Our country’s youngest citizens are indeed feeling stressed from all the bad and depressing news, that is poured out to them from the TV, newspapers, the internet, billboards, and social media. After all, grade-schoolers inherit all kinds of trouble adult baggage, from pharmaceutical drugs, social prejudices to bad eating habits. However, the very fact that kids too are upset by weighty issues does not bode well for the national psyche.
Today more than half of Americans agree that the news causes them some stress and many report feelings of anxiety, sleep loss or fatigue because of this, according to a 2017 survey that was illustrated by the American Psychological Association (APA). Therapists such as Elaine Ducharme, a psychologist in Glastonbury, Conn, report that between 85% and 90% of their patients discuss the stress of the news cycle during their counseling sessions. A small portion of businesses have banned cable news shows from televisions on their premises. Some of the Colleges are posting notices on their websites advising the students on how to wean themselves from the news coverage.
Vogue magazine very recently steered readers to Botox injections to help relieve some of the jaw clenching that accompanies “headline stress disorder.” The situation is on the right road to get even worse. Nearly 1 in 10 Americans report that they check the news every hour. And twenty percent say that they constantly monitor their social media feeds, which open the door to headlines whether they like it or not. All the constant pinging of our breaking-news alerts causes some anxiety, as do efforts to reduce or ignore them.
“It’s a self-perpetuating pattern in which wanting to know what will happen next, that reinforces the uncertainty that fires up anxiety”, says Vaile Wright, who is the APA’s director of research and special projects. Americans today are not only reporting more symptoms of stress, such as irritability and headaches; Americans are doing so with growing frustration. “[Uncertainty] can prevent us from being able to make plans,” Vaile Wright says. “So we do things to mitigate. We hit refresh, and it raises anxiety and stress again.”
The actual reasons for this rising stress levels from the news are not surprising. The news cycle is a 24-hour affair. Updates are generated not only by journalists but by anyone with a social media account, from fundraisers to friends to trolls. “The bulletins are being delivered nonstop throughout the world, and are breaking into our kitchens, family room, and bedrooms, places that we considered safe,” says Mr. Graham Davey, who is the author of the Anxiety Epidemic. What’s more, often they will arrive with a large dose of attitude or bile. When a user comments digitally on news development, she or he is risking starting a Twitter war with an anonymous aggressive army of opinionated, fast-fingered and vindictive holders of the opposite point of view.
As one might expect, with our President Donald Trump being in the White House, more of the Democrats than Republicans report that they are stressed out by the national political conversation. The left blames our President for making ruinous policy decisions, polarizing our country and kicking civility to the dusty curb. Some of the Democrats are saying that they even get irritated just hearing Donald Trump’s voice. However, it turns out that political stress is a pretty bipartisan affair. And almost half of the Republicans also characterize talks with the people across the aisle as being stressful, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center survey.
Nearly two-thirds of Americans of all political stripes are saying that the future of the nation is a source of stress. Consumers on the left and the right are worried about the impact of the tariff war and how it will affect their household budgets, just as the prospect of a war with Iran unsettles the Democrats, Independents, and Republicans.
“It’s really not just because of President Trump. It is everything, it’s watching the politicians unable to do anything, yelling and setting the tone that anything goes, Ducharme says, who specializes in collaborative divorce counseling. She compares couples in therapy sessions to cable news coverage. They are quite often screaming at each other. They are just not listening, they are going back and forth, with no regard to what the other is saying.
It seems to have first bubbled up during the presidency of George W. Bush. In 2003, when President Bush was in his second year in office, conservative columnist Mr. Charles Krauthammer noted that Bush’s most ardent critics-otherwise the normal people, in the journalist’s words were exhibiting “the acute onset of paranoia, in reaction to some of the policies” of the administration. Krauthammer dubbed that phenomenon, Bush Derangement Syndrome.
Here we are, a decade later, the right found itself suffering a very similar affliction in the reaction to President Barack Obama, whose two terms as commander and chief were defined by overtly bitter partisanship inside of the Beltway and overheated rhetoric outside it, especially in the conservative-leaning publications and on the talk radio. It was not so much paranoia about President Barack Obama’s policies as it was paranoia about the man himself, Ezra Klein wrote on the news site Vox in 2015. That he is, in some fundamental way, different, foreign, untrustworthy, and even traitorous (which I personally disagree).
