Fasting from the Noise: Choosing Silence in a 24/7 News Cycle
In a world of endless news cycles and constant political updates, we have the power to choose silence. This week, we’ll explore how setting boundaries with the news can help us stay grounded, focused,
In the fall of 2001, I was a freshman in college, and I started college with a new devotion book that encouraged a forty day fast. I fasted from TV and desserts until early October, which allowed me to be spiritually sensitive that season, focus on schoolwork, and avoid the sweet temptations of the dining hall.
But I missed 99% of the 9/11 news coverage.1
Years later, particularly on 9/11 anniversaries, I would watch footage from that Tuesday and be stunned and shocked as I watched it for the very first time. Even now, I’ll hear a story or see footage from that day that I’ve never heard before, and it floors me that this is new-to-me information.
Isn’t that wild?
September 11 wasn’t my first experience with breaking news. As a teenager in the 90s, I remember watching OJ Simpson’s jury verdict in my seventh grade math class, the Oklahoma City bombing coverage after school, and the Columbine shooting footage during my junior year of high school.
Breaking news is a part of our modern lives.
The 24/7 news cycle, complete with its headline ticker tape, expert pundits, and relentless analysis and commentary, plays in the background on repeat ad nauseam. It’s white noise filling every audible space every single day.
I am tempted daily to turn on the news while I work, tune into NPR while I sit in the carline, click the headlines Google News is offering me, and watch the cable news on the TV at the restaurant where I’m having lunch. And especially as November 5 creeps closer and closer, I feel the need to stay informed about local, state, and national elections. I want to pay closer attention to global news.
But if I’m not careful, I’ll let all that news take the driver’s seat. I’ll let it seep into my psyche and sprout fear and anxiety. I’ll start caring more about the issues and less about the people within the issues. I’ll take my eyes off of Christ and start worrying about what my neighbors think. And I’ll start to believe that I have no choice when it comes to consuming the news.
But the fact of the matter is I do have a choice. You have a choice, too. We can turn off the 24/7 news coverage. We can choose something else! We can even choose silence!
This week we are reflecting on our news consumption and how it affects us. Then we’ll build ourselves a few boundaries to help us choose how and when we want to engage the news. Hear me out: I am not advocating for an ostrich-style, stick-your-head-in-the-sand approach to the news. We need to be informed. I’m advocating, rather, for a slow news cycle, not a no news cycle. You can read more about my approach to information overload in my older post “The 1850 Filter: Navigating Information Consumption in Christian Obscurity.”
A Practice for Choosing Silence
You’ll benefit from having a journal and a few pens in varying colors for this practice.
Find a quiet place and comfortable position, and begin this time of reflection with several deep breaths.
Review your past week and jot down your usual rhythms for your days. If your weekend or your days off have a different rhythm, jot those down, too. No need to be super specific or wholly accurate; we’re just painting a picture of your typical week. (Personally, I like a table format with columns for each day of the week and rows for hours of the day.)
In a different ink color, review those rhythms for your news and media consumption. Jot down what you usually listen to, watch, or read alongside your daily rhythms. Pay particular attention to periods of time when you tend to passively watch or listen. This might be on your commute, during your workout, cleaning the house, while doing busy work at the office, cooking dinner, mowing the yard, walking the dog, etc.
Now reflect on how each block of news and media consumption makes you feel:
How does it affect you in the present moment?
How does it affect your attitude when you arrive at the places you are going?
How does it affect your presence with other people?
How does it affect your awareness of God?
Where might you benefit from some intentional silence?
Jot down some guidelines and boundaries for yourself. A few ideas:
A physical boundary. Choose silence instead of the radio when you’re driving within a specific distance from your home, school, or office.
A time boundary. Choose silence instead of checking news outlets or social media for X hours after waking or X hours before bedtime.
A task boundary. Choose silence instead of podcasts for a chore that you regularly complete.
A people boundary. Choose silence instead of phone notifications to be present with people.
When do you want to intentionally engage political news coverage? Write down the news sources you want to hear from and when you want to hear from them. Commit to only engaging the news on your schedule and under your terms.
Prayer
Omniscient Father, you and you alone have the capacity for humanity’s 24/7 breaking news cycle. Our human brains are remarkable, but we confess that we cannot consume and digest everything the news media throws our way every hour of every day. Give us wisdom to know to whom and what we should give our attention. Help us choose silence so we may hear your voice in the midst of a chaotic season. To you be the glory. Amen.
Community & Comments
Where do you need silence instead of the 24/7 breaking news cycle this week? How are you choosing silence instead of information in your day-to-day life?
Group Adaptation
Feel free to bring this week’s practice to a group you lead. Maybe a staff meeting, a small group, a book club, or somewhere else with people who want to thoughtfully and soulfully engage this election season.
Lead group participants in completing the individual practice. Once everyone has completed the practice, share together:
What are your usual rhythms of news and media consumption?
How does the consumption of news–particularly political news–seem to affect you?
What boundaries will you put in place for incorporating silence into your day? For intentional news consumption?
As a group, is there a boundary you might put in place that encourages silence instead of news and media consumption?
I did manage to stay informed! Instead of TV, I read the news online. The TV coverage I did see was in passing through the student union and dorm lobbies. I would watch for a few minutes, but I didn’t linger.
I have a physical boundary around my house (which is also where I work), and it encompasses my son’s school, my church, and the closest grocery store, which are the three places I most often drive. I choose to keep the radio–specifically NPR–and podcasts off on these drives that are shorter than five minutes from my home. How about you? How are y'all cultivating silence for yourselves?