things about and who you can't. So yeah, so it kind of hindered my ability to be able to uh to be able to, you know, connect, connect with my mates. And then I did think about this. I don't know if privilege is the right word. It's a it's a freedom, I suppose. The fact that I can actively avoid the news is in itself a freedom when you think about it. Because the news for many people isn't something that they can avoid, you know, it's their lived reality every single day. I can choose not to watch the news and not to watch what's happening in the Middle East and not watch what's happening with terrorism attacks and and crime and all this sort of stuff. And that's a freedom that I have, like a luxury that I have. But for people that are living in countries or that war-torn countries or escaping prosecu persecution or whatever it is, you know, like they're they can't avoid the news. It's their lived reality every single day, you know. So yeah, it's one of those things that uh to have a bit of a better global outlook as to what's going on, I think, is is a positive thing. And understanding that it's a privilege or a freedom to be able to not watch the news because to not be exposed to what's happening around the world because a lot of people are living it. So when you take into account all those things, right, it seems you know a pretty good argument for watching the news and staying informed, you know, and being able to know what's going on, right? So that's that side of it, right? But now I'm gonna try and balance it out by talking about things about not watching the news, right? The case against constant news consumption, because a lot of it's gonna center around the research in relation to the mental health implications of news consumption, right? Because there have been research studies out there that they talk about the relationship between increased exposure to negative news around anxiety and depression and stress. There was a lot of this done around COVID, right, when we were all glued to the news on a daily basis and find out what's going on. And I was the same, right? I was the same every day. You'd find out your updates and and all that sort of stuff. So, but aside from you know, moving on from COVID, every day we have negative news events, right, that are going to affect people's mental health. You know, like I was chatting to someone the other day about, you know, I used to say about the fact that I don't, you know, I'm already susceptible to to anxiety and and depression myself, right? So I I don't want all that negative news stuff in my head. And I can't remember who I was talking it, talking to about it. But they said, you know, you don't even have to be susceptible to to stress and or to anxiety and depression to be to be affected by the stuff that you hear in the news, you know. Because you turn on any news channel or, you know, there's disasters, right? There are natural disasters happening, people being displaced from drought and floods, or thousands of animals losing their lives, you know, you've got being told about horrific acts of domestic violence, and and then and then you've got the gl you know wars in different parts of the world and conflicts and acts of terrorism, protests, you know, peep political instability happening around the world and how that affects everything. And and, you know, if that's not enough, you're of course you're always gonna get news of you know horrific deaths and crimes that have occurred or people having act, you know, accidents, or and and that doesn't even bring into account all the news around climate change and the debate around that, you know. So it's constant exposure to negative events, you know, is gonna have a lead us to a heightened sense of stress and anxiety because our human brain is wired to react to threats and news to to threats, you know, that that fight or flight response. And if you got it frequently, it can uh trigger a prolonged stress response, you know. So and we know the the media has uh bias

Helplessness, FOMO And Addiction

SPEAKER_00 16:15

to negative news, you know, they they it's almost like the media exploits this evolutionary flight or fight or flight response that we have because the you know the business model is like, you know, if it bleeds, it leads. You know, the the more tragic the news event, the more horrific the or negative it is, bang, it gets right up to the front of the uh it's one of the front of the headlines, you know. So they play on it, you know, they play on it. And another case for not watching the news is is this helplessness that you can feel when you're constantly exposed to horrific events that you can't do anything about. You know, does it you can you can't do anything about, you can't solve it. And so does knowing about the problems that you can't solve create a learned sense of helplessness is is where I'm going with that. So, you know, because you look at something horrific that's happening in the world and you're like, what am I supposed to do with this information? You know, that there is a war on the other side of the world. Do I think it is a tragedy? Of course I do. Do I think it's horrific what's happening in certain parts of the world? Of course I do, but I can't do anything about it though. You know, and and so doesn't it's a frustration, it's like, well, why do I need this information? You know, this is these are all the things that have led up to me not watching the news. And it can be addictive, you know, obviously when there's a big news thing happening, we all find we know we're all constantly finding out what's going on. I know when you know, like I said, COVID, we're all getting our daily updates, and and even more recently here in Australia, we had the horrific the Bondi uh terrorism attack, which was a horrific, horrific event, you know, and and even then I found myself I heard about it through social media, and then for the next week, you know, every day I was kind of finding out what was going on because I was interested in, you know, the the good news story of the hero, you know, and but then that you've got obviously the tragedy of of everything that happened, and and so you know, you kind of have this fear of missing out. So you find yourself constantly checking for updates when there's a big news story, and and you know, at the end of the week, I was like, oh fuck, what am I doing? Why am I doing I don't need I'm gonna stop watching this, you know? And because I here's a question, right? And uh I've been asking this of myself. So when I'm not watching the news on a regular basis, am I genuinely happier? There's a question for you. So when you're not watching the news, are you happier? And when you are watching the news, do you find yourself getting more distressed? Because it's a paradox, it really

