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I had a problem preparing this Thought. Each time I listened to the news, I heard more about the trial of April Jones’ killer and found myself reaching for the off button. It’s not that I don’t care; but I’m disturbed by the thoughts, images and anxious feelings the case provokes in me.

I have a similar response to the other stories of murder and kidnapping that are in the news, not to mention the gruesome details of what happened in Woolwich. I want to know these things happened – I think; but how much information do I really need?

The underlying issue is that, like a lot of listeners to the Today Programme, I’d guess, my news consumption is a bit of a habit. Many issues interest and concern me, but what draws me back to newsfeeds and bulletins is the sense that it’s important to keep up, stay in touch, know what’s happening. I know I don’t have to, but it feels like a compulsion.

There’s a degree of self-delusion in this. I’m not that important. In 1992 I spent four months on a remote retreat assuming that Neil Kinnock had become Prime Minister and hoping England had won the Euros. I came back to learn that nothing had changed in either politics or football.

Going off the grid on a retreat or a holiday lets you sense the itch for stimulation that drives so much of our news consumption as well as the other emotions, anxieties and obsessions on which it feeds. And we’re finding more and more ways to match that itch with rolling 24 hour, multi-channel, multi-platform stimuli...

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