Yes! I have recently made a concious decision to avoid the news. It does affect my own emotional state, and for nothing, really, because I can't change anything, especially when it's a news story about somebody dying. And if you do want to change things, it's easier to do that when you're feeling emotionally well in the first place. I think it's a good idea to avoid the news, it's full of a lot of sadness and makes you worry.

There's a news story right now in the UK that I CAN'T avoid and it has affected me. A very tragic thing happened, a guy went on a rampage and killed 12 people. It was, and is, all over the news/tv, it's on the radio, on the front page of every paper, everyone is talking about it, everyone. It's been hard to avoid. And I was already anxious. I'm avoiding it as best I can but it does pop up at least once a day.

It's sad but I do think we should avoid knowing about these horrible things, as much as possible.