DrBAE - Dr Bartons Aural Elixirs (Iain Barton Shorts)

Across the Western World right now, something researchers are calling “News Avoidance” (NA) is trending upwards.And it’s growing fast.But here’s the interesting part, the people avoiding the news tend to fall into two completely different groups.On one side, you’ve got people who are less engaged, less analytical, and less equipped to process complex information. And on the other side, you’ve got highly educated, the highly cognitive, people who think deeply, analyse constantly, and actually care about understanding the world.Two groups. Opposite ends of the spectrum. Both switching off.Why?Well, there are three big reasons.First, the sheer volume of information.We live in a world where news isn’t a daily update, it’s a constant stream, 24 hours a day.For the first group, it’s boring. It doesn’t hold their attention. For the second group, the thinkers, it becomes mentally exhausting because they don’t just watch the news… they process it. They cross‑reference news stories and statements made. They look for context, patterns, and contradictions.And eventually, the brain just says "Enough!"Second, the emotional tone of the news.Most news is bad news. Death. Conflict. Scandal. Outrage. The worst parts of human behaviour.For the first group, there’s no emotional reward in watching it. For the second group, it becomes a kind of dopamine trap, the constant drip of negativity keeps them hooked, but also drains them, and that leads to burnout, anxiety, and emotional fatigue.Third, the sense of propaganda.More and more people, especially the highly analytical, are noticing agendas. Some might say, THE Agenda!Noticing omissions. Noticing when something doesn’t add up.If you have reasonable critical thinking skills, you can see the manipulation, but you can’t do anything about it, you slide into something psychologists call "learned helplessness". You know what’s happening. You know you can’t change it. So you emotionally check out.So what can we do?Is there a solution?Maybe the first step is simply acknowledging the problem. Recognising that our minds weren’t built for a 24‑hour barrage of fear, outrage, and half‑truths. Recognising that switching off isn’t ignorance, it’s actually self‑preservation.Maybe the real challenge of modern life isn’t staying informed … It’s staying sane while being informed.And maybe, the healthiest thing we can do is reclaim our attention, choose our inputs carefully, and remember that the world is bigger, richer, and more hopeful than the news cycle ever shows us.Limit.Reflect on other things.Mediation.Avoid sensationalist outlets.Be realistic.Be optimistic.Be hopeful.Best wishesIain #drbae#selfimprovement#personalgrowth

Apparently, in particular in the Western World, there has been a notable increase in "News Avoidance" ...surveys undertaken suggest that there are two types of people that are avoiding watching the news type 1 - uneducated, cognitively disadvantaged persons type 2 - highly educated, and highly cognitive functioning peopleit is believed the reason why people are avoiding the news is because 1. there's a constant stream of opinion and information. Type 1 simply gets bored, type 2 constantly processes this information and looks for further information as a reference source, and becomes intellectually exhausted. 2. the news reports tend to focus on "bad" news (death, destruction, depressing aspects of life and people's poor behaviour, etc.) Type 1 don't get a dopamine hit from such reports because they are so cognitively challenged - due to various reasons such as lack of empathy. While type 2 become dopamine addicted leading to a mental well-being exhaustion. 3. the news is used as a means of propaganda, in order to push an agenda, sometimes with blatant lies (that can be checked with social media or other more reliable sources on the internet), sometimes with lies by ommission. This aspect only affects type 2 people who can become susceptible to "learned helplessness", they realise there is an agenda, they realise they cannot do anything about it, and so emotionally "give up". what are we to do about this? is there anything to be done? best wishes Iain #drbae #selfimprovement #currentaffairs

Apparently, in particular in the Western World, there has been a notable increase in "News Avoidance" ...surveys undertaken suggest that there are two types of people that are avoiding watching the news type 1 - uneducated, cognitively disadvantaged persons type 2 - highly educated, and highly cognitive functioning peopleit is believed the reason why people are avoiding the news is because 1. there's a constant stream of opinion and information. Type 1 simply gets bored, type 2 constantly processes this information and looks for further information as a reference source, and becomes intellectually exhausted. 2. the news reports tend to focus on "bad" news (death, destruction, depressing aspects of life and people's poor behaviour, etc.) Type 1 don't get a dopamine hit from such reports because they are so cognitively challenged - due to various reasons such as lack of empathy. While type 2 become dopamine addicted leading to a mental well-being exhaustion. 3. the news is used as a means of propaganda, in order to push an agenda, sometimes with blatant lies (that can be checked with social media or other more reliable sources on the internet), sometimes with lies by ommission. This aspect only affects type 2 people who can become susceptible to "learned helplessness", they realise there is an agenda, they realise they cannot do anything about, and so emotionally "give up". what are we to do about this? is there anything to be done? best wishes Iain #drbae #selfimprovement #currentaffairs

Socratic method ...DrBAE - Dr Barton's Aural Elixirs a question is not answered it's the interpretation of the question by the person that receives it, and that interpretation might be layered with and understanding and further interpretation of what the questioner wants to know just a thought #thoughtoftheday #drbae #philosophy #socratic

in hotels that use flat sheets and not fitted sheets for the ground sheet for the bed ...you can train someone to change a flash sheet quicker than a fitted sheet, it's easier to identify which corner you should need to start with first, it also doesn't matter which way round you put the sheet (foremost cases), finally there is less health and safety issues as the person changing the sheet doesn't have to lift up a corner of the mattress. but I bet you use fitted sheets at home? this parable tells us how, what might be considered convenient, or a solution that we tend to always use at home, may not be the one that you want to be using in life, may not be the one that's used by the professionals who can do things quicker and faster than you best blessings Iain#parables #drbae #parable #lifelessons

the mouse that runs away from the cat, runs faster than the mouse that runs towards the cheese ...best blessings Iain

while we think that fire and smoke can lead to destruction, it merely is another process of transformation, the ultimate transformation into dust ... it's just quicker, for a human to observe the process in minutes.but consider ...the growth of a tree the running water of a stream the snow on a mountainside a lonely man building a log cabin in the woodsnesting birds in springtime building their nests the woman writing her love letter the death of a loved onetransformation, all these are transformations. is this the definition of time? #drbae #transformation #philosophy

apparently it's the hottest day of the year in the UK well I would certainly say that I can't deny it ... it's feeling very hot today so I'm just checking in with you how are you doing?☺️ #drbae

DrBAE - Dr Barton's Aural ElixirsI really shouldn't care if people are watching my YouTube videos or not, I should just be making these for personal reference and fun, something for me to look back on if YouTube is still going when I'm an old man ... or family and friends if I have any in the future I don't care what I get in terms of views you shouldn't care either! do what you want to do for yourself! #drbae