Anybody remember this?

Your answer will depend on your age.

If you’re over 40 it brings back memories of your youth – but if you’re Gen Z, you probably won’t have a clue.

The image – or Test Card F – was created by the BBC and was displayed when no TV programmes were being broadcast.

That’s right folks. 24-hour TV wasn’t always a thing.

The image of a girl playing noughts and crosses with a clown doll called Bubbles the Clown scared me to death.

The girl – Carole Hersee – and the test card she featured in was broadcast from 1967.

This image of Hersee graced our TV sets for 70,000 hours – or the equivalent of nearly 8 years non-stop.

Hersee was eight when the image was first used. She’s now 66.

So why the trip down memory lane?

When I was a kid and Test Card F appeared on my TV there were only 3 channels – BBC1, BBC2 and ITV.

Channel 4 and Channel 5 weren’t launched until 1982 & 1997 respectively. Sky TV was sandwiched in between.

Tim Berners-Lee didn’t invent the World Wide Web until around 1990 and YouTube and Facebook weren’t a thing until 2005 and 2006 respectively.

Today, in the UK, we have 500+ satellite channels and countless social media platforms.

In theory we’ve never had it so good – so why does it feel like we’ve never had it so bad?

This is what I think.

In a congested media landscape, every news channel, newspaper, website and social media platform is competing for your time.

In a bid to stand out, the content is designed to appeal to a particular audience.

Algorithms, which were created to solve a problem, become part of the problem by targeting your timeline with more like-minded content.

Rather than promote free speech, it kills it because people don’t want to hear a view that is different to their own.

Last week I logged off my main X account for the last time because my timeline was full of people wanting to spread rancour and divide.

That’s not me. For the same reason I no longer read the Daily Mail. I’m not alone.

X has lost 11 million users in the EU over a five-month period while Tesla sales in the UK have also dropped significantly – with analysts saying it’s partly response to their controversial owner  Elon Musk

The moral of the story?

Just because we have 24/7 news coverage doesn’t mean we have to watch or read it 24/7.

We can switch it off and break the chain.

I still have a voracious appetite for news but I consume it from channels and in formats that are balanced.

Last year I attended the funeral of former BBC newsreader, turned firefighter, Beccy Barr.

She was only 46 and was an inspiration. One of her favourite songs – ‘How Beautiful Life Can Be’ by The Lathums – was played at her insistence.

Give it a listen.

I love these lyrics.

Just how beautiful life can be,
When one allows her to breathe,
Let the children have their chance to see,
Just how beautiful life can be.

And if all else failsm we can always go back to watching Carole Hersee playing noughts and crosses with Bubbles the Clown!