Skip to main content

Damage Control: News


Reading the news can be overwhelming, especially today. It is important to read the news, to stay updated with current events, but reading too much can create stress and worry. It is also important to note that speaking of the news and/or having the news on a lot can make children in the house feel anxious. In fact, The Child Mind Institute recommends talking to children about COVID-19, but limiting the amount of information shared to not overwhelm them. It is best to give them basic facts from health professionals and advice from the CDC, and to also allow them room to ask any questions involving the virus.

About two years ago, TIME magazine had an article titled You Asked: Is It Bad for You to Read the News Constantly? which answered a lot of questions about people's concerns over reading too much news. This article came out in a time where a lot of people were concerned about the presidency and the current White House Administration, but also proves to be useful now. Loretta Breuning, a former UC East Bay professor, was a key source in the article and stated that news reading should be allocated to one time spot a day. She recommends reading/watching around breakfast or lunch, but never before bed. This can allow bad, nervous thoughts to enter your brain as you sleep and make things even worse. 
This should also apply to children, from small beings to teenagers. Yes, it is important to converse about the news to other adults, but speaking about it in front of young people can be troublesome. They may not talk about it, but overhearing alarming statistics is not good for them. It can result in a panic that they may not show to others. This is a time to be mindful about our own mental health, as well as our children's, and to talk with each other when anxieties are sparked to help create an ease of comfort and community. 

To another tomorrow, 
Liz Malone 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Damage Control: Higher Education

Damage Control: Higher Education Higher education is an education beyond high school. It is often seen as a necessity to advance in the job market, however this is hard to do when university tuition continues to become more and more unaffordable. Today a student came up to me, frustrated and confused. She recently got accepted into University of the Pacific and told me she received her financial aid package. "Why the f*** do they want me to pay $27,000 to go to this school? I told them my parental contribution would be $0 and they told me that I can do monthly payments. What was the point of them accepting me if I can't even afford it? F*** UOP, man." Meanwhile, another student today told me all excited that she got into Sac State. "I'm gonna have to live at home, but yo, check me out! I'm going to be all college educated!" Lack of Affordability for Students  For a while now, students in high school are expected to achieve a college degree fro...
Post a Comment
Read more

Damage Control: Reports

Good morning, Changemakers! On Thursday, I headed to a small winery town in Southern California with some friends. As we all got situated into the house we're staying in, I opened up my Facebook app. I saw that one of my old friends from high school posted ABC10's article, Stockton Ranked 4th Worst Place to Raise Children in the Country.  She commented on the post "I didn't turn out that bad." Of course, she didn't turn out "that bad" because she grew up on the north side of town with both of her parents making a significant income. The article's information came from Diversity Data Kids in their 2020 report. According to the data, about half of Stockton's children live in low-opportunity areas. There are not enough programs for children, the air quality is bad, and most importantly, there is severe wealth inequality. How are people going to prosper when they don't have opportunities coming their ways? Of course, since the Youth De...
Post a Comment
Read more