A Week Without News: Day One

Day One in my personal boycott of all things media couldn't have been easier, and it even included a nice little reminder as to why I'm doing this whole thing.

Sunday was spent doing something worthwhile -- namely, camping and rafting on the Arkansas out near Buena Vista, Colo. My wife and I had a great time -- our first-ever rafting experience. Both of us were a tad apprehensive about it, especially after hearing stories about the flash floods that happened on the river the day before. But as we were doing a Class III trip (perhaps the most popular rafting trip in the US), we didn't fret too much. And while we weren't roughing it (car camping ain't a challenge), it was still rather easy to avoid news of any kind. No TVs, no online access, no radio (music only) and no reason to seek out a newspaper.

Ironically, the only time I was tempted to view the news was upon our return. We went to pick up our dogs from my mother's place, and the first words we heard were, "Did you hear about the rafters who were killed on the Snake River in Wyoming?" Now, if that isn't a perfect example of how useless news is, then I don't know what is. Here we were, just returning from our first rafting trip (a successful adventure, by the way) and we're subjected to the typical fear-based headlines, as passed along by family.

My wife decided to read the article, while I managed to stick to my guns and avoid it. But here's where I learned my first "A Week Without News" lesson -- complete avoidance of the media is impossible. I suspected this going into the week, but found out firsthand on the very first day, despite being somewhat isolated for most of the day. Like I said, I didn't read the article, but I couldn't miss the headline (something to the effect of "Casual Float Trip Turns Deadly" ... typical crap).

You see, the news exists in our peripheral and (in my opinion) by extension is ingrained in our subconscious. I think many folks do a decent job of filtering out the noise, but I would suggest that a lot, if not most, absorb this "information" and allow it to affect them unnecessarily. It certainly affected my wife, who upon finishing up the article stated she wouldn't have gone rafting had she read this before the trip. Now, understand that she just had a great afternoon on the river, overcame her fears and experienced a trip that will live positively in her memory for many years. But a simple news article about a tragic yet extremely rare event had enough weight to give her pause.

Am I really alone in my thinking on this, or do most of us just accept this as part of being a modern citizen in a first-world country?