Think Too Much

They say that the left side of the brain
Controls the right
They say that the right side
Has to work hard all night
Maybe I think too much for my own good
Some people say so
Other people say no no
The fact is
You don't think as much as you could
Hmmm

-Simon and Garfunkel, "Think Too Much"

I was listening to CNN yesterday on my drive to work and Robin commented about how Britney Spears was back in the hospital on a psych hold. This segment was promptly followed by a clip of "Oops, I did it Again". I have to admit, it made me laugh. Don't get me wrong, it's a very sad situation, but that clip was just too ironic.

Britney's freefall from fame prompted a rather lengthy discussion on a message board I frequent. For some reason, I can't wrap my brain around this. Why are celebrity lives so intriguing to so much of the American population? I just don't understand it. If I'm going to listen to the news, I would want to be listening to something that was worthwhile. One of my friends posted a link to a summary of findings regarding news interests. I shouldn't be surprised by the following fact:

As is often the case with tabloid stories, younger women made up the core audience for this story. One-in-five women under age 50 listed Ledger's death as the story they followed most closely last week. This compares with only 11% of both men under 50 and women over 50 and just 2% of men 50 and older.

Kohut, et. al. "Campaign and Economy Dominate News Interest; Interest in Iraq at All-Time Low". The Pew Research Center. 30 January 2008 http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=390

::steps up on soapbox::


20% of the young female population chose to follow Heath Ledger's death instead of the upcoming presidential election, the war in Iraq, the stock market's tumble, or the economic stimulus plan. Unbelievable. Yes, he died a sudden death and death is sad, but I can't wrap my brain around the obsession over celebrity lifestyles. That's a scary, scary statistic right there. They're people too; I'd have to imagine they enjoy privacy as much as we do. Aren't there more important things in life than focusing so much energy watching someone's every move?

::steps off soapbox::

I wonder how things will change for this week... I put my money that that same group (women under age 50) will be following the Britney train wreck the most this week. Granted, I don't always listen to the news, but I can guarantee you that as soon as CNN kept bringing up Britney yesterday as one of their top stories, my finger found the buttons to change the channel in lightning speed. As long as people listen, the media will continue to feed us the latest gossip.

Stealing the words from the cervical cancer vaccine commercial... "I want to be one less": One less person who feeds the media's desire to keep covering the celebrity train recks, one less person who thinks a celebrity's break up is newsworthy, one less person who puts Hollywood in front of real news. I like to think I already am one less. Are you?

The real question is... Does our generation (or even America in general) think too much or not enough? Sometimes I think we think too much and overanalyze, but a majority of the time we fall into a "habit" of not thinking as much as we should. If people would start thinking about what they're spending their time in (celebrity gossip vs. real news), where would we be? Instead of reading the latest on TMZ or Perez, would a few more people have realized that they were getting into a bad mortgage because they spent some time researching what they were getting into? Would a few more people be more financially responsible? Would a few more people be able to make an educated decision on who they should vote for?

I'm not trying to say that everyone goes and reads these sites or picks up their US Weekly at the checkout each week, but that statistic above is quite scary. Are celebrity lives really that intriguing? It's a vicious circle. Gossip sells. Increased media attention + upcoming movie/song/show = Better sales. Britney's going off the deep end and people wonder why. I can't imagine the stress of having your every move scrutinized.

I'm the first to admit that I don't know as much as I should about a lot of things, especially politics. I'll also admit that I have my own mindless places/things that I waste my time on. I don't know of a single person who has a perfect balance between thinking too much and thinking too little. Sometimes you need a couple mindless minutes, hours, or even a full day. I guess it's something to strive for. One thing at a time. Habits can change with a conscious effort to change them. Maybe enough people's habits will change and lead to Hollywood taking a back seat to real news on every channel, not just a select few.