Try Staying Away from News and the Internet for Three or Five Days Each Week
In the book Spontaneous Healing, the American MD Andrew Weil includes, in his recommended self-recovery package, the option of not watching the news for a few days each week. Andrew Weil believes the news brings us too many negative things; when a person is long subjected to the stress of external negative information, it leads to mental tension, which is very bad for health.I strongly agree with this view. Some animals need hibernation to let their circulatory system rest; if it works at overload for too long, their heart cannot take it. Our human nervous and circulatory systems also need moderate rest, otherwise we too cannot take it.The news and the internet constantly stimulate us, keeping us in a state of high tension and excitement. As Dr. Andrew Weil says, the overwhelming majority of news is negative; if we want to activate our body's self-healing system, we need to stay away from the news.Because instant information is flooding us, the nervous and circulatory systems of we modern people are actually long in a state of overload, one might even say "working while ill."For example, some people already have depression, yet they still cannot control themselves; disregarding their fragile psychological capacity, they keep browsing the news and watching videos. Much of the content in the news and videos further stimulates them, overwhelming them, and the stress brought by online information has even led some people ultimately to choose suicide.Even if we have no mental illness, long hours browsing the internet and watching online videos, with the mind highly aroused, our hearts cannot take it either. Not long ago I saw a news story about a 14-year-old girl who played on her phone for 81 consecutive hours without sleep; she was found to have no pulse and nearly suffered sudden cardiac death. If the girl had not happened to be in the hospital escorting a family member and received timely rescue nearby, the consequences would have been unthinkable; no one's heart can work at overload for long.There is simply too much news, games, and entertainment videos on the internet. Apart from the tiny number of elderly and very young children who cannot get online, most modern people can no longer live without the internet. The internet is addictive; the online information over 90% of netizens receive actually exceeds their capacity. Many people are in a state of fatigue without realizing it, and over time they inevitably lose their health.Dr. Andrew Weil suggests people gradually try living a life away from the news: start by not watching the news one day a week, and after persisting for a while, increase to two days a week, and so on, ultimately reaching the point of not watching the news most of the time. After keeping this up for a while, one feels much lighter, the mind is no longer strung tight, and the heart is much better too.This year I want to try such a life. The news is not a necessity in human life; a few hundred years ago our ancestors had no news to watch. Our society has evolved far faster than our bodies, and our hearts actually cannot bear the load brought by the flood of information in the information age. I have not used Weibo for many years and have never used Douyin at all, but I have still kept reading the news all these years; now I plan to slowly change this habit too.Having lived into my forties, I sincerely endorse Dr. Andrew Weil's view: apart from disturbing our inner peace and making us anxious, the news serves little purpose. The necessity of reading the news every day is not great for most people, and its value for academic study is also small; new developments in a professional field can be learned entirely by reading journals in the library.I even plan to change my phone. Before 2015 I did not use a smartphone; starting in 2023, I plan to get off smartphones and replace my smartphone with a senior phone that can use QQ and WeChat. This will lighten the burden the phone places on my body and mind, and without a smartphone my communication costs will also be much lower.Smartphones have indeed brought much convenience to our lives, but they contribute little to people's physical and mental health. On the contrary, smartphones steal our precious time and damage our health. Many people develop various illnesses from overusing smartphones; the most common is cervical spondylosis. These days, after trying to stop using my smartphone, I feel much lighter.I will devote the freed-up time to reading, planting, exercise, and outings near home. Perhaps because I am older, I now have little desire for long-distance travel; I cannot get used to hotels or the food eaten away from home, but I still enjoy nearby outings. I love life and love nature; as long as I am a little away from the concrete jungle, the natural scenery of any region is enough to refresh the mind and nurture the spirit, and one need not go far to seek it.