Can we sue the news media for making us depressed?
I mean, of course, those of us who are depressed. And pay a lot of attention to the new media. I have not seen any research about correlations between attention to the news media and depression. But I suppose that would be worth investigating. I have heard people complain that the news is depressing.
What started me on this line of thinking was research I commented on last Wednesday. That dealt with people who were depressed and were showing a particular pattern of persistent vigilance (by fMRI). Apparently pattern that was associated with persistent rumination over negative thoughts. In the study, the negative thoughts would have been unfavorable self-descriptions. But I could imagine that persistent rumination over disasters and threats of disaster might have a similar effect.
Who would persistently ruminate over disasters and threats? The news media of course. (I wonder what the rate of clinical depression is in the news media.) But don’t take my word for it. The link below will take you to an excellent article on the matter. (Caution. This article is funny. If you are news-depressed, it will probably interrupt your depression. If you stop being depressed, you won’t have grounds to sue. That would be depressing.)
If everything is killing us, why do we live so long?
By Jeff Randall (Filed: 31/03/2006) Business.Telegraph
Excerpt: Flick through the daily papers' news pages and it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that everything is killing us. But then turn to the personal finance sections and it seems that our pension funds are [in trouble] because nobody is dying.
-----------
As this excerpt shows, Mr. Randall has neatly caught the media’s talent for persistent rumination. The media have thus given new meaning to the expression “No news is good news.” I picked up an example from Reuters just today:
Is a strong economy bad for your health?
Risk of fatal heart attacks rises when economy is healthy, study finds
One of the best long-term efforts by the media menace mongers has been base on the flu. Back in ’02 and ’03, the pending peril was SARS. Those of us who did not die of that were threatened the following flu season with a
Flu Vaccine Shortage!
Some of us survived that disaster. Only to be confronted this flu season with
Bird Flu!!!
Bird Flu!!! has not yet started to infect birds in the western hemisphere. You might think that is good news, but it really means that this year we will have daily reports on the steady approach of Bird Flu!!!
In their defense, of course, the news media will argue that people susceptible to depression can just avoid the news. Or the medai can argue (with evidence) that nobody takes the news media seriously any more. Personally, I prefer to treat the media as a new version of the funny papers. You can’t sue the funny papers. But they are good for a laugh. If you are willing to accept the risks of laughing.
What started me on this line of thinking was research I commented on last Wednesday. That dealt with people who were depressed and were showing a particular pattern of persistent vigilance (by fMRI). Apparently pattern that was associated with persistent rumination over negative thoughts. In the study, the negative thoughts would have been unfavorable self-descriptions. But I could imagine that persistent rumination over disasters and threats of disaster might have a similar effect.
Who would persistently ruminate over disasters and threats? The news media of course. (I wonder what the rate of clinical depression is in the news media.) But don’t take my word for it. The link below will take you to an excellent article on the matter. (Caution. This article is funny. If you are news-depressed, it will probably interrupt your depression. If you stop being depressed, you won’t have grounds to sue. That would be depressing.)
If everything is killing us, why do we live so long?
By Jeff Randall (Filed: 31/03/2006) Business.Telegraph
Excerpt: Flick through the daily papers' news pages and it's difficult to avoid the conclusion that everything is killing us. But then turn to the personal finance sections and it seems that our pension funds are [in trouble] because nobody is dying.
-----------
As this excerpt shows, Mr. Randall has neatly caught the media’s talent for persistent rumination. The media have thus given new meaning to the expression “No news is good news.” I picked up an example from Reuters just today:
Is a strong economy bad for your health?
Risk of fatal heart attacks rises when economy is healthy, study finds
One of the best long-term efforts by the media menace mongers has been base on the flu. Back in ’02 and ’03, the pending peril was SARS. Those of us who did not die of that were threatened the following flu season with a
Flu Vaccine Shortage!
Some of us survived that disaster. Only to be confronted this flu season with
Bird Flu!!!
Bird Flu!!! has not yet started to infect birds in the western hemisphere. You might think that is good news, but it really means that this year we will have daily reports on the steady approach of Bird Flu!!!
In their defense, of course, the news media will argue that people susceptible to depression can just avoid the news. Or the medai can argue (with evidence) that nobody takes the news media seriously any more. Personally, I prefer to treat the media as a new version of the funny papers. You can’t sue the funny papers. But they are good for a laugh. If you are willing to accept the risks of laughing.
posted by Selby Evans at 9:07 AM
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