Under President Trump administration, headline stress disorder has skyrocketed, with critics spinning outraged news segments out of almost any new development, significant or not, while the right-wing media do the same thing in reaction to Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House and other Democrats.
There seem to be two main flavors of shows. There are the opinionated-host formats, in which a newscaster preaches from her or his respective corner of the political ring, and there is the panelist approach, in which the guests offering weak and strong points of view, by yelling, and interrupt each other and rolling their eyes a lot. This unorthodox, fisticuffs approach, of course, had been very good for the news business-the so call Donald Trump bump-but for a viewer flipping through all the cable channels for actual information, it definitely can be an anxiety-producing.
Bahram Akradi, for an example, is a big avid consumer of the news, and also the CEO of Life Time, a large health and wellness company with more than 130 upscale athletic clubs across the USA. One of the clubs, amenities are televisions-which have some 50 to 60 per club-for the members to watch while working out (which W.L.F.A.B.W. is against televisions being on when people are working out).
They have always been great for multitaskers and anyone who wants a distraction from their aching muscles. (when working out your attention should be always on the muscles that you’re working out, this is the opinion of W.L.F.A.B.W.). But only starting a few years ago, Akradi felt the cable news broadcasts were offering the wrong kind of diversion, one delivered in often harsh and sometimes demeaning tones. In January 2018, he pulled the plug, or-dering his managers to remove MSNBC, CNN and Fox News from all the Life Time television sets.
It was a very easy decision to make, says Akradi now. We are promoting a healthy way of life, not just nutrition and exercising. When someone is feeling disrespected [by a newscaster], the blood pressure goes up. It is not healthy for anyone. Some 500 to 600 irate members called in to complain about this move, however, Akradi, receive help from his VP of corporate communications, by contacted each member. Today it’s only a non-issue. The Life Time screens in the clubs are tuned to CNBC or Bloomberg, which cover the financial news, or the Discovery Channel. And any members who may want to watch Fox’s Sean Hannity or MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow can only do so on their personal devices, via Wi-Fi, or on mobile devices with individual screens, Akradi says.
Many other businesses have followed in Akradi’s foot-steps. Very recently, after the Life Time announcement, The Steamship Authority, a Massachusetts ferry line that connects Martha’s Vineyard, Cape Cod and Nantucket, also banned cable news networks from its vessels and terminals, citing complaints from the passengers. More recently, in April 2019, the Army & Air Force Exchange Service, which is a retailer that operates convenience stores and food courts on our military bases in more than 30 countries, emailed locations recommending that they steer away from the news and tune in to some sports.
“As a federal entity, we remain neutral on all political issues. The news channels should not be shown on common area TVs due to their divisive political nature”, this note read. In a follow-up email, the Army & Air Force removed references to politics and news however, it stuck to its message that sports were OK. (but, CNN did not return emails requesting comment for this story: Fox News and MSNBC declined to comment.)
My friends, stress, and depression is becoming an epidemic. Please do all that you can to remove and keep out of your lives. May you be always in good health, humbly your Paul Earl.
www.Beautiflworid.com
I can understand why stress levels are high especially among the young. And I can see how weight lifting can move ones focus towards doing something beneficial for ones body and health if done correctly. However, I didn’t realize the extent that politics plays in stress.
Personally if something is out of my control I don’t let that stress me out. I work on what is under my control. When things do not go as I had expected I do stress out a little. But I rethink my strategy and get over it.
What do you think of preteen boys doing body building and adding adult like muscles to their body frames? Can that have negative effects on their lives? My philosophy is everything in moderation. Weight training for kids is good as long as it doesn’t become obsessive.
Stress in our society has always been there. How to address this stress is in my opinion what is really important.
Cheers.
