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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, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 14 2016, @04:32AM
As Walter Cronkite pointed out, you can fit more words on one page of a newspaper than in a whole half-hour TV news program.
When watching TV of any kind, keep in mind, the show is not the product, and you are not the customer. You are the product, the show is the bait, and the customer is the advertisers. When you see an ad, you have been delivered to the customer. And don't think ignoring the ad is a victory. They work best when you're not paying attention. There's a real and serious science behind that. (It's why some products just seem more familiar than others, even if you've never bought it before.)
I own a small business, and I've noticed something. The more a person watches TV, the more likely that person is to stand around and talk about doing things, then expect the things to magically get done somehow, you know, just like the people on TV. I like to hire people who don't watch TV. Education level doesn't seem to matter much. Everyone can learn, but only the do-ers get anything done.
Kurt Vonnegut pointed out that we become what we pretend to be, so we should be careful what we pretend to be. Watching too much TV immerses you into a world where things just happen, major rock stars never rehearse or practice, etc. etc. etc...
TV (and any advertiser supported mass media) is like mental candy. You don't have to abandon it altogether, but a steady diet of that stuff will ruin your life.