Is it really necessary for us to be able to read every depressing story of tragedy from every single corner of the world, every second of every day?

What is the benefit? People getting ideas to copy-cat crimes that occurred 2,000 miles away? A disproportionate fear that these same things could befall you at any moment despite the statistical likelihood of them happening? A desensitization to every tragedy covered by the news?

Sure there are some stories that are major and need to be covered. If a child has been kidnapped and there is evidence to suggest the culprit is in your neighborhood or headed your way, it behooves us as a society to be on the look-out. There are some matters of national security that may be pressing in other instances that make full-coverage a must… but, do we really need to hear heart-break after heart-break?

Tragic things happen daily, and many times there is nothing we as a population can do to comfort those involved. Reading, horrified and sick with empathy, every single story of woe across the nation and globe, is actually very counter-productive to a healthy society. Think about it. Is it really constructive to bombard society day after day with pictures of car wrecks, mangled children, gun-shot victims, and neglected elderly? What does it accomplish? Why do we feel the need to throw criminals into national spot lights, and stoke devastation until the victims cannot even go outside their houses for fear of being attacked by journalists looking for a new interview? What does society gain by immobilizing its citizens with unrealistic fears?

Well, it seems like what we get is a nation full of distrusting neighbors, cops who shoot unarmed men looking for help, kids who aren’t allowed to play in their yards, helicopter parents, a misunderstanding of immigrants and foreigners, tragedy fatigue, or apathy towards crime and injustice as a result of seeing it sooooo much through the lens of a camera, with major media playing it up like it is some great source of entertainment.

Is this the kind of world we want to live in?