Zombie Fatigue: Should We Avoid Reading The News When It's Too Dark?

Must...read...more...newssssssss.... (image by Digital Sextant on Flickr)

"Zombie Fatigue"
The last week or so has been a ratings bonanza for various news outlets, what with news of "cannibals," "zombies," "Canadian zombie cannibals," and so on. It seems like each day brings stories on some new over-the-top horrible affront to humanity; many of the readers of these gory tales comment that it seems as if the world is ending, that we are in the grip of some terrible fire-and-brimstone Apocalypse. It makes people feel incredibly fearful and without any control in their lives.

Rationally, I know that we are not in the midst of the End Times, or some sort of zombie outbreak. I think these sorts of horrible things have been happening -- even in "civilized" modern society -- just about forever. Rather, the News -- and by extension, us -- have been focusing on these types of stories more often, picking them out of the wilderness of police reports and local coverage. If the "Miami Cannibal" story did gangbusters hits on various websites, they are going to do their best to extend the news cycle with follow-ups and similar stories. I'm in the media myself, and I totally get this.


As we read each story --finding the urge to click too great -- we feel lessened as people. We may find a dark humor in the tales, which is, arguably, a valuable coping mechanism when faced with such inexplicable horror. But every time we lose sight of the humanity of the victims, every time we become more and more emotionally callused by exposure to real-life narratives of mutilation of depravity, I think it steals a bit more of our Light.
Should we simply avoid reading these stories on the Internet? Or does that close us off from "reality" -- from information on what's happening in the world around us?


Aggh! Zombies! (image by outcast104 on Flickr)



"Our Beautiful Minds Brainnnnnnssss"

I remember an infamous remark former First Lady Barbara Bush made regarding the Iraq war: "Why should we hear about body bags and deaths? It's not relevant. So why waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

And yet aren't her sentiments echoed in some of the "positive thinking" books and instruction we are given? Aren't we told to protect our "beautiful minds" from negativity?

 I think the key -- as with many things -- is balance. Here's three things you can do that will let you keep up with -- but not be emotionally/spiritually destroyed by -- the darker news items out there:

1. Limit the amount of highly-negative news you read
We need to know what is happening in the world. But we also need to be savvy about how the media "saturates" provocative news. The Internet makes it easy to read 10, 20, or even 100 stories from different outlets on the same topic; but do we really need to read so many? I mean, unless we're doing a research paper on 21st Century serial killers or the Zombie in pop-culture?

2. Avoid highly-negative news when you're feeling low
Another very important thing to keep in mind is the Timing of our news reading. If you are feeling low-energy, sad, or just plain shaky, maybe skip the frightening news stories until you're feeling stronger. I really do believe these stories will effect your mood for the worse.

3. Designate specific "news reading" portions of your day
Setting aside a regular time each day to just read the News might be a good idea...I realize with Facebook, iPhones, and other devices its quite hard to avoid being tempted to sneak in a good story at dinner, for instance. But designating a certain time and place for news consumption might be a good idea.

Only 3 out of 10 news items here do not involve death or other "dark" themes

Lastly, I wanted to point out that I speak not as a person who has mastered this art; I'm still a Seeker. I'm trying. I realize that these things do not happen without effort. I'm exposed to Media all day long as part of my job. It's the nature of working in an online field. But I've noticed that my mood really dips after reading a number of these horrible tales of death and gore, and that's something I have to face and tackle head-on (there's a dismemberment joke nascent in there, but I'm too tired to suss it out).

Sometimes, I think the most important step is that first one, where we shine light on the issue. At the very least, it helps convince me that I do not have to board up my windows with chair legs in emulation of a "Walking Dead" scene.