You ENFP's watch the news?

[animenagai]

ok, ENFP's are very much supposed to know what's going on in society. i think it's only logical that we watch the news right? ironically, i just can't stand it. let's face it, the news is not the most positive thing on TV. the dark stories are the ones that are airable. whenever i hear about so many people dying in a tornado or rapists on the loose, i can't help but help to feel sad, and i just don't like things like that. i just can't separate myself from what's happening on the news and my own feelings. am i alone in this?

[Little Linguist]

ok, ENFP's are very much supposed to know what's going on in society. i think it's only logical that we watch the news right? ironically, i just can't stand it. let's face it, the news is not the most positive thing on TV. the dark stories are the ones that are airable. whenever i hear about so many people dying in a tornado or rapists on the loose, i can't help but help to feel sad, and i just don't like things like that. i just can't separate myself from what's happening on the news and my own feelings. am i alone in this?

Nope. I don't watch the news. First, it's sensationalized, negative crap. Second, it isn't usually accurate. Third, I'm too busy. Fourth, I don't give a crap half the time.

Okay, that was not a politically correct answer, but it is the truth.

Now let's assume something interesting actually does attract my attention. Then, I am most likely to read about it rather than watch the news, which is innundated with 30 second TV clips about this or that. That does not mean that the written form is any better, but if any form could be better, it would be the written version.

Just my opinion.

[stopandstare]

Me neither, I rarely watch it unless there is something awful after happening and I need to get my head around it! All that seems to be on the news is politics... I hate politics... maybe its just Irish politics because I have no idea what its like everywhere else but all those empty promises and clapping eachother on the back for cutting a ribbon drives me crazy!

This is awful - but big wars & conflict stories don't phase me at all, I switch off, I'm de-sensitized, however show me a story about one person in that zone where I have gotton to know them and I am inconsolable!

Our problem is probably that we are tired of most of what is on the news, we need something new to whet our appetites unless it is something that affects us personally in some way... god that sounds awfully selfish - maybe I'll watch the news this evening! :shock:

[Cimarron]

Me neither, I rarely watch it unless there is something awful after happening and I need to get my head around it! All that seems to be on the news is politics... I hate politics... maybe its just Irish politics because I have no idea what its like everywhere else but all those empty promises and clapping eachother on the back for cutting a ribbon drives me crazy!

This is awful - but big wars & conflict stories don't phase me at all, I switch off, I'm de-sensitized, however show me a story about one person in that zone where I have gotton to know them and I am inconsolable!

Our problem is probably that we are tired of most of what is on the news, we need something new to whet our appetites unless it is something that affects us personally in some way... god that sounds awfully selfish - maybe I'll watch the news this evening! :shock:
Trust us, politicians are the same all around the world...

[LadyJaye]

I watch the news a lot. I like to know what's going on in the world, but I also have to be very careful of what I take in, because I get very upset when I see others suffering. So, I have to be discriminating sometimes.

[SillyGoose]

Yes, I watch the news. I like to keep a pulse on everything.

But, as LadyJaye said I have to be careful with myself. There is a local news program here that features an orphaned child that is available for adoption once a week, I have to be really careful NOT to watch it because then I get very very sad and worry about the child for forever, literally.

I plan on adopting in a few years, but it is too much for me to watch children without families on tv trying to find a family.

[Mort Belfry]

Not being an ENFP I don't know how to answer that question.

[LadyJaye]

Yes, I watch the news. I like to keep a pulse on everything.

But, as LadyJaye said I have to be careful with myself. There is a local news program here that features an orphaned child that is available for adoption once a week, I have to be really careful NOT to watch it because then I get very very sad and worry about the child for forever, literally.




ACK! I do the same thing! :| They featured a bunch of wee Russian orphans in the newspaper several months ago - they were being adopted by people in our area. But, one of the little boys didn't find a family, so he had to go back to Russia, and he kept pointing at the foster parent's house and crying and saying " Home! Home!" I cried so hard when I read that. I couldn't stop tearing up about it for days. Something about seeing a little guy in his Pooh Bear shoes and weeping was too much for me. I still wonder where he is, if he's okay and if he found a home. I even still remember his name. Poor little man.

