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‘Tis the season of school vacations, outdoor games played till late evening, cooking out on the grill, and rejuvenating days spent at the beach or in the hammock. But how can you relax when you’re surrounded by news stories that raise your blood pressure or tighten your gut?
For decades, television, radio, magazines, and newspapers have been major purveyors of alarming reports. News broadcasts feed us a steady diet of tragedy, violence, and suffering, all in living--and sometimes dying-- color. Teasers that provoke fear or outrage get us to stay tuned for the details. Shocking headlines splashed across the cover get us to buy more copy.
"The biggest big business in America is not steel, automobiles, or television. It is the manufacture, refinement and distribution of anxiety." Eric Sevareid, journalist and news commentator, 1960
Mr. Sevareid made this observation long before the Internet was threaded into our homes. At this point he would rest his case, for every time you go online you can be bombarded with anxiety-provoking headlines about freak accidents, tainted food, rare diseases, terrorist plots, financial collapse, and relationships gone terribly wrong. Stories about social progress (or decline, depending on your point of view) can be alarming if they broach distressing topics, such as immigration and health care reform. Even arts and culture reports can taunt you. Altered photos of models and stars can make you feel anxious about your imperfections. Stories about celebrities gone wild might make you worry about the future of humanity. And then there are the horrors of negative political campaigns.
Adding to our hyperarousal, society has created many measures that are supposed to reassure us but end up setting off unnecessary alarms. Homeland security ensures long lines and often inane airport screening, yet such precautions have never uncovered an immediate threat. Nevertheless, screeners are being fired for being lax, and in April, an entire terminal in Newark was evacuated when TSA officials realized they’d allowed an unscreened infant through. They never did find or screen that baby. Amazingly, no aviation disaster transpired that day.
Medical screening, which purportedly promotes health, often promotes anxiety and needless medical procedures instead. One downside is waiting for the results. Another is the abnormal result that eventually proves to be normal. In my work, I hear from many expectant parents who’ve received bad news, which is later revealed to be a false alarm. This script goes something like this: “Apparently your baby has no internal organs.” Four weeks of torment later, “Ooops, there they are! Your baby appears to be fine. Good thing we have prenatal screening!”
The point of all this hypervigilance is to keep us safe, ready for fight or flight. Unfortunately, keeping us on edge doesn’t keep us in tip-top shape. It only wears us down. And false alarms over the years make us jaded and cynical. When was the last time Code Orange made you sit up and take notice?
And yet we stay attentive to bad news and invite alarming intrusions into our lives. We are compelled to listen to reports of disaster. Our curiosity is piqued when a fire truck pulls up next door. We want to view those photos of flesh-eating bacteria. Many of us tune into the nightly local news, receiving a bedtime story of murder and mayhem. Why don’t we turn away? As David Brooks points out in his seminal book “The Social Animal”, it’s not a matter of willpower or self-control or good decision-making. It’s a matter of perception. If you perceive this information as important to your safety, you’ll continue to look and listen.
Perhaps we are wired to be alert to danger. After all, we are descended from the vigilant ones who heeded the risks that abounded. Their cautious natures, learning from experience, and sharing knowledge enabled them to survive and procreate successfully. We inherited their wariness and their drives to keep safe and develop warning systems. So when you hear about a calamity, you feel forewarned.
Indeed, some degree of fear is beneficial. It can spur you to be mindful of your surroundings, take precautions, and think about the consequences of your actions. You avoid strangers, extinguish candles before leaving the room, put leftovers in the fridge, wash your hands before eating, heed threatening clouds, buckle up for safety, and don’t let friends drive drunk or on the cell phone.
The problem is, we’re inundated with reports of calamity. Every time a tragedy occurs, it is shouted from the rooftops. Before mass media, the only people who could hear any shouting from a rooftop lived in the immediate area, and chances are, the information applied to them or a loved one. Nowadays, the rooftop is electronic and you may hear or read about an assault, fire, storm, or accident that occurred hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Unfortunately, such distressing reports trigger and reinforce your fear for naught. And when you often hear about certain bad stuff happening, or when an event is particularly horrible, it marks your brain and tricks you into perceiving that this particular threat is becoming more of a problem or that you’re in real danger. But in reality, that assailant will not hunt you down, you weren’t trapped in that fire, you did not eat the tainted produce, you didn’t succumb to any virus, the weather is fine, and your driving record is clear.
It may also help to think about your immediate community of family and friends. Yes, tragedies happen, but are they rampant? Even one or two distressing events do not necessarily signal a trend or any danger to you. Remember that you are surrounded by surviving, thriving people, most of whom will live to a ripe old age unscathed. When your anxiety is needlessly triggered, it’s important to remember that statistically, barring inherited genetic disease, you are far more likely to never meet that particular fate you just heard about. Maybe you’ll get lucky, just like so many other folks. And that’s the point. In spite of our hair-brained schemes, calculated risks, and dumb mistakes, most of us do survive intact. Look back at all the cringe-worthy, spine-tingling stuff you did in your youth. Now, assess your real risks so you can avoid getting pointless medical screening, invasive treatments, burglar alarms, insurance policies, and any other perils that claim to help you avoid peril.
Still, your fear will be triggered. Any time you sense your anxiety mounting, try mindful acceptance. Simply observe your anxious thought or feeling, without assigning emotional value to it. For instance, “Oh look at that. A worry just entered my consciousness. And yet in this moment I am perfectly safe. This fear is only in my imagination. I’m just going to let my alarm pass, and as my body and mind calm down, I won’t refuel my anxiety or renew the physiological reaction by entertaining thoughts of calamity. Instead I’m going to divert my mind to a pleasant topic or repeat my mantra: I am safe, that’s not me, everything is okay.”
To avoid being triggered in the first place, resist clicking on or tuning into alarming stories. Turn the page, change the channel, or surf away from disturbing news. You don’t need to be informed about every disturbing event on the planet in order to stay safe and knowledgeable.
As you go about your summer fun, be mindful of what’s happening in front of you, and ignore any misfortune that does not pose an obvious and immediate threat to you. Also tune out the fear-mongering of partisan politicians who, angling for your vote, promise to keep you safe from the “evil-doing” of the opposing party. Most of all, engage in activities that boost your overall sense of well-being, such as spending time outdoors in nature, moving your body every day, eating nutritious foods, and getting plenty of sleep. These activities can be especially easy to do during the warm, bountiful, less hectic months ahead. Happy summer!
