When you are watching the news, let’s say the weather, and all of a sudden you see a blue stripe of text go by and it says “Breaking News!” and it goes on about someone getting killed on a subway or a bus or something else that is really sad and heartbreaking. Not only do those headlines make you think the city or town you live in isn’t safe anymore, but it could happen to anyone.
Then there are the ones that affect the whole world, that two countries are going to war. This causes anxiety because it can affect anyone, whether it be gas prices rising, or prices of groceries and everyday items such as toilet paper suddenly taking a nose dive or rising so high that you can even afford toilet paper or a can of soup.
Inflation is so bad right now that even things like medication, that people need to survive, rise so high that you fear for your life. Covid, for example, made everything much more expensive and unless you were “essential workers” you lost your job, and on top of that, kids couldn’t go to school so you’d have to find a babysitter or something.
A few weeks ago my grandma came into my room and told me that a young man killed his parents and grandma. This was a shock because I live in a small farming town of less than 9k. It makes you think and wonder if it’s safe anymore. I also watch a lot of true crime and it’ll talk about how the victim lived in a small town where nobody locked their doors and then one murder, changed everyone’s mind.
Breaking news ends up being something you fear. Even though some breaking news could be good, you brace yourself for bad news. Anxiety sucks without news making it worse. Maybe they can make it less intimidating to lower our anxiety, because as necessary as it is to know world or local news, it’s also necessary to have peace of mind.
