Watching the News Leads To Depression

Is it me or does watching the news make you depressed? Have you ever watched the news without seeing something that made you sad, how about mad? “Fire kills family”, “car crash kills 2 teens”, I could make a list a mile long!  If the content of the news is not bad enough, they fill all of the ad spots with more content to make you sad.  “Your Fat”, “Your Bald”, “You pay too much for car insurance”, heck another long list of ads that make us sad, angry and depressed!  Would it hurt them to find an advertiser that sells something good?  How about an ad for family vacations, swing sets, tasty edible panties, heck I would even settle for dog food ads.  I was about to mention beer but that is needed to deal with the depression. 

It seems to me that the news today takes the easy way out but simply turning on the police scanner and leading the newscast with whatever they hear from it. Is it too much to ask that our talented news folk take a little extra time and effort to tell us about the good things happening in our community?  Or are we destined to have an epidemic in the country where 1000’s of people will die each day due to a new mental illness called “news depression”?

I grew up the youngest of 5 kids and my parents almost always had to juggle 2 jobs in order for us to have food on the table.  Our lives were just as hectic as the lives of families today.  Yet there was one rule in which my parents always made sure we followed as a family.. No matter what, as a family, we would have at least one meal a day together.... At the time, I didn't realize just how big an impact that had on my life.  And it seems that now a days, families have less time for each other and I think it shows.  That is why I hope this recent survey is correct and it's trend will continue..... Take a read and tell me if you agree...

More and more families are gathering around the dinner table with nearly two thirds of Americans saying they enjoy evening mealtime get togethers at least five times a week, recent research shows. And more than 50 percent report they have family breakfasts at least five mornings a week. "These findings underscore real change in consumer behavior as the family meal enjoys a resurgence," says Lucinda Scala Quinn of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which based its research on interviews with 1,000 people over the age of 18. And our increasingly hectic lifestyles have led to modern families splitting cooking duties, with 25 percent of women reporting that their spouses are increasingly slaving over a hot stove. It also emerged that a staggering 81 percent of respondents say they're proud of making their budgets stretch and while supermarkets are the major source of groceries, more than half say they shop around for better deals when possible.

- Joe