The News. Yuck.

So I'll admit it up front. I do not understand our fascination with 24 hour news. I can't begin to comprehend why anyone needs more than 13 seconds of news a day let alone twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. First of all, it's never good news. Never. Even if you think it is, they'll turn on you so quickly that you won't know what hit you. From cute furry squirrels learning to water ski to "This just in. It seems that the Plague has resurfaced in America. Details after the break."
Secondly, these are strangers. So a woman in British Columbia got her purse stolen during last nights Bingo. So what? Most of us couldn't even point to British Columbia on a map if we were asked. (hint: it's not quite driving distance from Great Britain.)
I bring this up for a reason. You see, it's actually getting worse. 24 hour news is quickly turning into every single second news. Just this morning I'm getting ready to start a data training at work (that's what I do now, take pretty simple products and services that we offer and teach them to people who like nothing more than to take simple ideas and complicate them beyond belief. But that's another post). So anyway, one guy shows up a couple of minutes early and as we wait for the others to arrive, his BlackBerry starts to vibrate. He looks down for a moment, looks up and says to me, I kid you not:
"Some 15-year old kid got buried under hot asphalt in Canada." I'm not making this up. I'm not even exaggerating. At all. I guess he's signed up for some kind of service that alerts him to when teenagers are buried under hot asphalt in Canada? Are you serious? Why would anyone feel the need to have this information immediately sent to their mobile device? God forbid we have to wait for the evening news to hear about today's tragedies. We want tragedy now! Constant tragic reminders! I'll pay the twenty cents for the text message, just send it! We've even have CNN setting up their own Twitter page. Can you imagine?
2:12pm: Person dead.
2:33pm: Person almost dies.
2:38pm: Getting ready to wash the mobile camera van.
2:42pm: Someone shoots someone else. Dead.
Depressing. Can someone please please please explain this to me? Quickly, before some other teenager gets buried under hot asphalt. Cause you never know, this time it could be in the US! Gasp!