As they say,
practice what you preach - I'm not preaching nobody but at a slightly lower
level, wanted to exercise something before I suggest. For those few friends who
have still been following my irregular blog posts (I need to get back to a more
predictable routine), I'll let you in on a little 'secret' - Don't just cut the
cable, but go as far as disconnecting from all the freakin' news feeds and
trust me, you are not missing a beat and life still goes on. News has become so
unreasonably sensational that it is hard to believe anything anymore.
My real
tipping point was the US Presidential election, I should admit that I was
following the trends on both the candidates, their widely-different approaches,
their campaign rhetoric or the lack thereof. I used to get a daily dose of
political punditry from Joe Scarborough to Anderson Cooper to Megyn Kelly
covering all sides of the political spectrum. Even though we don't have cable
at home, we cut that bad boy before kids knew about remote control, news was
still in your face regardless. Keep in mind, we live in an era of 'information overload' and
options were ubiquitous.
Now, fast
forward to Nov 9, 2016 when the US election results started unfolding. There
was a lot of pre-determined speculation about how a women candidate will break
the glass ceiling and become the first lady President of the most powerful
nation on the planet. Everyone, including the new president-elect was caught by
a surprise on this shocking turn of events. So, how did this outcome turn me
away from watching news? Subconsciously, I personally expected a different
outcome or didn't realize how real the anger in people was. At a pragmatic
level, like a majority of Americans I also assumed that the establishment will
ultimately pull its weight. If I can take a moment to comment about the
outcome, here is how I felt days after the results.
My FB post (Nov 12, 2016): I don't know which one is more scary in the new
'Trump Nation', the leader at the top or the people who elected him?
As we emerge out of this crisis, what became strikingly evident was the underlying hate, discrimination, bigotry & a
sense of entitlement by a certain demographic, who don't seem to realize that
this country is what it is today because of immigrants including
themselves/previous generations.
They will hopefully come to realize soon once
their new, 'President-elect' stumbles to govern, struggling to make 'America
great' again. God Bless!
After some
introspection, I decided to do something radical for myself and see how it
plays out. So, I went cold turkey and disconnected myself from all the noise. Unplugging has been so
refreshing and payoff is more than extraordinary, I feel ever-energized
and generally cheerful.
So, how do I
get around not watching or facing news? I travel a lot and I
purposely avoid landing on any news channel, make a conscious attempt not to
listen to any radio news channels or participate in any discussions related to
news. I unsubscribed all my news feeds, deleted news apps on my phone and I
just passed the 75 days mark. For all practical purposes, I'm sort of living
under a rock when it comes to 'news in America' and I feel more smarter than
before.
If you are
wondering what I do follow - I've grown an enormous fascination towards the 4th
revolution and want to be an active part of that change, check out my most
recent blog post on that subject.
Besides I'm able to spend time with my family (while not traveling), watch and
play sports and constantly think about how I can make a difference to the
society. So, come join me with an open mind - one family member, friend, blog follower at a time.
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