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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.
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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.
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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.
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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: 4, Insightful) by ilsa on Tuesday December 13 2016, @05:56PM
The problem isn't reading the news, per se... It's the fact that there is so much bullshit news out there. For example, not a single day goes by where they don't report on someone dying. If no one in the immediate vicinity has died, they just open the scope further and further until they found someone who died. While we can analyze the whys of this behaviour all we want, the bottom line is that we are inundated with completely inactionable news to the point of overwhelming.
I stopped actively watching/listening to the news a long time ago because I realized that all it did was make me stressed and depressed for no purpose. I have similarly had to wean myself off Facebook, for basically the same reasons. Being continually bombarded by negativity has a significant impact on your general well-being, whether you realize it or not.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 13 2016, @06:13PM
Alternatively being bombarded with a permanent feed of "positivity" such as people on vacation or having the supposed time of their lives while you're stuck at work. Too much positive updates from the social circle can make your life seem inadequate. Negative news plus daily pics of people having exciting adventures (according to their selfies) can really impact a person's psyche.
Also, social media's "reward" system is like a videogame. Yay another uplikeheart! They winked/poked/emoticonned back! I'll take regular video games for my supply of digital "accomplishment" or whatever it is the brain is responding to.
Your brain is the ultimate firewall, and education plus training in critical thinking are the only ways to upgrade!
(Score: 1) by ilsa on Tuesday December 13 2016, @11:02PM
Your brain is the ultimate firewall, and education plus training in critical thinking are the only ways to upgrade!
What you say is very true. However, to extend your analogy, even a firewall still requires resources to operate, and a DOS attack will take it down and possibly take other stuff down with it.
I won't speak for anyone else, but for me personally, that's how I feel. There's just too much. Too much sensationalized bullshit. And wading through it all is bloody exhausting.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday December 13 2016, @06:36PM
I really enjoyed that period of time recently where they'd be talking about a bombing on the news, and when that finally wound down, there was another bombing or shooting a week later just in time for them to start talking about >:-
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Tuesday December 13 2016, @06:55PM
they just open the scope further
They broadcast both sports and weather the same way.
With sports you can tell the cultural pecking order of sports where american football coverage beats all, then baseball, then basketball, then hockey, then way down there when there's nothing to cover they start talking about college table tennis/ping pong championships.
Likewise with the weather, they'll scour the globe to find a rain storm, a blizzard, or a tornado blowing away a mobile home park and they'll roll historical footage if they have to, but they will have their disaster.
One interesting aspect of narrowcasting as fewer people participate by watching and jobs are eliminated in the field, things get weirder, less connected to social norms. Strange times are ahead for what remains of the TV news business. They've long since gone beyond "cultural escape velocity" WRT politics and I think you can anticipate strange stuff ahead as they exceed "cultural escape velocity" in other areas.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 14 2016, @11:59PM
"I get up each morning
and dust off my wits.
Open the paper,
and read the obits.
If I'm not there,
I know I'm not dead,
So I eat a good breakfast
and go back to bed."
From: Pete Seeger, get up and go