One of my fondest childhood memories was when my Dad brought home our first colour telly. It supplanted our postcard-sized black and white set, and had the magical power to bring Ernie, Bert and Co to life. I was rapt.
Fast forward 30 odd years and I'm not sure TV does it for me anymore. You see all the 24-7 in-depth coverage accompanying today's bad news means the magic is waning and feelings of misery are waxing.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not going all 'ignorance is bliss'; it's important to be up with what's happening in our world. But I ask, is it really good for one's spirit to see footage of a disaster replayed over and over? Or to be privy to the often-shocking visual imagery of the unfolding event (often the result of everyone toting around their very own mobile phone cum potential TV camera)? Or to hear the endless expert and (often not-so-expert) opinions of the tragedy's possible causes and effects?

News directly related to anxiety levels

Research shows the answer, for many of us, is no. Roger Klein, a University of Pittsburgh associate professor and educational psychologist who specialises in media psychology, says a number of studies found that airing yourself to loads of tragic TV news has the potential to make your anxiety levels shoot through the roof. And with some pretty icky stuff happening in the world of late – terrorist attacks, natural disasters, mass murders, kidnappings, to name a few – it's no more than a flick of the wrist and thumb away.

Sorry, more bad news – Prof Klein says research shows girls are more likely to worry after seeing news' telecasts than guys. One clue to why, he says, might be held in some UK laboratory studies which showed females processed horrific moving visuals from TV newscasts differently to men. When it came to the same info delivered via print there was no difference in the way genders processed it.

Prof Klein's own research also illustrates that girl-guy variation. 'In surveys I have done (prior to 9-11) females at all age levels (high school through to senior citizens) are significantly more likely than are males to agree with a question that states: local TV news makes me worry. And they are significantly more likely than are males to agree that they turn off local TV news because of stories with violent content or pictures with violent content.'

He does note, however, his surveys were self-reports and it's possible we girls might be just more likely to 'fess up to being moved by bad news!

Traumatic events

Events such as coverage of the Madeline McCann case are a prime example of the affirmative reaction to that 'local TV news makes me worry' query. 'I have found myself watching every day to see if there is any news,' says mum and entrepreneur, Julie White. 'And I've cried on a couple of occasions about a little girl who I have never met and yet she has touched my heart because I am a mum myself.'

White also feels that all news is bad these days, with it having the knack to make her 'incredibly sad'. But she adds, 'I do find though that if there is a very big news story I am hooked on the reports – sometimes in a morbid kind of way – to see what unfolds.'

And some, like Sharon Nicholls, say the news never used to affect them until they became mums. 'As soon as I became a mum, I all of a sudden became obsessed with the news. I have to watch it every single morning when I get up so that I know what's going on and especially in recent times (in regard to Madeline) because I have a son who will be four in eight weeks time.' Like White, though, this exposure stirs up sadness. 'The number of days that I watch the news and end up with tears streaming down my face is unbelievable.'

How to cope

Okay, enough with the gloom and doom. With the help of information from the American Psychological Association www.apahelpcenter.org , I've devised a six-point plan to help us all cope with bad news telly, read on...

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