B2 – Upper Intermediate
Reading newspaper is a good habit that can provide us a clear idea and understanding of what is happening in your country and the whole world. It carries information about politics, economy, entertainment, sports, business, industry, trade and commerce. However, a survey found that news consumption has a tremendous downside for mental health.
Read the article below to find out the downsides of reading too much news.
http://time.com/5125894/is-reading-news-bad-for-you/
Vocabulary Questions:
- What does “feed” mean here, “Yet one in 10 adults checks the news every hour, and fully 20% of Americans report “constantly” monitoring their social media feeds—which often exposes them to the latest news headlines, whether they like it or not.”? Use it in a sentence.
- What does “exacerbate” mean, “Our studies also showed that this change in mood exacerbates the viewer’s own personal worries, even when those worries are not directly relevant to the news stories being broadcast.”? Use it in a sentence.
- Explain “negativity bias“.
Discussion Questions:
- How does news affect you?
- What are the positive and negative aspects of watching or reading news for you?
- How has the way that news is presented changed in the past 15 to 20 years? What are your thoughts on “bystander-captured media”?
- What was the most devastating news that you have ever watched, read, or heard about?
- Talk about some news today.