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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: 2) by SomeGuy on Tuesday December 13 2016, @08:46PM
And on a side note about the "talking heads". They used to do that when they brought in "experts" and such from various remote locations, but if you look closely these days it is usually all done in the same studio.
For a while one of the local news channels used their newsroom as the background behind their new anchor, with some frosted glass so you could not quite see every detail.
So one day they were doing some split-screen interview between the anchor and some rather distinctive large sized lady in a very bright red shirt. All with a background that gave the impression of someone important from a remote locate and all that....
They finish and cut back to the anchor and a moment later YOU COULD SEE UNMISTAKABLY THE EXACT SAME LADY WALKING THROUGH THE BACKGROUND!
The weren't even trying to hide it.