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Giving up reading news will make us happier

theguardian.com

141–150 of 203 posts

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#141

Regarding news, I have had this self-imposed rule: * Only check out the first screen of any news web site. No scrolling down, and no clicking links.* Implementation details: I keep around 10 news sites in a bookmark folder. Through out a day, I right click on the folder and open all of the sites at once, then spend on average 5 to 10 seconds on each site. Do this three or four times each day. Been pretty happy doing…

"Only check out the first screen of any news web site. No scrolling down, and no clicking links."

I like that rule. One quick check of the news home page should be enough to tell you if there is anything truly important going on that requires your immediate attention.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#142
I see many people here who have said it, and I will say it; I haven't watched any mainstream news(Fox, CNN, ABC, etc) in years. All it is, is negativity and deception. For the most part, I don't care about what is going on. I get my fill of major events from browsing reddit and HN, and even then I just read the comments, rarely the article. I've never used FB as a source of information, that sounds about as bad of a source as you can get.

Back when I used to watch the news, it was always the same. Something like

>> Weather >> Death >> Death >> Shooting >> Crime reports >> Crime reports >> Sports >> Empty feel good story(Guy saves kitten, guy donates to charity, etc) >> Ending

They focus so much on negativity and toxic behaviors, it's depressing. I don't want to wake up in the mornings and first thing I see is how many people died the previous day from local crimes. Even worse are the minor crimes where people who might not even be guilty get their picture blown up on screen and automatically deemed criminals prior to being convicted. "Man who might have stolen a car is charged, no evidence has yet been presented. So here is his picture, links to his social media accounts, his address, his entire life story. If you ever see him in the future, consider him a criminal"

It's so hard to get unbiased information anymore. Every major news outlet leans towards one side or the other. The stations that do try an report unbiased get their funding cut and put in financial ruin.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#143
post #119

> 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).

interesting... can you provide a link?

I think it's reasonable to make at least some attempt before asking…

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=pork+nitrates+hacker+news

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#144

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…

"My anger and outrage has helped me aid numerous political campaigns and individuals with money, time and emotional support."

I hope your correct in this; I've felt similarly in the past.

As I've gotten older, I've felt more like a lot of what I was seeing as useful action was the fantasy of useful action. That is, I haven't seen a lot of real gains or losses due to my own political actions.

Maybe I just don't give enough money or knock on enough doors.

But as I've gotten older it's felt more and more that this is just engaging in a particular kind of fantasy role playing.

Perhaps it is true that I can disengage with this kinds of political anger because I can look like I can pass as a white cishet male.

Consider, however, that the only folks who can actually make political gains are people that are already in a position of some amount of power and privilege. The basic premise of incremental change is that the kinds of changes that you'd like to see are sustainable via the system you're interacting with.

To take a specific example from my own set of stuff that pisses me off, I believe that the system of policing where I live is systematically racist.

I would never have a problem with people advocating for incremental changes and I've seen people make small gains in those directions.

However, I believe that the complete disarmament of the police for and more or less the total abolition of prisions is the only workable solution.

I wholly understand that this position is not a moderate position and is probably not something many people agree with, and I neither expect other people to see it as reasonable nor want to support that view here.

I bring it up, rather, because there is no incremental change that I can see which will bring about the conditions under the system where I live.

So I've more or less given up on following news on this front: there is nothing that I can do about the fact that the racist Texas "justice" system has incarcerated some lady for 5 years for voter fraud. I'm neither surprised nor do I feel like there is something that I can do to convince Ken Paxton, et al, that they aren't terrible, terrible people. There's just nothing that can be done that is going to correct that kind of problem in the world.

So, while I think you're correct in asserting that there is a certain amount of privilege in ignoring the news, I point out this:

there is a certain amount of intersectionality with a system involved in believing that you can incrementally change that system to operate with justice.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#145

My biggest question is how do you keep up if you cut news. I would definitely like to quit checking HN also but FOmo of new technologies keep me coming.

Set aside a specific time each week to scan the headlines and pick out the most interesting. For HN or most content aggregation sites, if something is particularly important, it'll stay on the first 5-6 pages for more than a week.

Scan the first few pages, pick out 5-10 articles, read for an hour or two. You'll be at least 80% as informed as if you had checked in every day. This also lets you deep dive into any of the ideas if they're particularly interesting, because it's such a small list of mental options.

One of my worst problems is ending up with a notebook page of 40 items that I found interesting. I never go back and learn more about them because I can't really decide what's the most interesting. Cull options ruthlessly until you have a manageable set of options.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#146
News is like art. Anything can be defined as art, anything can be defined as news.

Elon Musk tweeted? Lets wrap the tweet in a fluff burrito... Although, Tesla stocks been seeing some tough times, today Elon tweeted X..., in conclusion ...

That passes as news, but its just drivel.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#147
Most of the times when I watch the "news" it isn't to get more informed, it's more as something to watch, get entertained, and have open in the background. For this reason I like watching local news better as the stories they have are much more focused than CNN or FOX's 100th story about Trump tweets. Most people attack local news but I seem that they have more integrity than the big named channels if you manage to slog through the crappy syndicated ones. Thankfully Sinclair doesn't own any stations in my area.

It's nice to at least have news that is more compact and relates more to your life. Traffic, weather, daily minor politics that won't matter outside of your 50 mile radius. All of these are things that remind me that the area I live in is living and breathing and not just a set-piece for the larger and grander story that most national news medias cover.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#148
“And I am sure that I never read any memorable news in a newspaper. If we read of one man robbed, or murdered, or killed by accident, or one house burned, or one vessel wrecked, or one steamboat blown up, or one cow run over on the Western Railroad, or one mad dog killed, or one lot of grasshoppers in the winter, - we need never read of another. One is enough. If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications?”

Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#149

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…

If you read the conventional news, say, once a month, you would still be more than informed enough to know what way you should vote when the time comes. As for your health and wellbeing, mainstream news is probably worse than nothing, in that it skews your perception of where your risks are, and definitely worse than using your own research skills to find other (often primary) sources.

That's fascinating, but neither the subject of the article nor my comment. Thank you.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#150

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.

That's fascinating, but neither the subject of the article nor my comment. Thank you.
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