• A lot of people my age have actually stopped watching the news at primetime
• They catch bits on social media, but prevalence of bad news lately is discouraging
Image: PIXABAY
The other day, I happened to be at a friend's house past 7pm.
Usually, I'm at my own house at around that time, doing my own nighttime routine and whatnot. So I don't know much about what people usually do at their houses at that time.
Anyway, while at my friend's house, I thought that since it was primetime, she probably had the same routine as everyone else.
Getting ready to make supper, winding down and watching the news.
She did most of that and continued to entertain me, her guest.
But she didn't put the news.
It was curious because most people put the news at primetime. If not on their TVs then on their phones or on their radios.
She just went on with her business and instead put a TV show she had told me she was watching on Netflix.
"You don't watch the news?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Not really, I already know what's going on in the country and across the world, so there's really no need," she said.
She said she'd been online almost all day so she was already up to date.
It's not that I wanted to watch the news myself. In fact, I have a confession. I don't watch the news anymore.
It's been a very long time since I did. It's just that I work in a newsroom, where news comes in every other minute.
Watching it all over again is overwhelming.
Not to mention that the news is often so depressing, considering the harsh times we are experiencing.
Now I know a bunch of my friends and acquaintances who also choose not to watch the news because of the same reasons.
They have social media to keep them up to date, and they feel that there's no good news to look forward to.
Most people I know who still watch the news are older. Like my folks, they never miss the news.
It doesn't mean that us young people don't care about stuff, just that it's a fairly helpless feeling watching news or reading the paper.
There's a general feeling of being unable to change the things going around.
Sometimes, I think it's funny how very similar we all are.
As much as we live different lives and come from different places and backgrounds, we are also just the same.
Either we are the same side of the different coins or the different sides of the same coin.
Many times, I find that the people around me are having the same experiences as me, and that's so bizarre because how could we all be living the same lives?
Maybe it's one big simulation we are all living in after all. Like in the Matrix. It's a great movie. Makes you really think about what the real influences in our lives are.
Basically, everyone is stuck in this simulation that was created by the government, I think, and they all live brainwashed and under their control.
Anyway, simulations and brainwashing aside, a lot of things we do, even unconsciously, are so common.
I would say it speaks of the way humanity is just one.
We sort of share the same collective being.
But we also are highly influenced by others and we tend to move as a collective when it comes to many things.
That includes what we watch and where we get information from.
If it is not good news, we'll be less likely to be excited about it.