Why my love affair with the news is slowly dying

As a journalism and newspaper teacher, I adored the news. I read it, watched it, scrolled through it, studied it, analyzed, shared it, even obsessed over it. I relayed news trends to my students. We talked about news determinants and why certain stories were chosen over others. We looked at the motivations, angles, scopes, and impacts. We talked news daily. And I loved it. 

But since becoming a mom, my love affair with the news is slowly dying. Stories that used to intrigue and horrify me are now just utterly horrifying and way less intriguing. I feel like lately when I catch the news, it's just tragic. Major fast food chain spokesman pleads guilty to child pornography and sex with children. Christian vlogger who just days ago announced a pregnancy and miscarriage with his wife found to have Ashley Madison account. Reporter and her cameraman shot to death during a live feed. Trending locally today, an elderly man who was knocked to the ground when some a-holes in a park demanded money of him. (That last one wasn't the headline - I added my own opinion, which makes me a bad journalist.) 

It's all just different now. Hits a little closer to home. Sadder, somehow. 

I want to raise my child in a world free of all this yuck. I want so much to put him a bubble and never let him know that these atrocities exist. I pray, daily, and worry, nightly, that none of these awful, awful things ever happen to him. And as tempting as that bubble is, it's not reality, and putting him in one will only make it harder later down the line, and that's not fair to him either.  

So instead of just complaining about it or wishing for a better world, I'm going to be kinder. I'm going to say nice things. I'm going to spread positive vibes as far and as wide as I can. Because I can't take away the bad, but I can definitely make it better.