Edwin
Good evening Edwin Bernard, we thank you for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world. Yes indeed, from the research that my team and I have done, Exercise in general helps a great deal with stress, and of course so many other things concerning the human body Mind and Spirit. And the politics of today oh my God, it’s stressing out the youth as well as the old, it is no doubt a most terrible thing. On your question concerning young ones being involved with weightlifting, I think it’s a beautiful thing, not just being involved in weightlifting also sports and exercise in general, is very unfortunate, that a lot of our youth today are more involved with, Xbox, and all the other games that are involved with the internet, I have found through research a lot of our children are not involved with sports exercise or anyting, they’re glued to these game, and this is not good. However I don’t think you should make one into a Hercules or Arnold at a very young age, as they get older they should have the opportunity to make that decision for themselves. And you are absolutely correct, is all in how you handle the stress, I myself, meditate everyday of my life. I also lift weights 5 days a week and I practice mindfulness, and of course I eat the necessary foods that helps battle against stress. Once again thank you for visiting us, and if it’s anything at all that we can do for you, please reach out to us. May you be always in good health, humbly yours Paul Earl.
It is a sad state of affairs when the news has become so negative that it is causing so much stress and anxiety worldwide and even more worrying that younger people are being affected.
Unfortunately bad news sells better than good news and some thrive on controversy. Maybe sometimes it is good not to know everything that is going on in the world for the sake of our own sanity.
I wonder if you know of some great tips that people could use to detox from all the negativity being fed to us?
good evening Michel, you are so very right, it is so very sad what is going on with our world, all of this stress from all the wars and the rumor of wars, all of the negative press about everything, is creating stress throughout every country, the politics, are leaving are young people as well as the old in confusion, it brings tears to my heart. However as you said bad news is what sales. I myself, meditate 5 days a week, I incorporate mindfulness and exercise Within my life on a daily basis, and it works 100%. I have many articles on these subjects on this website, feel free to check them out. We thank you for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world, if it’s anything that we could ever do for you please reach out to us, may you be always in good health, humbly yours Paul Earl.
Hello Paul,
This is a very informative article. It’s true sometimes ignoring a notification or waiting for an appropriate time to check on what’s being happening can cause anxiety. The one thing I realized after reading this article is that we should make sure to keep our notifications minimum and silent during the hours we cannot check on them and we should train ourselves to check on the news or any other social media posts one time a day. That way I think we would be able to overcome our addiction in surfing the web almost all the spare time we have through out the day. Do you think that would help us overcome with the stress in our society?
Good evening Anjali, yes I do agree with you, however, you and I are enterprisers. Which means we need to be apart of social media on several different platforms on a daily basis. Now Kyle had mentioned we should limit our self to 10 or 15 minutes, however, with my Facebook business page, my involvement with several groups, and my regular Facebook page, and 4 other social media platforms that I’m involved in, I have not been able to do that. However, I have you to know, I don’t get involved with any of the Facebook drama. I also don’t make it a habit to seek out news in general. I can understand the stress of it all, concerning politics, and all the other bad stuff that the news relates to us, as one person has said on a comment on this website, bad news is what sells, unfortunately is now hurting many people. We thank you for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world, if there’s ever anything that we can do for you please by all means reach out to us. May you be always in good health, humbly yours Paul Earl.
Its really a great issue to have stress level so obsessing as this, it very alarming and very detrimental doe the health of our young citizens. Generally, I’ve always loved workout and I can relate it to every sphere of life as it’s very beneficial and it can fit perfectly into giving that less stressed self and it can also help with manners, it trains you to be responsible and be able to achieve things to help yourself. So, the idea of weightlifting is dope and will be of great help. Thanks
Good evening DreaJay, thank you for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world, I myself, if I’m extremely stressed out, I always try to make it to the gym, because if I workout, it all goes away. And if I can’t get to the gym I run for a couple miles, and that also does the trick for me. With all this bad news all over the internet, over the television, and on the radio, our society is constantly being bombarded with negativity, that brings about a stressful Society. It is very sad to watch our youth being fed in this distracted way. We must join together as a people, and make a imprint of difference, in order to save our society from destruction. Once again we thank you for visiting us, if it’s ever anything that we can help you with, please reach out to us. May you be always in good health, humbly yours Paul Earl.
This is very true and i am very happy that someone has stepped up and really wants to deal with this particular issue. I have seen quite a number of people who are going through so much due to the news that they see or their social media feeds. For me, only two kinds of news can cause stress. News about disasters or political news too. I think that many people are really concerned about the country and that is why news like this one can affect a very wide range of people. I like this post. Thank you for sharing with us. What do you think the solution to this problem is?