Can We Trust What We See

SPEAKER_00 19:00

is. And that's some that's the paradox that I've been sitting with that that led me to wanting to do this episode, you know, because staying informed and watching the news seems like the responsible and empathetic thing to do, but at the same time, constant news consumption is genuinely harmful to our mental health. So, what do we do? How do we find a balance? Because that's what it is, basically. It's going to be all about balance. So, like I said, I'm this is not coming from someone who has got all the answers and got it all figured out. I'm just trying to navigate this the best I can to try and, you know, do what's right for myself and my own mental health, but also what is going to enable me to better connect with others, you know, and and be more empathetic to what people are going through. So, and it's because it's a strange time. Like I listen to a lot of podcasts, right? Okay, and it's so many podcasts talking about AI at the moment. And so just that in itself is another challenge when it comes to, you know, to watch the news or not watch the news. Now you've got the AI implications of all this AI-generated content. You know, I heard this conversation occur recently. It wasn't with my group of mates from the other night that I'm referring to generally here, but I had another conversation where they're talking about, you know, not being able to trust the news because they goes, you know, is this deep fake news? Is it AI-generated news? And you know, how do you even understand what's real anymore? Because you've got these algorithm algorithms that are showing us on our phones what they what we want to see, you know, like there's been so many times, I'm sure this has happened to everybody, where you know, I might have been having a conversation about car insurance or something like that, and then next thing you know, next time I'm on Facebook or some type of social media, all of these things come up with different car insurance things or whatever, or because I'm because I might be looking at one type of news article or something in relation to one political party, all of a sudden the algorithm will show me all these other things to do with that. So it's kind

A Middle Path For News

SPEAKER_00 21:10

of it's it's confirmation bias on steroids, it really is. So the I suppose the question is, am I actually staying informed, or am I it is is what the algorithm is showing me, what it just reinforcing my existing beliefs, you know, because there is so much happening all of the time. And and this one mate of mine brought up this recently, which I thought was interesting. He said this and it's true, so much news is designed to trigger an emotional response, right? You know, they say the easiest way to unite a society or a country is to give them a common enemy, right? And so you get news can be designed to trigger this emotional response of either outrage about something or engagement. in a certain thing. And so, like my mate said, it makes you ask yourself am I actually being informed or am I being manipulated? Right? Which is a you know, that's a fair call. That is a fair call. So especially when, you know, you're gonna have we're gonna get to the point where the AI is AI is curating what news you see. So big questions, big questions, my friends. And like I said, I don't have the answers, but I'm it's a topic that fascinates me because it's something that you can't avoid the news as much as like I said, I don't watch it, but that doesn't mean I'm in total avoidance of it. Like you're still exposed like something happens in the world, right? You're still going to find out what's going on. Like I didn't have to watch the news to find out about what was happening in Bondi. I don't have to be watching the news to know that something's going on in Venezuela or you know Ukraine or Russia, all that sort of stuff. You know, you just you just know you just find out what's going on through conversations and social media and all that sort of stuff. So the big question here is how do we maintain our mental health while trying to navigate this information mind minefield? So a middle path, a balance is like this is like I said, something that I've been sitting with so I'm gonna experiment with this over the coming months for myself, you know, just to see if I can find a sustainable way to stay aware of what's going on in the world without having it have a detrimental effect on my mental health and and I think one of the big things is to I'm gonna be checking in with myself to see whether or not I'm I'm feeling overwhelmed by any of this sort of stuff. So I think to start with what I'm gonna do the beauty is is that we live in an age you know we talk about AI and technology and stuff but we actually live in an age now where you don't have to you know sit and watch a half hour news bullet and at the end of the day, you know, like our parents did when we were kids, you know I remember you it'd be you know between 6 and 7 pm would be an hour of news in a current affair you don't have to do that now you can stream it anytime you want on your mobile device or you know smartphone or TV or whatever. So you can get it anytime anywhere. So I'm gonna give myself a 15 minute daily limit. Now I'm not saying that I'm going to watch some type of news

