The Happiness Test

I re-found a blog post from one of my favorite bloggers today.  Her name is Lydia Fiedler and her blog is "UnderstandBlue".  You can search it on yahoo and it will come up for you.  Anyway, I asked her if I could quote this blog posting because it so exactly matches my own feelings on a lot of things, especially relating to Facebook and social media in general.  She said yes, so here it is:

"SUNDAY, JUNE 19, 2016

The Happiness Test

I was talking to a friend the other day about the fact that I don't watch the news.  EVER.

I stopped watching the news at some point between 9/11 and now. I don't remember exactly when.

But it was absolutely sucking out my happiness like a dementor. Every time I turned it on, there was some asinine political battle, a horrific crime, terrorism or a new reason to be fearful of food, water, air or the insect-borne disease of the day.

I shut down all news inputs. No news apps on my phone, it's never on TV, and I only listen to a local radio talk show that is funny and occasionally discusses local events that are of interest to me.

I developed a test for all sources of information that come into my eyes or ears. It's a very simple test. For any media type, the answer to the two following questions have to be yes for it to be allowed into my brain:

• Does it entertain me (make me laugh, bring me joy, make me think)?
• Does it give me power? 

It has to do one or both to get in.

A lot of people who are news junkies, and yet distressed by everything they read or see, tell me "I want to be informed." Why? If the information doesn't give you any power, and just gives you anxiety - being informed has no value whatsoever. Examples of knowledge that give you power include:

• Weather reports. It's good to know if a tornado the size of a skyscraper is headed your way - that's information you can use to run into the bathroom with your mattress and your shoes on. (ALWAYS have your shoes on when there's severe weather about - many people are injured after they've survived a severe weather event because they are barefoot. See? I just gave you power.) 
• Tutorials - education and skills always give you power.

I already know that I need to wash my hands a lot, avoid snakes and bugs, and to wash vegetables before I eat them. I know not to drink 86 cups of coffee in a row. (I know some of you will disagree with me on that). I know to have situational awareness when I'm out and about. 

Blocking the barrage of terrible stories I can do nothing about has improved my quality of daily life more than any other single thing I've ever done, I think.

In social media, I just unfollow people who post (even once) about the news or politics. As a result, my feeds are full of art and funny people, or people who post just about their daily lives, which is much more interesting than news and politics.

I highly recommend trying my test for three months and see if it is not life-changing and calming for you. And I promise you will not be eaten by a chupacabra just because you didn't know about it rampaging through some area 2,000 miles away."