Emotional Intelligence and The Media
By: Daniel Caruana Smith
Tags: Self Improvement, Life Lessons, Psychology, Emotional Intelligence, Mental Health

In Becoming Emotionally Intelligent and A School of Emotion, we explored how emotional intelligence is usually given the back seat when compared to more tangible achievements. We are subconsciously discouraged from picking at our emotional knots, on the premise that they are not worth bothering with and will sort themselves out over time.

“ignoring emotional pains and hoping they will sort themselves out is a dangerous route to take. It’s like holding off a major, life-saving operation with hopes that our body will miraculously fix itself.”

Whilst time does tend to be a healer, ignoring emotional pains and hoping they will sort themselves out is a dangerous route to take. It’s like holding off a major, life-saving operation with hopes that our body will miraculously fix itself. Whilst I wouldn’t call it impossible, a positive result is unlikely at best. So why do we hold off healing ourselves emotionally? Although we all have personal motivators, a common tendency is to dismiss them as first world problems.

Mass media is very effective at bombarding us with anything unpleasant, distressing, or horrific that happens to be occurring anywhere on our planet. Whether it be forest fires, terrorist attacks, or the occasional pandemic, our news channels and streams will ensure we know all about it. When we (subconsciously) compare our emotional troubles to the physical hardships around us, they may seem petty — almost insignificant.

Ever heard someone complain that their charging cable is too short, or the fact that they can never find their AirPods? No matter how strong a case they put forward, such first world problems will always sound insignificant when compared to notions of hunger or absolute poverty (unless we are the ones complaining, that is). The same applies to our emotional state; we feel as though the knots in our stomach should not be given the same importance as more pressing, public catastrophes.

“Mass media is very effective at bombarding us with anything unpleasant, distressing, or horrific that happens to be occurring anywhere on our planet.”

So should we just go with it? Should we treat our feelings of loneliness, anxiety, rage, and humiliation with the same level of substance as an incorrectly chilled wine? To do so would be a grave mistake. As we highlighted in a previous article, humankind has always felt the need for a vent; somewhere to safely discharge pent-up emotions. This may have taken different forms; religion or culture to name a few, however, it has always been there.

Allowing the media to indirectly persuade us that there are more important matters in life than our personal trials can have very serious consequences. Rising depression, anxiety, and suicide rates are all indicators of this.

“we feel as though the knots in our stomach should not be given the same importance as more pressing, public catastrophes.”

The issue isn’t helped with our present society's constant push towards economic growth. We are led to believe that to succeed in life if we need to be financially stable and capable of living, not just surviving. Ironically, our struggle towards economic security will only be worthwhile if we feel fulfilled, otherwise we run the risk of neither living nor surviving — just merely existing.

The conditions of relative abundance we are surrounded by tend to be our worst enemies, making us work harder just to remain ‘in-line’ with those around us (at the detriment of our emotional selves).

“Should we treat our feelings of loneliness, anxiety, rage, and humiliation with the same level of substance as an incorrectly chilled wine? To do so would be a grave mistake.”

So what’s the moral here? Should we ignore material wealth and live off a heavy dose of emotional and spiritual guidance? The fact that even this article is monetized tends to beg the contrary.

Our best bet is to perceive emotional trials for what they are; perhaps secondary issues when compared to global catastrophes, but not something to be ignored.

Acknowledging the fact that our emotional beings need as much care and attention as our physical selves is a good start to building ourselves into more emotionally resilient and intelligent beings.