Good evening Henderson, I love that you’re hanging out today, I seen you earlier, which is a beautiful thing, thank you. My friend there is so much stress among the young people and the old, it’s getting really frightening out there. You can see it in their eyes, you can hear it in their voice, and it just seems to be getting worse. And for the information that my team and I have gathered, it has to do with the paranoia, of the future of our country, as well, what all of the political battles that are happening in plain view. Everyone is being seduce with this sort of stress throughout social media, it is not good at all. This stress is affecting people’s work performance, as well as their personal life, what is the answer, I honestly don’t know. However, I do know, something very soon got to change, for the sake of this country. I thank you for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world, as always our doors are open if you need us, may you be always in good health, humbly yours, Paul Earl.
What do you think about the fact that the news in now 24 hours a day, when it used to be just a few hours spread throughout the day when we were growing up? I personally try to stay away from it all for many of the same reasons you specified in the article. Seems like it doesn’t matter which side you are on when it comes to politicians, they are more worried about making the other side look bad than actually getting anything done! It’s beyond frustrating! I can understand the youth being stressed about this, this is all they have known. I hope that they are able to make changes as they become adults and stop the childish squabbling that seems to be on every new channel constantly.
Good evening Travis, thank you for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world. By the news being available twenty-four hours a day, it has become intoxicated, causing stress, worry, depression, and Big Time anxiety, for the Youth as well as the old. I also put in the effort not to be involved with the news more than every other day, the hard part of staying away from it is, wherever you go someone is talking about what they have heard on the news, then the Curiosity kicks in, and your emotions are then Doom. And as far as politics goes, it is a main poison, that we all could live without. The bickerton of American politics, has become an embarrassment. And my friend, I am so concerned, about our young people, it has kept me up at night. Once again thank you for visiting us, and if it’s anything that we can do for you, please reach out to us. May you be always in good health, humbly yours Paul Earl.
Social media is the greatest agent of stress, the main reason publicity for sharing bad news and it’s been really disheartening that it’s affect our young generation in a great deal. It’s always good to learn how to control ones mind and program it to receive less of the burden that comes from the stressing news we hear, this can be done in various ways, I’m able to device just meditation and exercise, which other ways do you suggest that can be used?
Good evening Wildecoll, thank you for visiting weightlifting for Beautiful World, it’s always good to see new readers, I don’t let stress affect me personally, I combat stress by meditation and exercise, including weightlifting, however my purpose of writing this article, to make people aware of all the stressful things that are happening to this world into our young population of this world. Every giving day my heart shed tears for society, our young people. As I mentioned in this article, politics is one of the number one reasons that it is so much stress in America especially, and it’s social media oh my God I don’t think there are words that I can use to describe the pressure, that is being givening to everyone, on so many different pedestals. We must join together as a unit, all of us, in trying, to make the road smoother for our Young Generation, because this world will be theirs. Once again I thank you for visiting us, if it’s ever anything that we can do for you, please feel free to reach out to us. May you be always in good health, humbly yours Paul Earl.
STress is a very rampant thing but i see you take it here from another perspective because i used to read and think that work was the major reason for stress but now you have changed that ideology. I love the way you have presented this post on the issue of political stress. I personally get a serious headache from listening to Trump as well and i feel very bad when he puts forth his policies because they dont to work well with us. Do we then stop listening to the news? What is the solution to this problem?
Good evening John, my brother there is so much stress going on because of politics, and the concern of this nation’s well-being, you can see in the in the youths eyes, the paranoia, the unbelief, in what is happening here in America, with our Battle of words in politics, and the Betrayal that is constantly in view of the world, it brings tears to my eyes my friend. No I do not recommend not watching the news, however I do recommend not watching it several times a day, one time is plenty, that alone is enough can bring our blood pressure through the roof. As for the solution to the problem, unfortunately, I must say, I am in confusion of the solution. Thank you once again for visiting weightlifting for a beautiful world. If it’s ever anything we can do for you please contact us. May you be always in good health, humbly yours Paul Earl.
I believe that this time there I am among the rich affiliates, I am waiting to know how it evolves, I am from the continent of Africa and my country is the Democratic Republic of Congo
Good evening my friend, it is good to see you, however, you’re making a comment. You want to click on the link that says wealthy affiliate on this page, and that will let you through the door so you can become a member. May good health and prosperity be always with you, humbly yours Paul Earl.