I chose to give up the news for five days. 

In complete honesty, I had a list of options to pick from: Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Facebook, Texting, Phone Calls, or even my phone completely. I chose the news because I at first thought it was what I checked the least, and when I checked it, I was left most of the time feeling overwhelmed and defeated by all that chaos that was going on in the world around and rarely felt relief after checking the news. So I figured, let me use this as an excuse to not feel guilted into seeing what was going on in the world and disconnect for five days. 

Through the five days, I kept notes on my phone of my thoughts, feelings, and times I felt like I wanted to check the news. I started to make discoveries even on the first day of the challenge. Firstly, I realized my pattern that exists between social media and the news. When I would see a story on social media posted by a media outlet, I wouldn’t go to the comment section to see what others were saying about the story; I would want to open Safari and look up the story and gather more information than what the Instagram bio or tweet had provided. Then my next discovery was often that the pattern or habit occurred throughout the days/ week I did the challenge. I will give myself credit as I discovered that I don’t take what I see on social media as the immediate truth or for face value, given the recent issues of fake news and AI on social media. And much to my surprise, my main discovery was how much I depended on the news and staying up to date on the news to feel included or a part of society. 

This challenge ended up being surprising to me, as I discovered that while I originally thought I wasn’t dependent on the news like the people around me. I discovered and realized that I use the news to actually connect with those around me and feel a part of society.