Yes, "news" as we know it now is bad for your mental and physical health. Unless "news" scares us, angers us and makes us want to "do" something about things but makes us feel hopeless and powerless at the same time, it is apparently not "news"worthy. Huffpost is a huge offender.
The state of health on GOS lately is alarming. Even a diary to discuss HRs descended into name-calling and scatalogical references. This is mistaken for healthy passion by a lot of bloggers--you can't get your point across without beating someone over the head with f-this and cut-a-bitch that.
Well, here is what it is doing to your body:
It is triggering your limbic system.
Massive amounts of cortisol are released, messing up your digestion, your immune system, inhibiting growth hormones so your body can not rebuild itself properly.
Extra cortisol leads to that belly fat we are always trying to get rid of.
When you are constantly reading something that angers you and makes you feel helpless and hopeless at the same time, you become angry and cynical and depressed.
News is always presented as fact, and we forget to take into account that we are getting a point of view of one person. It is incomplete and there is no way we can draw conclusions about the issue as a whole. It is written by someone who has an agenda. All of the vitriolic commenting in the world is not going to matter to that person's agenda. This obsession is creating tunnel vision, where your mind is not free to be creative, to see a solution, to see that the world the "story" is creating is NOT your own, it is a point of view.
It seems to me like this giant sucking whirlpool that is sucking all of your energy into a black parasitic maw.
Please do not feel compelled to comment. This is food for thought.
Here is an article you might be interested in:
Rolf Dobelli, The Guardian UK