Choosing Sources And Limits

SPEAKER_00 24:30

for 15 minutes every day but when I do watch this you know I'm in Australia so I watch the ABC and I have friends of mine that work for the ABC and some journalists that work for the ABC I I so you know that's my primary news source. I don't watch the commercial news I don't like the sensationalism that comes with a lot of the news attached by the commercial media so the beautiful thing is is that you can get on streaming and usually they give you the headlines at the start of the episode you know these are the things that we these are the news headlines for this episode and like I've been doing this for last week and sometimes I might click on an episode a news episode for Tuesday night or whatever and and I'll watch the headlines I go right there's nothing really in there that I I need to concern myself with and move on to the next one. And then just basically seeing okay so there's a stu you know find a story that I go okay well that's something interesting I might I might find a little out a little bit more about that. And and that's the beauty about streaming you know you can or the internet in general basically you can really have good control and agency over how much of this stuff that you you watch. So I'm gonna choose a I'm gonna try and get a couple of different sources though so and to to try and balance it out because aside from the ABC we have a another news source in Australia called Crikey Crikey which is such an Australian saying but it is a it is a news source that's trusted by a lot of people and you can get a certain amount of it free you know you do have to pay a subscription if you want a certain extra content and that sort of stuff. So I suppose that's my my attempt of trying to get some balanced views in in the media in relation to news. You don't want to try and put all your eggs in one basket and I only if you want to try and have a balanced view of everything the way that I look at it is you've got to try and balance out where you're getting your news sources from as well. So that's something that I'm gonna try and find a way of working on that quality over quantity balance. So and and you know one of the things that going to uni really highlighted for me is facts and evidence and all that sort of stuff. So if I can find news that you know shows me evidence about certain things, well that's obviously going to go to the top of the list as to things that I'm gonna want to look at. So what works for you is basically I'm so fascinated by this

Turning Anxiety Into Agency

SPEAKER_00 27:00

so how how do you do it right and and do you have protocol that you use where you go you know this is what I do every day I'll do this or every day I'll do that and and do you ask yourself you know do you ever ask yourself does this information affect my life you know or community directly do I need to know this you know is there any action that I can take based on this information you know or do you ever ask yourself you know what will knowing this will knowing this information make me more empathetic or be more effective as a human being towards my fellow man? You know a lot of the times the answer's going to be no I reckon because so much of the news is just negative bullshit. So and we're talking about balance and negative bullshit one of the other things that I think I'm going to try and do, I used to do this a long time ago and and now that I'm going to increase my exposure to news and trying to stay informed a little bit more I'm gonna try and find a balance we're talking about balance about positive news content and uh sorry negative news content and positive so you know as opposed to just you know watching all negative news for like a week or whatever however long you know trying to balance it out when finding positive news stories because they're out there right they're out there there are places that you can go websites and and different you know sources of media that will talk about positive news stories. So find one of those that works for you and and try and balance it out because well it isn't just bad news you know there is so much good stuff happening in the world there are a lot of people out there doing good things and and sometimes an a negative news story can lead to a good thing happening right so I'll give you an example 1994 I'm 24 years old sitting on the couch Saturday afternoon and it was at at a time where there were a lot of fires going through Sydney northern Sydney right and destroying house all this it's a horrific horrific thing right that was going on and I remember sitting there watching this documentary thinking to myself you know what if that was occurring in my community and where I live I'd like to think that I've got enough agency and enough NAS to go out and be able to help people and do something that can contributes to helping right and so on the back of that I um went and found my local SES which is State Emergency Service that we have here and it's a voluntary organization. I signed up joined up did all my training all that sort of stuff and ended up being in the State Emergency service for five years you know fighting fires and doing forensic searches and searching for missing people and all sorts of things you know the tarp and roofs when things went when big storms went through and wiped out houses. Now I'm not saying that to blow my own horn. What I'm doing is I'm saying it to say that if something happens that you see in the news right and you go man that's full on it may drive you to volunteer to help people you know or to donate five bucks or ten dollars or whatever to a a flood relief fund or something like that because it gives you a sense of being able to

