That's Interesting...

My seven year old daughter was telling me how we need to be careful about the Swine Flu and that it has killed 3000 people in the United States. I explained to her that it hasn’t killed anyone in the U.S. as of yet and that it has only killed 30 people in Mexico. She insisted she was correct because a teacher at school told her so. I'm sure she missunderstood her teacher so I told her I would prove it and Googled it and read a news article that explained the details I just told her. She then looked confused as to why she heard something different at school. I then proceeded to explain to her that very often something new gets more news and attention than about other things that may be more important. I explained that the news media tries to keep people watching by dramatizing what would otherwise be a boring event. I told her that more people die in car accidents, the common cold etc. than the Swine Flu but those aren’t interesting so they don’t get the attention. I found a news article that summed up my thoughts comparing the seriousness of the Swine Flu compared to other diseases.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4910

So, if we understand that the news only reports only new an interesting things to keep their audience and not on stories that are the most important, we can then conclude that we can’t rely on the news for an accurate representation for what is really going on in the world and what is the most important. A good portion of our society relies on the daily news to give them the information they need to stay on top of things but what I don’t think they realize is they are getting duped with what’s interesting verses what’s important. The Paris Hilton dramas in the news over the past few years proves my point entirely.

So, if the majority of our society is hooked to a daily feeding tube from the news that provides new and interesting things, and gets distracted from the really important things… what’s the impact? Well, we start living in a bubble of non-reality based on an illusion that someone else creates for us based on “what’s interesting”. The irony here is that our society is also hooked on “Reality Tv” but the truth of it is that behind the scenes is staged and not real at all.

You ever feel depressed after you watch the news? Well you probably are because 99% of what they report on is someone getting stabbed, beaten raped etc. etc. They report this because it’s more interesting than someone helping someone in need. They get better ratings on negative stuff that shocks us than the positive inspiring stories.

I wonder how the news affect the crime rate. I mean, if you see people committing crimes all the time does it cause us to not take crime so seriously and then be more likely to commit it? I was thinking the other day about the quantity of TV shows that are based on someone getting murdered. How many variations of CSI are there anyway? I lost count but shows like Medium, The Fringe, Monk, Psych etc. etc. all stay alive because someone dies in every episode.

So what’s the problem exactly? My opinion is that as a society we are addicted to news and shocking information so much so that we consume it multiple times a day. We hear about someone dying in the news on TV on the radio, come home from work and watch an episiode of Monk where someone is murdered and then read a Stephen King novel before bedtime.

What impact does this all this have on our outlook on life? Does it inspire us to do something to make a difference or just take the world less seriously and have another apathetic day.

I wonder what the morale would be of our country if the news was mostly inspiring stories. I wonder how many more people would get involved in helping the needy. I wonder if the crime rate would drop. I wonder if we would be more productive with our time. These are the things that are interesting to me. How about you?