It has been a while since everyone was aware about the most recent or biggest news on T.V. Many people I know prefer to know very little about the daily news. They would rather skip the part where they watch the news in the mornings before going to work/school. I am one of those people, and it shouldn’t be a shock to anyone if they also turn their back on news. Just a quick look at headlines from the New York Times can make you depressed. Knowing the fact that horrible events are occurring around the world puts you in a bad mood.
By turning our backs to news and reality, we have been facing the non-existent fictional world. In this modern world, the easiest and quickest way to gain access to this world is by fictional movies and T.V. shows. I can give you a list of several reasons of why this may be. Why do so many people prefer to watch something, while knowing it isn’t even true and will most likely never be?
In my opinion, I assume we have become so immune to this cycle of misfortunate events happening around us. We are bored of knowing one day we might wake up and find the next most tragic accident on the news and are afraid of whether that accident would ever come upon us someday. Humans love to know everything. We have the habit of becoming curious, wanting to know what happens next. Yet, with the news, we can never know what will happen the next day, and that scares us.
That is why we decide to turn our attention to movies and T.V. shows where we can be certain there will be a plot. By a plot, I mean we know there must be a beginning, a climax, and an ending. And with the rising popularity of sappy fictional movies, we can be sure that they usually have a somewhat happy ending with the least number of main characters dead. (Unless you are watching A Game of Thrones – that’s a different issue.)
Why do I think these fictional shows are the most popular “drug” on the market? Because just like a drug, we get addicted to them. When we start to watch a TV show we get so hooked and can’t wait until we watch the next episode. When we finish with one movie, we move on to another one. We abuse the idea of fictional movies and shows as a leisure activity. It has become a big factor in our daily lives, and it is hard to cut down on them. We would rather watch these than return to our frightening realistic world of news.
So what is the solution to getting cured from this addiction? I’m not sure. It is easy to write it down and tell you to stop watching so much T.V. shows and fictional movies, but putting that into action isn’t the easiest task. Especially in this world where we are constantly persuaded to watch such things! But what we can do is try to hold on to a little part of the realistic world. Start with spending a little more time watching the news. I know I for sure get depressed with all the tragic events around the globe, but we need to face this world in order to not get drawn completely into the fictional world.
References
http://globalnews.ca/news/2921328/north-korea-fires-3-medium-range-missiles-near-japan/
http://giphy.com/gifs/reaction-news-excited-PvdjYHPDgh6W4
http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/need-help.gif
https://media.giphy.com/media/Aw7UMkVYI8syk/giphy.gif