Mass Media

[shimmerz]

I am not sure if it because my own little world has been so chaotic but since having the PTSD I find I absolutely can not watch, read, or hear about any type of 'news'. There may be other explanations, I just haven't thought of them. Perhaps it was my hyper sensitivity, that I just couldn't hear or see one more bad thing (flashbacks were bad enough). Stress cup full? It has been 8 years and prior to the PTSD I didn't obsess about what was happening in the world, but I kept myself up to date.

Anyways, stupid as it sounds, I have gone from triggering 100 times a day to no triggering. At all. Suddenly I can watch, hear, read about news. I can, but it has been such a lovely break that I have decided to stay away from world news. Not from a needs perspective but instead a choice. Anyone else not able to deal with mass media?

 

[Anarchy]

I avoid the lamestream news monoculture as far as possible.

I do get a laugh from some of the thriving and much more diverse un-official sector though.

Does anyone here know of anyone who speaks to another human being with the delivery style or displays the manorisms used by TV news reporters?
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2015/01/20150116_godnews.png

 

[Upside Down Eagle]

I usually learn about news only if it is all-over-the-place and everybody is talking about it, like the France attacks recently.
I never watch news on television. Sometimes I read the news online, but the screaming, flashy headlines (that usually aren't at all objective) annoy me. I tend to read only opinion articles on these matters from renowned newspapers, there's where you can find honesty, people telling you that it is just their opinion, and not trying to make money over the backs of horrible situations.

There's lots of people who don't watch the news, even when they don't have any kind of disorder. It just makes them agitated and unhappy.

 

[Deleted member 20280]

I now avoid the news totally as I trigger just thinkibg about it just like now. I wish I didn't as I used to enjoy catching up on what is out there. :(

 

[Nam]

I couldn't take the news for a long time. Even now, sex crimes against children still make me shake.

Honestly, the way that the news is given, people should be traumatized. But since many of these people are so comfortable in their world, they have this immunity. We, however, had many first hand accounts of terrible things. We know they exist. We also know that a 15 second sound bite doesn't even begin to describe it. So many emotions in just a few seconds!

Facebook is where I get my news. I then just get one article and not a bunch of bait headlines that seems so overwhelming.

I don't watch tv at all. I watch shows on Netflix but no broadcasting. Exception for watching the Olympics.

The absence of flashbacks is a good sign. But the absence of emotion means you've likely dissociated.

 

[Neverthesame]

I totally understand where you are coming from. I haven't read the news in probably 6 months or more. I finally had enough one day when I read something that was just disturbing to me. I thought to myself "you know what, I think I have read all the news I'll ever need to know."

I used to enjoy when there were the good news reports or ones that start as a terrible tragedy with a happy ending. My favorite was about a little toddler who wandered off into the woods in winter, at some point she fell into a creek and passed out from hypothermia. The next day search & rescue found her very cold, scared but very much alive. How? Her little pet dog had followed after her, when she fell asleep. The dog climbed on top of her and kept her warm through the night. Bloody amazing.

Sadly. You never see news like that anymore. It's all become death, destruction and misery. There is so much good in the world. Why are we shielded from it?

 

[risingsun]

Anyone else not able to deal with mass media?

I used to keep up with the news quite a bit and I found myself highly emotional and stressed about what was happening in the world. Then I stopped watching the news for quite some time and realized that the "worry and stress" about our chaotic world dissipated.

So I watch what I allow into my consciousness. I suppose I'm keeping my mind clear and free of the world's clutter. This includes triggering movies or music from the past. Because even movies and music are media stemming from the outside world. I choose what I allow into my consciousness as much as I can. Yes, its a choice and I truly believe for me, the right choice.

 

[ghotiff]

I avoid the news and current affairs in any form. I'm highly sensitive and it's never healthy for me. I've always been this way, it's only this year I learnt it's a trauma thing. It's not on my list of things to "fix" (so many other things are more important to me to fix) so I believe I will always be this way with the news.

 

[sun seeker]

Anyone else not able to deal with mass media?

Yes. Sometimes I can't avoid it, and those can be triggering. It helps a little to realize that the mass media is set up on purpose to keep us in a state of fear and the angle it reports from is skewed. At the same time, I used to keep up with what is going on in other ways outside of the mainstream media, but for the past couple of years this has also been too triggering. My stress cup has been too full to handle more than my immediate surroundings. That's awesome that your triggers have gone down so much.

 

[Freedomfighter]

I wish I could say that. I get triggered so much when reading or watching the news. It seems pathetic, but just one single word can trigger me. Criminals that are responsible for my PTSD are continuing to stalk and harass me, spreading such huge lies that the stress from that alone is enough to trigger me everyday.

You would not believe how far stalkers go to attempt to make their victims believe that they did something that actually never happened.

 

[Ronin]

I'm the opposite. I *need* news. May be being ADHD & control freak, but I just need input about outside world and world outside of where I am & where I can hear from. It may be complete fabrications but it's something. Silence freaks me out so much more, so swimming in data it is.

 

[Changing4Best]

I don't own a TV, because I cannot afford cable, but also because I want nothing to do with the NEWS. Usually if something drastic is happening, like the WTC bombing or something, folks talk about it and I find it out that way. But I sure can do without the graphics and the newscasters.