I began the class by placing a waste basket full of crumpled paper and other innocuous debris on the table. “What goes in here?” I asked.
Various hormones and neurotransmitters connect the body and mind. When we experience something good, feel-good chemicals elevate our sense of well-being. We engage more effectively with others and are more productive. When we experience something bad—especially when we dwell on it with our voraciously ruminative minds—the disruptive chemicals released weaken the immune system, slow healing, create digestive issues, and impact mental health. So back to that garbage. We know highly nutritious foods promote better bodily health than junk food. Nothing wrong with junk food on occasion, but a steady diet promotes illnesses from heart disease to cancer. The mind is similar. What you fill it with shapes it. News is a big one. In his new book, Manipulating the Message, award-winning Canadian investigative journalist Cecil Rosner points to the demise of truthful reporting. With the rise of digital media and growth in the public relations and communications industry, Canadian spin doctors outnumber professional reporters by roughly fourteen to one. Add to that, news consumers increasingly turn to digital devices for information. In-depth, investigative news stories tend to be long and less easy to consume on a smart phone. Consumers want sound bytes. Those sound bytes may hold elements of truth but not enough to shape an adequate perspective. Unfortunately, they can shape false ones.
“Uh, garbage?” one youth responded slowly.
“That’s right. So, what comes out?” I asked, pouring the garbage over the table.
“Garbage,” they chorused, somewhat more awake.
That little demonstration launched a lively conversation centered around contemporary media—from social media and news to books and other forms of entertainment. Those teens quickly made the connection between what they placed their attention on and how it made them feel. We discussed how our feelings translate into a worldview that may or may not be empowering—or even accurate. Teens aren’t the only ones who need to hear that message. Paying too much attention to news tends to frustrate, depress, or anger me, so I’m careful about where I go for information and how much time I spend there. I want to be informed, not overwhelmed. Whether film, books, or video games, contemporary entertainment lures me in. But its tendency to focus on a depraved sense of humanity, with violence and aggression as the solution to violence and aggression, brings me down. I’m on a mission to find edifying entertainment. I don’t want to diminish the very real challenges in front of us, but to issue a reminder dwelling on negativity won’t move us forward. It will immobilize us. Alia Crum, Associate Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, says, “Our minds aren’t passive observers, simply perceiving reality as it is. Our minds actually change reality.” She goes on to say, “If we truly want to tackle the diseases and crises of our time, we need to more effectively acknowledge and leverage the power of mindset.” Science shows us that our minds don’t distinguish between what we actually experience and what we emotionally experience through a well-told story. When emotions are triggered, say through a compelling social media post, a news report, or a movie, our brains record our reaction as though it were a real experience. Over time, those stories congeal to create a perspective.
If you want to improve your media diet—news and otherwise--consider these suggestions:
Take note of how you feel after the entertainment media you consume. What disturbs you? What uplifts you? Seek the latter. 1. Develop your critical thinking skills; evaluate news sources for credibility. That means looking for verifiable facts rather than opinions that simply augment your own. 2. Focus on possibility thinking rather than positive or negative thinking, both of which can cloud perspective, and lean toward media that does the same. 3.
We are what we consume, inside and out. Let’s aim for healthier choices.
1- Nathan Collins, “Stanford researchers explore how the human mind shapes reality,” Stanford News, June 11, 2018, https://news.stanford.edu/2018/06/11/four-ways-human-mind-shapes- reality/. 2- Cecil Rosner, Manipulating the Message: How Powerful Forces Shape the News (Toronto, Canada, Dundurn Press), 2023, p. 2.
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