Watch the News? Fuhgeddaboudit

I've always been a news junkie, even as a teenager. It is good to be informed and to know what is going on in the world around you.

I remember when CNN first came out. I was hopeful; now we could get news and in-depth analyses from around the world.

Those hopes were quickly dashed. CNN found a way to repeat the same news over and over again all day long. It was quite boring. And then they added talk shows to talk about those same headlines all day long. News became shrill.

Add Fox News, MSNBC and more, and it's all the same formula. I feel less informed watching news on television.

I had a habit, though, of having CNN or MSNBC on in the background as I worked.

When Trump took office in 2017, the shrillness went to a whole other level. I have to admit, though, that it was hard to look away from the news channels. Every day brought a new outrage. It was chaos. It was riveting.

Then came four years of more or less normalcy after the tempest of Trump had passed. Turn on Fox News, though, and every day on that channel was a calamity. Two different worlds.

And now? The tempest is back, and this time it is a Category 5 . . . if you are watching the news.

But the television is off in my house.  I still read, of course, and often. Shrillness might still be there, but the impact is different.

I am calmer for it.