[animenagai]

i'm glad i'm not alone in this one. group no.1-sign-that-you're-an-ENFP. :hug:

if we can establish one thing is that we all feel sad when we watch other people suffer (well, most of us :yes:). i would very much like to be able to watch the news just to keep an eye on the no.1 forces governing our world (i don't just mean governments). i really don't know if it's in me though probably won't even be concentrating by the time that stuff comes on.

edit: who gave this thread one star? :steam:

[SillyGoose]

ACK! I do the same thing! :| They featured a bunch of wee Russian orphans in the newspaper several months ago - they were being adopted by people in our area. But, one of the little boys didn't find a family, so he had to go back to Russia, and he kept pointing at the foster parent's house and crying and saying " Home! Home!" I cried so hard when I read that. I couldn't stop tearing up about it for days. Something about seeing a little guy in his Pooh Bear shoes and weeping was too much for me. I still wonder where he is, if he's okay and if he found a home. I even still remember his name. Poor little man.


I actually teared up reading this. On top of being an orphan, taken to a foreign country and then the ONLY one not adopted -- WOW. I certainly understand why you would remember his name and that image of him, this would haunt me for sure.

[VanillaCat]

I watch the news if there's nothing else on. There's pretty funny stuff on it sometimes, like a monkey in a tunnel (or something like that). Hehe.

[LadyJaye]

I actually teared up reading this. On top of being an orphan, taken to a foreign country and then the ONLY one not adopted -- WOW. I certainly understand why you would remember his name and that image of him, this would haunt me for sure.

Oh man, it was horrible. My poor twin sister was patting me on the back for weeks after I read that article. Life can be dismally hard for people who are armed for it, but that wee man had next to nothing. I tell you, I would have adopted that child on the spot if I had been there. lol

Funny, I teared up when I read your post because I related to how you felt.

[Sytpg]

I used to watch the news everyday until I entered college. I'd always know what was happening. (I also recall an episode, when I was 8 years old or something, where I saw an image of an african child that was ultra skinny due to hunger on the news, and bursted into tears uncontrollably immediately. Even at the time I had found it odd that I was crying like that.)

But nowadays I don't watch the news anymore. It's crap. They don't pay importance to truly important stuff and just do the whole sensationalist act.

[animenagai]

yeah, that is true. i don't think they focus on what's important at all. when i hear about some hitchhiker who got killed or something, it's not gonna mean much in the grand scheme of things. all that does is make me feel sad that something like that happened. isn't that just completely unhealthy?

[Viv]

Once in a while I do.. like for weather/traffic. I try not to since most of news shown in the U.S. is filtered biased garbage.

I read up on current world events from various online sources.

[stopandstare]

This is kinda related - like the effect TV can have on me - I once watched a movie called Wolf Creek about an abduction and torture in the outback in Oz. God only knows why I watched it but I did... any way, I couldn't sleep for well over a week after it and still have random nightmares every so often from it! Everyong my age here is immigrating to Oz at the moment but I just can't even think about it because of how strongly I reacted to that film! I even get shivers and fearful just looking at that shack on the front of the Australian lonely planet book! Its like I actually went through the ordeal myself... how sad is that... :ohmy:

[SillyGoose]

Oh man, it was horrible. My poor twin sister was patting me on the back for weeks after I read that article. Life can be dismally hard for people who are armed for it, but that wee man had next to nothing. I tell you, I would have adopted that child on the spot if I had been there. lol

Funny, I teared up when I read your post because I related to how you felt.

:hug:

[Cality]

Nope. I don't watch the news. First, it's sensationalized, negative crap. Second, it isn't usually accurate. Third, I'm too busy. Fourth, I don't give a crap half the time.




Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cality]

i'm glad i'm not alone in this one. group no.1-sign-that-you're-an-ENFP. :hug:

if we can establish one thing is that we all feel sad when we watch other people suffer (well, most of us :yes:). i would very much like to be able to watch the news just to keep an eye on the no.1


I don't.... I almost never cry in front of a TV, except when I am tired (or down which doesn't happen a lot)

[sketcheasy]

i try to but it always makes me angry and i often find i don't necessarily know who's opinion's most valid or which "facts" are most correct.

i like listening to npr though.

[animenagai]

I don't.... I almost never cry in front of a TV, except when I am tired (or down which doesn't happen a lot)

i don't cry either, but it still makes me feel down :(.

and sketcheasy, what's npr?

[Viv]

NPR= National Public Radio

NPR : National Public Radio : News & Analysis, World, US, Music & Arts (http://www.npr.org/)

[Into It]

No, I don't.



Like you mentioned in the original post, there are lots of reasons not to watch the news. And ENFPs are supposed to know what's going on in the world? By whose standards? I will personally choose to know about exactly what I want to know about, and not what the corporate media says I should know about. There will always be rapists- lots of them. That's the bottom line, and it's one to be sad about, so that's understandable. But it isnt necessary to know them by name, and it probably isn't healthy to bring your negative emotions about this and similar topics back all of the time.

Also, there are hidden agendas behind virtually every major media outlet, "edit: and many important stories are purposely omitted from the news". The lead editors behind the new york and LA times, people magazine, and most similar publications are members of an the council on foreign relations, a splinter group of the round table group in britain, which is a self-proclaimed fabian socialist group.

If anyone has any questions about this strange topic, I recommend reading chomsky or looking these groups up on the internet. Or in 'Time' if you can find an article about them. ;)

[Lateralus]

Reading this thread makes me wonder how I could have ever considered myself ENFP. I can't recall ever crying during the news. I remember having a sense of awe while watching the stuff on 9/11. I wasn't sad or angry, just amazed. I remember feeling the same way while watching the stuff on the Virginia Tech shooting, while my roommate was really worried about the people he knew (he went to Virginia Tech). I was just in awe.

The only way I can imagine the news having an emotional effect on me is if something happened to someone I care about, like if I was watching a story about a plane crash with someone I cared about on it.

[ENFP Goddess]

See I am a bit of a news junkie, but not sure why as it always makes me sad lol... i keep watching because I hate to be out of the loop, but the loop is always full of shit that I really wish I had not exposed myself to.
It's a vicious cycle.

[SparklingImpediments]

Can't say I do really... though I must shamefully admit that I am up on my "hollywood" gossip... <sigh> They're all just so pretty and glamorous!? - How many of you think Brad Pitt is an INTP?

[Rachelinpa]

cnn.com, baby!

[kyuuei]

I do watch the news when I catch it on, but I don't really go out of my way for it. I enjoy it for the most part, but when it comes to the stuff on the war I tend to watch it sparingly..

[MrRandom]

I'm not an ENFP, but I'm going to answer anyway, because I find this subject most intriguing.

I have never in my life watched the news (or read newspapers, read them from the internet, listen to a radio, etc). No, I live in a complete void when it comes to news, politics and world situation and all such things. Neither do I vote.

I have ever met only one person who shares this quirk with me. He's one of my best friends, an ENTP. It's interesting to just read about other similar people here on the boards, because it seems so rare.

It's difficult to explain as to "why" I do it this way. Well, let's say this: 99,99% of news are completely irrelevant to me (and most of it to other people too, if they'd just realize it). The 0,01% of news that are actually meaningful and relevant are so important that even I hear about them through other people. So, I don't really miss the really important news.

First, it's sensationalized, negative crap. Second, it isn't usually accurate. Third, I'm too busy. Fourth, I don't give a crap half the time.

That pretty much sums it up, too.

INFJs are the kind of people who think really big, tending to philosophize about mankind in general... And worry a lot. One might think INFJs watch the news most carefully, perhaps? At least I don't. I want to avoid it all. I'm very emotional and worrying, and I save my feelings and worrying towards my surroundings and close friends... they are actually relevant to me, as opposed to someone a thousand miles away I didn't even know of. I usually do care if I hear about a miserable fate somewhere, but that's the point, I don't want to hear about them...

