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This story might be helpful to those tearing their hair out about the news lately:
I grew up believing that following the news makes you a better citizen. Eight years after having quit, that idea now seems ridiculous—that consuming a particularly unimaginative information product on a daily basis somehow makes you thoughtful and informed in a way that benefits society.
But I still encounter people who balk at the possibility of a smart, engaged adult quitting the daily news.
...
A few things you might notice, if you take a break:1) You feel better
A common symptom of quitting the news is an improvement in mood. News junkies will say it's because you've stuck your head in the sand.
But that assumes the news is the equivalent of having your head out in the fresh, clear air. They don't realize that what you can glean about the world from the news isn't even close to a representative sample of what is happening in the world.
...
2) You were never actually accomplishing anything by watching the newsIf you ask someone what they accomplish by watching the news, you'll hear vague notions like, "It's our civic duty to stay informed!" or "I need to know what's going on in the world," or "We can't just ignore these issues," none of which answer the question.
...
A month after you've quit the news, it's hard to name anything useful that's been lost. It becomes clear that those years of news-watching amounted to virtually nothing in terms of improvement to your quality of life, lasting knowledge, or your ability to help others. And that's to say nothing of the opportunity cost. Imagine if you spent that time learning a language, or reading books and essays about some of the issues they mention on the news.
Read on for the rest of the list.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 13 2016, @07:31PM
Outright igorance is not a good strategy
Why not? The 'news' is little more than a way for the RNC/DNC to fill my head with whatever narrative they want. Evidence? Past year for CNN, MSNBC, WashingtonPost, HuffingtonPost, and FoxNews. So much downplaying of shit that would get normal people thrown in jail and the key thrown away. All to talk about trivial things.
Here is the thing. Can you *really* tell the difference between what is 'fake news' (e.g. the onion) or 'real news' (aka CNN, FoxNews).
Read these both. Then come back and say the 'news' helps you'.
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/154336783261/fake-news-versus-misleading-news [dilbert.com]
https://betterhumans.coach.me/cognitive-bias-cheat-sheet-55a472476b18#.uq25rzlwf [coach.me]
The thing is unless you have a lot of facts you probably can not tell the difference. Even with those facts that you have chosen to keep in your brain are could be and probably are wrong. Your brain can and does change facts to suit its needs. For example I remember 'kitkat' with a hyphen. There never has been a hyphen. So either reality changed (doubtful) or I am remembering things wrong. I am not alone in doing that sort of thing. There are thousands of things people misremember all the time. Our brains do this constantly even as we go through our days.
Given the fact that the DNC colluded with many of the news organizations out there. People were fired over it and the 'alt-right' has the emails to show it. They all did this to 'control the narrative' and 'walk back' anything that looks bad. Equally probable the RNC does the exact same thing. Why should I give one iota of credence to what these people say?
I read a great quote. 'If I dont read the news I am uninformed if I read the news I am misinformed'.