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Giving up reading news will make us happier

theguardian.com

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Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#151

Post by KirinDave »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #144
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…

"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 e…

> 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.

"Perfect is the enemy of the good," a common form of apathetic thinking. It's defensive in many cases, I grant, but it is still ultimately giving up.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#152

Post by [deleted] »

openasocket wrote: post #110
wu-ikkyu wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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 knowledg…

[deleted]

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#153

Post by RIMR »

>Out of the approximately 10,000 news stories you have read in the last 12 months, name one that – because you consumed it – allowed you to make a better decision about a serious matter affecting your life, your career or your business.

Okay...

Consuming political news has empowered me to communicate with my elected representatives about policies that matter to me.

Consuming local news has kept me informed of important happenings in my community - including events that I attended and consider my self better off for going.

Consuming industry news has kept me up-to-date on the things that I need to stay aware of at my Cybersecurity job.

I find that consuming 24 hour TV news, or consuming and sharing lots of hyper-partisan political news is emotionally taxing. I don't do much of that. I occasionally watch my local news, but mostly consume local newspapers and neighborhood blogs to keep informed of what is happening in my community.

Everything else I read online, and I do consume news pretty much every day.

I really don't see the point in outright refusing to stay informed of current events. Just don't overindulge in the news/entertainment nonsense that masquerades as real journalism now days.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#154

Post by Tempest1981 »

Slight tangent, but I look at how much time and energy is expended in the tech comment forums, where fanboys argue religiously: Android vs iOS, Windows vs macOS vs Linux, Intel vs AMD vs ARM, Tesla vs Uber vs Waymo.

Eventually it degrades into CompanyX sucks; no CompanyY sucks more.

I wish I could encourage the fanboys to go out and create something awesome, or be part of something constructive. Vs watching and criticizing from the sidelines.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#155

Post by dragonwriter »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #144
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…

"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 e…

> 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.

No, it's not. There is no “basic premise of incremental change”; incremental change is a tactical choice that can be the product of many, radically divergent, premises.

For instance, incremental changes are often supported as both a mitigation strategy and a mechanism of building support (by demonstrating that while superior, the mitigated system that retains core features of the problematic system is unstable, so that a more radical change is needed) by groups seeking, but lacking broad support for, more radical change.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#156

Post by notfromhere »

qaq wrote: post #28
AnatMl2 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Love this, but since the book has an anti-Soviet sentiment, I don't think we could generalize this quote. In USSR you would read only what you should and you didn't really have a choice. Freedom of press was something impossible to imagine. I cannot say that everything what we read, or choose to read today is worth reading but there is a good press, which is at times difficult to find, but you will never get to it if…

The major US news outlets deteriorated to the point of being close to USSR level of bias and propaganda.

No they're not. If you actually believe this, no one can help you.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#157

Post by dv35z »

Goal:

- Stay informed about important world events (for yourself AND for social reasons)

- Reduce time & attention spent on "waste" news

Challenges:

- Most news "as it happens" is inaccurate

- Much of the news is colored with story-like "narrative", rather than "just the facts, Jack".

- News websites have perverse incentives (attract eyeballs, provoke outrage, etc)

- A lot of attention in MSM is paid to irrelevant topics (e.g. personal interest, odd crimes, etc).

- Heavy Biases present

Solution(s):

- Postpone / let it soak: If you see a news article you're interested in, withstand the dopamine - send the article to Pocket. Set aside regular time (end of day, or once a week) to review all postponed news. With any luck, the news story has developed more accurate info

- Use non commercial news sources. Example: At the beginning of month, review the WIKIPEDIA current events portal. The assumption is that the news articles & topics there are likely "aged" slightly, and more factual. Examples:

News LAST month (Likely fairly relevant & accurate): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events/March_20....

News THIS month (reasonably relevant "breaking news"): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events/April_20...

"Aggregated" news for the YEAR (read the sections by month): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018#March

If you spot-check the above links, you can see that it really does "cover" most of the news that's front of mind in the major news outlets. The difference is, you can click in - read to the depth you prefer - and generally avoid some of the major editorializing / narrative building.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#158

Post by kiliantics »

scarecrowbob wrote: post #144
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…

"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 e…

Look to history. I think you are absolutely right that it's purely performative to make political donations to major parties or go and phone bank for politicians that can at best make incremental change (and will more likely allow big business to make things worse). The things that have worked before are much more disruptive. You could try taking part in protests and marches or other direct actions that put real pressure on local government. MLK blocked highways and staged strikes. It was his power (along with many others) to put a halt to the economic activity the government relies on that led to victory for civil rights.

Re: Giving up reading news will make us happier

#160

Post by debt »

donw wrote: post #48

It's not just news. I cut out mainstream media several years ago, and noted a definite improvement in my psychological well-being. As of the end of last year, I stopped engaging in mainstream social media. So much better. I still keep a Facebook account for Messenger and Events, but don't post, read timelines, or participate. Not only do I have more time to read books and learn new things -- made pita bread from scra…

"...but don't post..."

This is the key. If you start posting it becomes a waiting game for the conversation to begin. I feel the need to monitor and wait for responses.

It's fun but obviously mentally taxing. An online conversation keeps me constantly engaged but distracts me heavily from other things. It's extremely hard for me to not want to openly opine and share on the various social networks about subjects I care about.

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