This "news void" is perhaps the one thing in my personality that I used to get the most criticism for. For example, my mom is usually almost ashamed that I don't ever know what's going on. I find that "knowing what's going on" to be only a social ritual of sorts. However, I do think she is slowly realizing that I don't need the news like most other people. She doesn't nag to me about it anymore (not living at hers helps too, obviously).

I'd say news are a form of entertainment... to keep us busy and give us something to talk about. I'm not saying nobody sees how it's mostly irrelevant... most people probably do see it, but they just want the entertainment. And that's okay. We all have different sources of entertainment.

[noigmn]

I watch it when I'm bored or something I want to see has happened. I read online news while procrastinating though. And I read the newspaper while grabbing lunch or in waiting rooms, like at the doctor or dentist. There is no organised must keep up thing though, but I'm sure having lack of routine wouldn't surprise anyone.

[erinavery]

well...i'll only admit it to you because you get it...haha...not really but yeah...i know i should...i do care...but...i also believe you make your own reality and i can choose to let that stuff in or not and it frankly disturbs me too much...i literally can't sleep after accidentally hearing some horrific story...i can't get the images out of my head...it's not normal i don't think.

same with scary movies...i used to watch them and liked them and now i've decided it just stays in there too long and screws with me...so i just can't do it....weird.

[noigmn]

well...i'll only admit it to you because you get it...haha...not really but yeah...i know i should...i do care...but...i also believe you make your own reality and i can choose to let that stuff in or not and it frankly disturbs me too much...i literally can't sleep after accidentally hearing some horrific story...i can't get the images out of my head...it's not normal i don't think.

same with scary movies...i used to watch them and liked them and now i've decided it just stays in there too long and screws with me...so i just can't do it....weird.

I can hear or see something horrific on TV and be near impartial. Like someone is running down the street with half their head blown off, and I think, "hmm... we are having a war why?", or "ouch! that must hurt.", but I don't normally get the empathy unless there is sound or a close up with eyes. I'm not sure what that means, maybe I'm desensitised . I love horror movies too. The more psycho and suspense, the better.

[erinavery]

i know what you mean...i have been able to in the past when i used to love horror movies or now if i have to...occasionally...detach myself from it...i either can't watch it...or i detach from it because the reality of it is too intense and it leaves me feeling hopeless which is just about the most dreaded emotion ever...so yeah...i get that.

but i think most people can watch it...and have an appropriate level of reaction to it...i don't feel like i can.

[noigmn]

i know what you mean...i have been able to in the past when i used to love horror movies or now if i have to...occasionally...detach myself from it...i either can't watch it...or i detach from it because the reality of it is too intense and it leaves me feeling hopeless which is just about the most dreaded emotion ever...so yeah...i get that.

but i think most people can watch it...and have an appropriate level of reaction to it...i don't feel like i can.

I think on some strange level I have an interest in the workings of it all. I like psychopaths and their strange approach to things; Sometimes they feel so familiar and human then other times so far from it. Also the strategising of killers interests me. Maybe I like profiling.

[Amargith]

no, I don't. I hear about it from my bf, my parents etc, but with all the misery that here is out there is out there in the world, it is too painful and frustrating to watch, knowing you cannot do a damn about it. And, no, I don't close my eyes for it, either. I already know there is a lot of work still in the world, and I am a member of several organizations who deal with these problems. But I do not need to feel the pain of other people every day. I wouldn't have a life anymore then. (My dad actually tried to get me to watch the news for years, as he could not understand this ;))

[Nillerz]

I watch more news than anything else because most TV is fucking retarded or something.

[erinavery]

I think on some strange level I have an interest in the workings of it all. I like psychopaths and their strange approach to things; Sometimes they feel so familiar and human then other times so far from it. Also the strategising of killers interests me. Maybe I like profiling.

oh...i like profiling too and i'm good at it...but that's the frightening bit...because i have to really let it in to understand it and i don't want that kind of crazy in there it's terrifying.