The impact of current events on our daily lives is greater than ever before. With the 24-hour news cycle and social media, it’s nearly impossible to escape what’s happening in the world. From a possible impeachment, to global warming, to shootings and more, these issues can have a direct impact on our mental health.
Staying informed is essential for everyone, especially for children. However, it’s important to recognize that kids may not be able to handle all the information they’re exposed to on a regular basis. Whether it’s from TV, social media or even the newspaper, the amount of information can be overwhelming for a child, and can cause them to feel anxious or depressed.
One way to help mitigate the negative effects of news and current events is by identifying “green, yellow and red lines.” Green line news is news that doesn’t have any significant impact on your emotions (like a celebrity passing away). Yellow line news are topics that make you slightly uncomfortable but don’t trigger any emotions. And red line news are the ones that you should avoid completely because they’re causing you to experience intense feelings like anxiety or sadness. Identifying these lines and acting on what you can control can help pull you out of a spiraling thinking pattern and provide you with a sense of relief. In addition, taking a step back and observing your news consumption can give you an opportunity to identify patterns.
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