Maybe some people were made for politics and maybe some people were made for the realm of news media, but after long hours of being glued to the television, I realized that I was not. Bernie Sanders' announcement that he was going to run for president, as he stood behind his tiny podium a year ago, was the moment that I became more engaged. I wanted to learn more about the adorable elderly man from Vermont and I ended up trapping myself in a fixation with the news.
Instead of watching the newest episode of Pretty Little Liars, I was focused on a heated debate between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. I knew what was happening in politics; I felt as though I was just as educated as the know-it-all's of the world. However, the news is not all about the hilarity and drama of government elites, there are also the 24 hour non-stop coverage of tragedies and bombings. I would wake up in the morning to find out that there had been a mass shooting and I would immediately listen to the news or open up an article about details. I was relentless in my hunt for more facts and statistics. As I cooked my lunch, I would have the news playing in the background. When I was doing my homework or studying for an exam, I would always have the television turned on. I was consuming so much information and I wasn't even sure if half of it was true or false. I was trusting newscasters to give accurate information, but it isn't always accurate and even though they always repeated the same information and exaggerated the facts, I still waited with baited breath for more. At times, it felt as if I were watching a reality show or a soap opera as political commentators from both sides argued relentlessly.
Witnessing tragedy, political arguments with seemingly no end or budge on either side, and hearing details about terrible wars happening nearly every day in distant countries had become a daily routine, but that is not the life that anyone should be living. It is necessary to understand what is happening in countries outside of our own to avoid being completely ignorant, but you should not drive yourself to a point of fear or sadness. At one point, I really considered political journalism as a path for my future, but gradually changed my mind as I was met with constant nightmares and anxieties which reflected what I would see on the news. I finally came to the conclusion that you have to sometimes remain ignorant about specific details for the sake of your own sanity. It doesn't help that news stations and the media seem to keep the horror on a loop, making it as though humanity is going down the drain when history shows that we have always been this way. Humans have always killed with war and controlled with corrupt politics, but it all feels so much worse than before when you are being fed tale after tale by newspapers, news stations, and online journalists. Nothing has changed in our world, the only difference now is that it is projected every corner you turn; from laptop screens to newspaper prints, there is a non-stop flow of news no matter where you go. In many cases, you have to force yourself to disconnect. Sometimes you just have to take a step back and live a few moments away from the chaos.
