Optimum Awareness

In the last post we discussed the notion that you have to learn to trust your own judgment by using your own innate ability to solve problems and analyze things.  We all have this ability but it does take persistence.

This ability begins with our ability to trust ourselves which starts by doing things on our own.  This is important when we are analyzing news stories and determining what choices we wish to make in life.

We also discussed the fact that news stories (and of course any information we’re given) likely do not present all sides of the story.  The reason for this is simple: because in reality there are many sides to a story and it doesn’t really fit into the space that is allotted for each news story ,or to be honest, most people’s attention spans.  This is really due to our culture which likes quick little sound bites but it is also due to the fact that the person presenting the news story will likely frame the points from his/her perspective and overall the news networks will do the same.

The overall effect though, if we trust the limited perspectives given to us when we take in new information initially, I believe is that it can lead to an effect that can be very detrimental to our own (much needed) state of being informed or empowered.

I’m not stating all of this to simply give you a sense of doom and gloom.  To the contrary: I think it’s great that we have the world of information at our fingertips nowadays and we can use this information to our advantage – quite simply.

What are the keys to getting more informed news?

Well for starters: comments hold the key…any sites that provides news coverage and allows for reader commentary will generally generate a variety of perspectives which if approached for an open mind can indeed provide various sides to the story – of course by now you know that there are multiple sides to a story and it’s quite limiting to suggest that there are only two sides to a story: i.e. the other side of the story.

I actually enjoy first reading the story and then the comments.  Often there is much more detail unveiled from those commenting because they often include a link to another site containing relevant more detailed information in addition to bringing forward information in their comments and their perspectives.

Additionally, because you can go on the internet and access information from a variety of sources and countries you can generally gain more perspectives on any issue you’re looking at.

In the end, though, I’m not suggesting all comments you read online or elsewhere are 100% quality and to be trusted – you still have to use your discretion – of course.

But what you will learn is that often there is more to the story than presented and you will learn to think from multiple viewpoints and then can form a more informed opinion.

Also I think a good routine to follow when reading a headline or snippet of news that gets your emotions flowing is to ask yourself the following: “Is there more information to this story than is being presented or captured in the headline?”

I think by approaching things with a rational scepticism we are being much more realistic and the outcome is that we will learn to become more informed over time.  The more we learn about things in life, the more our collective perspective of the world is increased.

I’ve often thought it was such a mistake to assume, as many do, that once we’ve gone through childhood, (or early adulthood) we’ve gained our perspective and learned all the significant things.  To the contrary, I think that we continue to gain more and more throughout our lives.  I think if we recognize this fact it opens us up in many ways.

If you think about all the negative headlines we read or hear about in the news it’s no wonder many people can get discouraged. Can you imagine if animals were able to produce and read their own newspapers?

Let’s look at an imaginary scenario.

First let’s imagine that animals start off by reading about what is happening to other animals in their village and, slowly over time, they obtain have global coverage, like we humans have, so that they can read about all of the animals in the rest of the word. Imagine for another second that animals thought about things the same way as humans.

In other words, they start hearing about the bad things that are happening to animals, ex. the animal that was killed while trying to cross the street, or the animals that are being killed by humans for food, etc. Over time many of the animals get depressed and start withdrawing from their usual routine. This wouldn’t work well for the animal kingdom would it? It would fall apart. Yet this is precisely how many humans feel after reading much of the bad news that is out there.

What can we do about it?

Let me provide a couple of tips.

Don’t constantly bombard yourself with news. It’s certainly reasonable to stay informed but don’t inundate yourself. Take a break from the news every couple of days. Don’t worry: the world won’t come to an end.

When you read about a news headline that upsets you or instills fear, try to analyze and see the larger message. Is their anything you can learn from this news story? Is there a healthier way of interpreting this news story or putting in the proper perspective?

Complete a web search on the opposite of what you just read. In other words, if you have read about someone who has been killed, read about someone whose life has been spared or saved. It’s important for you to have a balanced perspective. Only certain items are put into the news. Bad news usually attracts more viewers than good news. So by watching the news you are bound to get more of the bad news many times – or at best the news that deemed important by the people in networks who decide what’s important. What do you think they’ll decide is more important?