A week without the news as a news obsessed girl
I am that girl who constantly has her head buried in her phone, not because I am busy updating social media, but because I’m addicted to the news. My best friends are the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Politico and several other prominent news outlets. I am obsessed.
I want to know all the facts and then I facts-check those facts. I read multiple articles from several different outlets on the same topic. While I’ve always liked journalism, I can definitely trace my obsession to after Trump was elected. Every moment of his presidency has felt like such chaos that I am petrified at any moment the world is going to implode. During the “rocket man” incident I was convinced that World War III was seconds. My obsession has gotten me into trouble. Sometimes, I bump into things. In fact, my cracked phone screen, which I still use to read, is one example.
Honestly, it’s started to feel a bit unhealthy. The constant dopamine fix is no doubt adding to my overall anxiety, which already tends toward the high side. I wondered if it might be a better idea to go back to print, when the constant barrage of new information wasn’t a thing. When I picture people reading the newspaper I envision an old married couple sitting quietly at the breakfast table sipping coffee and flipping through the pages while retro music plays in the background. I just can’t see anyone under the age of 60 reading a newspaper.. but I thought, maybe that was the problem. Maybe it would make me happier, and saner. So I decided for a week--Monday through Friday--no more mindlessly reading countless articles on my phone; instead I would read the newspaper. So I decided for a week--Monday through Friday--no more mindlessly reading countless articles on my phone; instead I would read the newspaper.
Day 1
Off to a Rough Start: In my groggy morning brain state, I forgot all about my experiment and unplugged my phone from my charger to read the first article that interested. I didn't remember until the third paragraph that this was a no-no. The habit had just become so ingrained in my everyday life. I needed my news fix.
After getting ready and heading out, I really want to read the news, but couldn’t. The library only had old newspapers, the campus coffee shop did not have a newspaper and neither did the bookstore. This made no sense to me. I was forced to wait until the end of the day when I had time to go off campus to buy a newspaper at Starbucks. Not to be a stereotype, but I am a broke college student and I was not thrilled about having to pay for a service that would otherwise be free. Quite frankly I just wanted to stomp my feet like a two year old. There were multiple issues I was following, the most important of which was the upcoming Kavanaugh senate hearing.
When I finally got to read the New York Times, it was nothing new because my friends had already been talking about it all day. It was incredibly frustrating because the news is what I do, without it I felt like I had no personality. Not to mention, I couldn’t even figure out how to read the paper. It was practically an entire tree and most of it was ads. There were too many words on one page, my eyes didn’t know where to focus. I ended up only reading three article.
I wanted to read more, but I have a visual tracking problem. When I read on my phone my eyes are not overwhelmed. I can make the words bigger if I need too, but I can't do that with a newspaper. The words were too tinny and too condensed, my eyes just natural skipped lines. It made it impossible to follow because I was reading two different articles at once. I just had to give up. Either that or buy reading glasses.
Day 2
No newspaper for me. Life got in the way. Newspapers are great if they get delivered to your door, not if you have to drive ten, fifteen minutes to go get one. I wished there was a way to get an advanced copy of the newspaper, but that's obviously not possible. There wasn’t even a way to access breaking news throughout the day, which was annoying.
The entire day I was stressed because I kept wonder what was happening with the Kavanaugh trial, but I didn't want to cheat and have a friend tell me. By time my day was over and I finally had the opportunity to drive out to Starbucks to get a Newspaper I ran into some unfortunate car problems. I was just done and went to bed uninformed. Day over.
Day Three
It was becoming clear that I do not have the self control to do this self experiment. No matter what I did my morning brain wanted to read the news. I even went as far as putting a sticky note on my phone one night, so I could remember not to read the news. In big words it said: “Do not read the news!” but did that stop me? Of course not! My parents always said I do somersaults in my sleep and they must be right because in the morning the sticky note was gone and so were my prospects of starting the experiment properly that day.
After not getting any news the day before, I was really craving a fix, but I didn't want to spend money on a Newspaper. I was about to drop a ton of money on car repair, an extra two dollars can really go a long way. So I decided I was going to be that that creeper at Starbucks who pretended to be standing in line but was secretly peering over to the newsstand reading the front page of the major newspapers for free. It felt like stealing, but I told myself it was fine because I already pay for an online subscription, I could not tell myself that when I skimmed the Washington Post.
It was a perfect plan, but the lady at the register knew what I was up too and kept pestering me. I was too worried about getting in trouble so all I read was the front page, but I was too panicked to actually remember what it was about. I might as well not have read the paper that day at all. It would have saved me some gas.
Day Four
In the morning, I had to write the same message I put on the sticky note on my arm as a constant reminder. I am missed everything!
Once again life got in the way; however, this time it happened during the Kavanaugh trial, which I had been anticipating for weeks. And I missed it. I could have gone onto my phone and clicked on the beautiful little link that would have taken me to live video of the trial. Instead, I had to get all the details from my friends because my computer charger broke and I had to drop $50 to get a new one. So, I decided to put my debit card in a time out and read the free school newspaper. Lucky, it was a Thursday, so a new edition was out.
Unlucky, there was only one article about Kavanaugh and it was an opinion piece, which was not what I wanted. What I wanted was an advanced copy of tomorrow's news! I was beginning to feel like pent up animal. Pacing back and forth, back and forth, waiting for the news to come out and getting...wait for it...nothing!
Day Five
I had to spend my last dollar and all my quarters on the Washington Post because I could not afford the Times. This week was a disaster, I was reading the news, but I wasn’t getting any new information because once again everyone was talking about Kavanaugh and there was no way for me to avoid the topic. Despite the newspaper being current, it was old news. Friday, I waited in anticipation for the clock to turn midnight and the second Friday faded into Saturday, I was back on my phone.
Day 6
Strangely, this was the first morning I remembered not to look at my phone. It was only because I had to wake up early to finish an assignment. So instead of reaching for my phone, I reached for my laptop.
I was hoping to find a hidden beauty in the world, instead all I was left with was crumpled up pieces of paper. I can understand the nostalgia of newspapers, but they are not practical when the news is constantly updated on a phone. The only time I don't get the news for free is when I read more than five stories from the New York Times on my computer, but even then a month’s subscription is cheaper than a week's worth of print news paper.
However, my return to print wasn’t completely unsuccessful. Without endlessly reading the news on my phone, I needed to find a new way to fill my time and I found myself reaching for my favorite book The Night Circus and remembering why I love to read. So I did find a hidden beauty. Reading my book was calming unlike reading the newspaper. Since the end of my experiment I’ve actually switched gears a bit. I still read the news every day, but not on the same obsessive level. I’ve also since discovered that my clumsiness is not the result of staring at a screen all day. I can be destructive all on my own, but at least now I don't have a constant sense of impending doom.