I have stopped watching the news.

This is not a phase.

There comes a moment in life when you realize you can no longer metabolize certain things the way you once did. Gluten. Late nights and, apparently, cable news.

Somewhere between my 4am cup of coffee and the fifth unprecedented headline of the predawn day, I’ve had to accept a hard truth.

I cannot watch the news anymore. Not because I do not care. Quite the opposite. I care too much, and my nervous system has formally submitted its resignation.

The land of the free and the home of the brave currently feels more like the land of the agitated and the home of white supremacy.

Every channel promises clarity and delivers adrenaline.

Every talking head assures us that democracy is either definitely ending or definitely thriving…often in the same segment. Somewhere in the crawl at the bottom of the screen is a reminder that I should also be worried about my cholesterol, but if I medicate be aware of life threatening side effects.

It is a lot.

This is not denial. It is triage.

I have learned that being informed has quietly morphed into being perpetually alarmed. The news no longer reports events so much as performs anxiety. Democracy under siege, institutions crumbling, norms evaporating all delivered with the production values of a sports highlight reel and the emotional subtlety of a car alarm.

At some point, you have to ask, Is  this making me a better citizen or just a more uptight, irritable one?

With my emotional life on the line I have adjusted.

I now consume the news the way I consume sugar…deliberately, in small quantities, and never before noon.

I read long-form journalism instead of watching panels argue in six-minute loops. I avoid “breaking news” unless something is actually, you know, broken. And I’ve stopped doom-scrolling at night, because nothing good has ever happened after midnight, especially on social media.

What I’ve discovered is this. Stepping back does not make the world disappear. It just makes it quieter and a bit less turbulent.

Democracy, it turns out, does not live on cable television. It lives in school boards, local courts, libraries, and coffee shops. It lives at human scale not at volume eleven.

So no, I do not watch the news as much.  I still vote. I write. I get involved. I still care. I still believe the experiment is worth fighting for just not from the couch with a clenched jaw and elevated blood pressure.