No news is good news..

Whether in the car, work, cafes, at the hairdressers, online or in the comfort of your own home, it has never been easier to connect to the latest news. We are now exposed in a very short space of time to breaking news happening across the other side of the world. How does this actually help us? Very often it doesn't. If anything it can make us more fearful about the world in which we live. We hear about stabbings, bullying in schools, rape, burglaries and before we know it we are glancing over our shoulder as we walk down our street frozen with fear.

Crimes have always taken place since the beginning of time, but back then you would only be aware of crimes in your local community. Now however, we hear about crimes from all over and although crime statistics are relatively small in comparison to the general  population, we are nevertheles now far more paranoid and vigilant than ever before.

In our tech savvy world it is becoming harder and harder for the media to hold our attention for longer and in a bid to keep our attention they ensure that our evolotuniary buttons are being pressed. Brodie in the interesting book 'Virus of the Mind' discusses this at length and proposes that we have three evolutionary buttons which are based around:

• Fear
• Sex
• Food

Clearly if these needs are not met we fail to survive or reproduce. Now think about the news you hear and how these are nearly all interwoven into the story. These three 'buttons' are powerful ways to get our attention. Start to become aware of how heavily they are used and the feelings they conjure up as you heat them.

Be mindful of the information you allow yourself to be programmed by. Remember your time is valuable, so don't let the media use it up scaring you about things which are totally unrelated to you or may never happen. If you feel agitated, tired, sad or fearful after watching the news then stop watching it.