I can always tell when the news has crept back into our lives. We all (including our kids) are uptight and anxious. It’s only when we shut it off and focus on living our lives that it goes away.

Instant access to news rarely is of value. Market crash? Reacting today would be a mistake-I need to buy low sell high not panic and sell at the bottom! Kid kidnapped? Unless I can help find her how will it help the problem or my family.

In my consulting business, I never learned anything useful from the news. I always learned directly from my customers. They are the decision-makers, not the media.

I challenge the readers of my website to take two 30 day tests. The first is to go without media for 30 days and determine how it affected your life. Not just what you didn’t know, but what you really missed out on because you didn’t watch TV, listen to the radio or read the newspaper.

The next is to go back to being a media absorber and record on a daily basis the information you acted on that was obtained by watching, listening or reading mass media. Not just what you became interested in or worried about, but things that compelled you to take specific and deliberate action.

Those two exercises will tell you the relative value (other than entertainment) that mass media has for you.

I recall talking with an associate of mine from New York. He suggested that I back off a bit on my negative views on TV in particular. I asked him about the value he saw in TV. He responded by saying that he learned all kinds of stuff like how the stock market was doing and other local news.

He said “What if there’s a depression?” I responded: “Well, you certainly wouldn’t want to miss out of that, would you?”

If you want to know about specific markets, then focus on market specific sources of information, not the “news” channels. Their job is primarily entertainment, and that’s of little value to those of us focused on business and personal success.

Clair