0

Such as hearing about people's personal life problems or watching the news due to all the sad stories in it. Emphasis on the word avoid rather than just be "upset by".

I prefer not to talk politics or share my problems with people who are ____ because most people are empaths who end up feeling sad if they hear any topic of conversation they deem to be negative or unfortunate. It ruins their day, they become sadenned and they say it burdens them.

The words snowflake, empath of sensitive is not suitable.

desbest
  • 706
  • "with their head stuck in the sand" comes to mind, but your question needs a little tweaking... – Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_ Jan 20 '21 at 18:13
  • No that wouldn't suffice. See my comment on the answer below to see why. – desbest Jan 20 '21 at 18:15
  • I've given an example sentence and two examples of what things (people) are applicable to the desired word. I think I have explained my question fully. And I did research by using a thesaurus, and none of the words it gave me were suitable. – desbest Jan 20 '21 at 18:21
  • “Avoid hearing bad news” is not limited to watching TV news. Sound like someone who wants to live under a bell. – user 66974 Jan 20 '21 at 18:24
  • 1
    @desbest: People are trying to understand if it is a positive or negative connotation you are looking for, and your sentence is simply too vague. Please edit to explain more, or add another context which would clearly show the meaning you are searching. For example, "I prefer not to talk politics" with such people... Why? In order to protect them or because I think it would be a waste of time? – fev Jan 20 '21 at 18:28
  • No I'm not specifically looking for words which are a pejorative, like the word "snowflake" or "touchy" which is commonly used as an insult. – desbest Jan 20 '21 at 19:48
  • I have edited my question to further clarify my word usage example. – desbest Jan 20 '21 at 19:51
  • The question you have redirected my question to is not similar to my question. I'm not asking for a word or phrase for someone who "simply doesn't want to know". If I use the answers given there for my question, I don't believe "wilfully ignorant of bad news" or "sweeping bad news under the carpet", "plausible deniability of bad news" would answer my question. – desbest Jan 20 '21 at 20:42

2 Answers2

3

The word ostrich is often used; in your case, it would be plural.

[from the belief that the ostrich when pursued hides its head in the sand and believes itself to be unseen] : one who attempts to avoid danger or difficulty by refusing to face it

FeliniusRex - gone
  • 2,304
  • An ostrich would be someone who avoids conflict by removing themselves from the situation. But for the scenario I'm talking about, there is no conflict. Someone who avoids watching the news because of all the sad news making them upset is not avoiding any conflict. Your definition has the word persued. A person who avoids watching the news is not being persued in any way. – desbest Jan 20 '21 at 18:15
  • 1
    Please see my definition I posted for you. An ostrich is someone who avoids something by refusing to face it. In your case, the person avoids the stress caused by news by not watching news. – FeliniusRex - gone Jan 20 '21 at 19:01
  • Although it would be understood, I wince and cringe when I see the word used. As is well-known nowadays, ostriches never behave in such a way. They lower their heads to a few centimetres from the ground to take advantage of better seeing conditions caused by less atmospheric turbulence at ground level. Early explorers made the utterly ludicrous assumption that they were burying their heads to "hide". We really do not need that fatuous fallacy distributed any more widely than it already is. It's worse than religion. – Prime Mover Jan 21 '21 at 15:35
  • For the record, stating that this word is commonly used in this case does not imply any endorsement of such usage nor examination of its truth value. – FeliniusRex - gone Jan 21 '21 at 17:08
0

There are multiple options:

Easily offended or upset

I prefer not to talk politics or share my problems with people who are easily affected by bad news.

Example:

He was easily affected by bad news so he didn't listen to the radio.

easily unsettled or upset

I prefer not to talk politics or share my problems with delicate people.

Example:

He was delicate to troubling news so he didn't watch news stations.

easily hurt or damaged

I prefer not to talk politics or share my problems with people who are sensitive.

Example:

He was sensitive to bad news so he didn't discuss politics with his friends.

user11111111111
  • 598
  • Being sensitive to hearing bad things is not the same as avoiding the news because you don’t want to hear bad things. – ColleenV Jan 20 '21 at 18:58
  • 1
    All of your suggested words are about how easily a person is affected by bad news. None of them describe a person who avoids watching or reading different things because they don’t want to be exposed to bad news. – ColleenV Jan 20 '21 at 19:02
  • @ColleenV But couldn't you say that a delicate person would avoid watching news to avoid upsetting news? – user11111111111 Jan 20 '21 at 19:04
  • I could speculate a lot of reasons why someone might avoid upsetting news. That’s not what the question is asking for. I think the question is too vague to be answered well, but not all sensitive people avoid the news. I did remove my downvote however. I think it was too harsh given the quality of the question. – ColleenV Jan 20 '21 at 19:08