Boundaries, Detox And Check‑Ins

SPEAKER_00 30:10

actually do something some have something good and positive come out of being exposed to something horrible and negative you know so turn anxiety into into agency you know find you know if someone's stressing you and you go oh man that's such a bad thing on the news you know I can't believe those people are going through that is there a way that I can help them you know is there something that I can do that will you know help them and and you know helping someone else makes you feel good as well so have a think about that. And have also a think about this is like I said only suggestions I don't have all the answers I'm just trying to figure it out and and and have the balance so as we're informed citizens but we're not bucket stressing ourselves out with shit news all the time. Designate news free times of the day or news free spaces right so I do remember growing up and there was a time where you'd be sitting there having dinner and the news would be on in the background and I'm like I can't as you know now I I can't think of anything worse than trying to listen to listen to the news or have the news on what having all this negative shit where you're trying to sit there and enjoy a nice meal with your your your family. Horrible so you know have a think about giving yourself some setting boundaries basically is is where I'm going with that on on your news you know and and have conversations you know with your friend like once I get a little bit more informed as to all that stuff that my mates were talking about I'm sure that our conversation is going to be different because I'm going to be in a position to be able to contribute in some way and offer my point of view for what it's worth for and just being able to com to connect with and and and and and empathize as to the things that have been stressing them out. So yeah discuss the you know being able to discuss the news with your mates your friends is it it it's kind of processing information processing shit information together helps reduce anxiety. So but obviously you know be mindful you know they say about that don't talk about religion and politics at the dinner table or be mindful who you have what conversations with you want to you want to strengthen your friendships not blow the shit out of them. Yeah and I suppose it goes without saying so many people talk about giving yourself a digital detox do the same with the news you know if you've been watching it I I know for myself if I if I start to feel myself getting a little bit overwhelmed in a couple of weeks' time because I'm I've increased my exposure to the news and and all the shit that's going on, I know that I'm going to be giving myself a detox from news events and go back to not saying that I'll go back to not watching

Inviting Your Strategies And Closing

SPEAKER_00 33:00

it at all, but you know, I give myself a week of going, no, I'm not having any of it this week so it's all about you know being mindful as to noticing how it makes you feel you know how all this news makes you feel when you're watching it, you know, does it does it make you feel anxious? Does it make you feel stressed? Does it upset you? Does it make you feel depressed you know and and just being mindful of the fact that it you know it may be having a negative impact on your mental health and and it may be time to adjust how much news that you're watching so because there has to be a way that we can stay informed without being consumed you know there really is so like I said that's going to be my plan is you know 15 minutes a day I'll still listen to the news and the radio in the car and try and find something that's going to give me a bit of a a summary of of what's happening in the global landscape news wise you know whether I do that once a week or once every couple of weeks but yeah just trying to be a little bit more clued up as to what's going on there and obviously as I said probably in about a month's time give myself a real check in with my own mental health and see how it's whether it's been positive or negative and and whether it it's uh like m for me personally but also whether or not it's it been a positive thing with my ability to empathise and connect with people. So I want to monitor that aspect of it as well. So you know there might be a well I dare say there probably will be a follow-up episode on this topic in a month or two's time to see how how it's gone and maybe I might have another I might have a guest that can come in and and shed some light on this because it's one of the reasons why this episode was a few days late and being dumb because I I um dinar for so long as to whether or not I was going to get a guest on to talk about it and and I thought you know what no I'm just gonna I'm just gonna tackle this one myself for the time being and you know later on I might get on a psychologist or a psych psychologist or a psychiatrist to uh to have a chat about this stuff. So yeah there you go and give myself permission to you know change my mind if I want to in a couple of weeks time going up fuck the news I'm not doing it so yeah it's one of those things that finding what works for you finding what works for you my friends making finding a sustainable way to stay connected to what's happening to stay informed as to what's happened happening to be engaged in the world around you to be an informed member of your society all while finding a way to do it and taking care of your mental health at the same time so yeah so like I said got a couple of questions if how do you navigate this? How do you stay informed without being overwhelmed? What strategies do you use? Or are you someone who is constantly watching the news and and feeling stressed out about it and and you know this episode's made you think yeah well you know what maybe it does make me feel a bit overwhelmed maybe I do need to you know pull back on uh on how much news and that sort of stuff I'm letting into my life so love to hear from you my friends love to hear from you no matter where you're listening so you can message via the Laughter Clinic website send us a message there you can comment on the wherever it is you're listening to your podcast or you can leave a message on the Laughter Clinic Facebook page and just let us know what this episode meant to you and you know share it with a friend if you think it may be benefit beneficial to someone you know and just you know share your thoughts because I'm I'm genuinely interested in how we are all navigating this and and trying to figure it out together. So let us know what's working for you or or not or what's not working for you and and how you've found ways to get through it. So yeah there you go. Thank you so much for listening. I hope that you've got something out of this episode and as always you know hit the subscribe button follow so you get notified of the yes when they come up a share with someone that you think might get something out of it and yeah please as always be kind to yourself be kind to those around you talk to you next time. Cheers.

SPEAKER_01 37:15

Thank you for listening the information contained in this podcast is for educational and entertainment purposes it is not intended nor should it ever replace advice received from a physician or mental health professional. Want more info? Visit electorclinic dot com dot AU if you enjoyed the episode please share and subscribe thanks again for listening to Allift Clinic Podcast with your host