Giving up reading news will make us happier • Hacker News Board

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#101

Post by arrythur » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 2:19 PM UTC

some_account wrote: post #8

Haven't watched the news in at least 5 years. Actually I haven't watched TV in the last 5 years even. So I don't have ads bombarding me, or fear and propaganda coming in every day. Highly recommended. You have one life. Make sure it counts as a happy one.

While I understand the sentiment, I don't think it's fair to deprive yourself of a form of entertainment (i.e owning a TV) because there are commercials. If that were the case, wouldn't you have given up on the internet a long time ago due to the nature of ads and propaganda being everywhere?

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#102

Post by edgarvaldes » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 2:21 PM UTC

KirinDave wrote: post #94

Look, I think this is great and all, but I'm pretty skeptical of this chant, "If the news bothers you so much because of what you're reading, just stop reading. It's not like you can change it." Obviously, events that already happened can't be changed. But a lot of what upsets people so much is about legal interpretation and political policy. These things are changeable, and direct (and/or collective) action can chan…

I check news once a week, sometimes less. I mean reading newspapers, opinion articles, news on television, the subreddit of my country. The most relevant news come to me through comments from friends or family, in the after-dinner talks or meetings. With that combination, I am well informed of current events, and I am not overwhelmed by what I consider repetitive or irrelevant information.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#103

Post by scottmsul » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 2:22 PM UTC

> Out of the 10,000 news stories you may have read in the last 12 months, did even one allow you to make a better decision about a serious matter in your life,

Yes, there was an article on HN a couple weeks ago. Pork treated with nitrates increases the chance of colon cancer as much as smoking increases the chance of lung cancer (but pork treated with salt is ok).

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#104

Post by wu-ikkyu » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 2:22 PM UTC

Mainstream media/news is the fast food of information. It's super cheap, easy to get, and it gives you a quick high like you get from all the sugar and fat in fast food, but you'll invetably feel worse after doing so.

Cooking a healthier meal by yourself and doing your own independent research and investigations takes much more time, but also has a much greater reward.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#105

Post by simmons » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 2:22 PM UTC

monster_group wrote: post #70

The problem is that some news is relevant. One of my friends has given up reading or watching any kind of news altogether. At first this seems impressive but when I asked him about how far his house was from the wildfire, he was like "Umm - what wildfire?". He was oblivious to the fact that country's biggest wildfire was just three miles away from his house. He is a very smart and successful guy and it really jolted…

That sounds like something that he should have been alerted to via Reverse 911, but I suppose he wasn't properly registered yet if he just moved. I know my county uses Reverse 911 to notify of wildfires, because I errantly received such a warning a few years ago when it was actually for a wildfire in a different part of the county.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#106

Post by Density » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 2:27 PM UTC

gtirloni wrote: post #43

icebraining wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It may be called HN, but most of what gets posted here is not really "news".

Yes. I would categorize as "bad news" (or "news news") all the FB outrage, policital stuff, the Waymo lawsuit, etc. Bad as in getting to read them for very small content almost everyday doesn't help. On the other hand, HN is very useful for keeping up with developments in my area, interesting technical articles, insightful discussions. HN is usually not "news news".

HN is a liberal echo chamber identical to all other social media where all dissenting viewpoints get suppressed.

The truth is HN is Reddit, but with a better interface and a smarter crowd.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#107

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 2:32 PM UTC

konart wrote: post #96

olavk wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note that the context is a society where it is NOT considered desirable to lose weight!

Unhealthy weight loss is never desirable.

[deleted]

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#108

Post by jessaustin » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 2:32 PM UTC

Density wrote: post #106

gtirloni wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. I would categorize as "bad news" (or "news news") all the FB outrage, policital stuff, the Waymo lawsuit, etc. Bad as in getting to read them for very small content almost everyday doesn't help. On the other hand, HN is very useful for keeping up with developments in my area, interesting technical articles, insightful discussions. HN is usually not "news news".

HN is a liberal echo chamber identical to all other social media where all dissenting viewpoints get suppressed. The truth is HN is Reddit, but with a better interface and a smarter crowd.

Others would classify it as "conservative" or "libertarian" rather than "liberal". Which really means it's not a very effective "echo chamber". You will read opinions different than your own on HN. If that's upsetting to you, HN may not be your cup of tea.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#109

Post by saiya-jin » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 2:33 PM UTC

suprfnk wrote: post #27

Numberwang wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you stay up to day? Ideally Id like a weekly review or something where I can spend 30min. I recongnise it would be beneficial to give up news, but I need to know a bit about whats going on to be social.

You could check out Wikipedia's "Current events" page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events

Wow that is really interesting source, thank you!

I wonder how it's fed. I have BBC app on the phone but its quality is going down a lot (having random tweets about the topic inserted into articles, WTF? I care about proper journalism, not some random crowd bitchin'), for example there was nothing about Palestinian protests having > thousands injured and 19 dead etc

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#110

Post by openasocket » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 2:34 PM UTC

wu-ikkyu wrote: post #92

openasocket wrote: post #87

I found this article really unconvincing. It lashes out at random things like the number of hyperlinks in an article, and has completely unsubstantiated claims like the following: "Most news consumers – even if they used to be avid book readers – have lost the ability to absorb lengthy articles or books. After four, five pages they get tired, their concentration vanishes, they become restless. It's not because they g…

>Knowledge is a good unto itself This is a fallacious claim in an age of information overload.

I don't see how that follows. By "knowledge is a good unto itself" I mean that it is always better to know something than to be ignorant of something. Sure, some pieces of knowledge are more valuable than others, and we have a limited capacity for how much knowledge we can absorb and hold, but that doesn't contradict the premise, that having knowledge is a good thing. It just means we have to prioritize what knowledge to gain. Which is why, in that same sentence, I go on to explain why knowledge of current events is important.