I have an on-again off-again relationship with the news/current affairs.
I find on one hand that it’s my civic duty to keep up to date and informed on what is going on in the world, and on the other hand, I find it can have a noticeably negative effect on my mood. Overall I’m quite a positive person, so it never gets me down too much – but I find regularly checking the news often just results in greater anxiety levels and general feelings of helplessness.
Prior to the whole Covid situation I had been very much in an ‘off’ phase and had gotten well out of the habit of news-checking, but Covid reinforced that feeling that it was my ‘duty’ to stay informed – much to the detriment of my general mood. After an extended period of that I started avoiding Covid news but had picked up the habit again of checking news sites in my spare time.
Restarting this blog was part of a conscious effort to give me something to replace this unhealthy habit and it came with an unexpected benefit. I noticed with the WordPress “reader” I might have an opportunity to find blogs that would give me regular updates, but of a more positive nature.
Scanning the #birds tag has resulted in me finding some great sites
- Reflections of the Natural World – many beautiful birds I haven’t seen before
- Kaylin Hamilton Photography – Great up close shots of nature
- InPhotos – this is one I’ve followed for many years, run by Donncha O’Caoimh
- pbauwa’s blog – some stunning bird shots here
- Tammy’s Bird Diary – a fairly new blog, but judging from the first few posts, it’ll be a nice one to follow
- Elev. 401 – A collection of snapshots from nature
- Pearl St. Gallery – General nature photos
Outside of birding things, I also came across this general photoblog – Streets of Nuremburg – and I’ve been really enjoying following that.
I still think it’s important to have a general idea of current affairs, but it’s far too easy to get consumed in the news media cycle of urgent breaking news with flashing headlines and extreme quantities of drama.
Some sites are worse than others for making everything seem full of impending doom. I used to read The Guardian, but found them to be quite bad for this – always yielding a sense that I need to check back again soon. Instead I have found the occasional glimpse at Al Jazeera to actually be much less likely to raise my blood pressure whilst keeping me up to date. There’s also the option to seek out more positive news (or at least use it to balance out all the bad news). Sites like Positive News or the Good News Network can help with this.
But that said, I’ve found nothing compares to getting a daily dose of nature photos from enthusiast nature lovers. There are no click-bait headlines, just enthusiasm and appreciation for the natural world – a thing which yields a lot of positive mental health benefits.
So if you’re stuck in a negative news cycle spiral, consider taking positive steps towards changing it. Please leave a comment if you’re at a loss how to go about this (technically) and perhaps I can help out!
Photo by me, originally published on my photoblog.
On a Variety of Topics 