The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News • Hacker News Board

Re: The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News

#211

Post by dba7dba » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:41 AM UTC

steelframe wrote: post #14

I stopped reading the news about a year ago. I felt like my emotions were being manipulated by a sharply-honed system built precisely to invoke outrage and draw you in to read more and more of it. I've been able to direct my focus and energy to much more productive tasks since I disconnected. Of course I entirely missed that whole Supreme Court thing until after it was over, and I have no idea what people around me a…

I have been reading news (news on real paper) since I could barely understand what I was reading about. I read news often just for reading.

But I have also stopped reading/watching/hearing news. When election time comes, I will read the laws being proposed, do some google search and pick a candidate or yay/nay a proposition (I live in California).

Just step back and reconsider what 'news' is trying to tell you from a 3rd person view. Ultimately you are being manipulated, imho. To vote for a candidate and/or clicks so that ads can be sold.

Just check this book out. Or at least read reviews of the book.

> How the News Makes Us Dumb: The Death of Wisdom in an Information Society Paperback – March 17, 1999 by C. John Sommerville (Author)

Re: The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News

#212

Post by billfruit » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:46 AM UTC

I feel that journalists haven't shown enough self criticism on serious issues with how they operate like click-bait-ism, hyperbole-laden head line writing and the Gell-Mann amnesia. On the face of such and other issues I see them mostly on an defensive stance than that of any serious self introspection. It is rare to see even acceptance of these and other problems from them, let alone thought of any solutions.

They need to get off their ivory towers, and be transparent about their own vulnerabilities.

Re: The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News

#213

Post by throwaway5752 » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:46 AM UTC

chillfox wrote: post #176

throwaway5752 wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay a news site and I get high quality news from them that is curated. And since they make money from subscriptions, the need for eyeballs and page views is not a factor. Something to consider.

Care to share what news site that is?

Well, I'll just say this article (and a lot of them from the author) about the independent journalism business are worth reading: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/nuts-and-bolts-of-prime...

Re: The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News

#214

Post by photojosh » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:49 AM UTC

yourbandsucks wrote: post #201

old-gregg wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. News != politics. In fact, if I replace the "status quo" in your statement with "reality", the meaning will change significantly. I don't need a journalist to tell me that the healthcare situation (to pick an example) is absurd, or that taxation (fed+state) in some states is already at European levels, yet without any healthcare or education benefits. It's easy to be aware of these facts, you just have to…

If I were the illuminati, I'd find it hard to beat the current system of keeping everyone tied up in a culture war while I picked their pockets.

I try to post in-depth and reasoned comments to this exact point whenever someone in my social circle posts ranty "news" articles, but they just get completely flat-out ignored.

I've never seen anyone argue that this elite vs the rest pickpocketing isn't actually happening and (what we call) the culture war is the real battle.

It would be helpful if there was, because then I could try to understand the mindset behind the dismissal of our view— it's driving me crazy.

Re: The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News

#215

Post by shsbr5392 » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:49 AM UTC

old-gregg wrote: post #191

slg wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It needs to be pointed out that this is an option that originates from privilege. Ignoring the news means ignoring politics. Ignoring politics is tacit support of the status quo. The status quo does not put everyone on equal footing. Disadvantaged people would therefore suffer more from disengaging with the news than people of privilege.

I disagree. News != politics. In fact, if I replace the "status quo" in your statement with "reality", the meaning will change significantly. I don't need a journalist to tell me that the healthcare situation (to pick an example) is absurd, or that taxation (fed+state) in some states is already at European levels, yet without any healthcare or education benefits. It's easy to be aware of these facts, you just have to…

This is dangerously naive with respect to how marketing works in the era of social media. Questions you should be asking yourself... Who controls the influential twitter account or blog? Do they make money from it either by posting sponsored content or do they run ads? Could someone who controls a botnet or clickfarm manipulate them by either granting or withholding likes, traffic, and clicks?

Re: The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News

#216

Post by rayiner » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:50 AM UTC

slg wrote: post #157

steelframe wrote: post #14

I stopped reading the news about a year ago. I felt like my emotions were being manipulated by a sharply-honed system built precisely to invoke outrage and draw you in to read more and more of it. I've been able to direct my focus and energy to much more productive tasks since I disconnected. Of course I entirely missed that whole Supreme Court thing until after it was over, and I have no idea what people around me a…

It needs to be pointed out that this is an option that originates from privilege. Ignoring the news means ignoring politics. Ignoring politics is tacit support of the status quo. The status quo does not put everyone on equal footing. Disadvantaged people would therefore suffer more from disengaging with the news than people of privilege.

This view is pretentious and hypocritical. Let’s imagine that you’re a typical HN-er and you have a nice MacBook Pro or have taken a nice vacation or gone to Burning Man or whatever. For that same amount of money, you could have changed the life of a child in Bangladesh. Why didn’t you? Because you are a bad person, and you chose frivolities for yourself over necessities for someone far from you. Maybe if you read the news about what’s happening in Bangladesh you would have decided differently. But do you have a moral obligation to do that?

Re: The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News

#217

Post by ip26 » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:50 AM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #102

ip26 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer to think about how I can positively impact people around me and my local community Given that, isn't (local) news still relevant?

Sometimes, sort of. If you think about the things you read on the news, you'll notice that 99%+ ends up being of no consequence for anything. A lot of what people get outraged about daily is total bullshit, and it gets forgotten the very next day, but even the more important-seeming issues really average out to zero impact on the community. In terms of information, the news is a channel with absurdly low signal/noise…

Local news is how I find out about ballot issues, restaurant closures and openings, new public works projects, etc, as well as more sordid things like failed health inspections or the deep dysfunction at a neighborhood school we might have sent our kid to... The SNR might not be super high but it seems useful.

Re: The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News

#218

Post by cmod » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 1:54 AM UTC

slg wrote: post #157

steelframe wrote: post #14

I stopped reading the news about a year ago. I felt like my emotions were being manipulated by a sharply-honed system built precisely to invoke outrage and draw you in to read more and more of it. I've been able to direct my focus and energy to much more productive tasks since I disconnected. Of course I entirely missed that whole Supreme Court thing until after it was over, and I have no idea what people around me a…

It needs to be pointed out that this is an option that originates from privilege. Ignoring the news means ignoring politics. Ignoring politics is tacit support of the status quo. The status quo does not put everyone on equal footing. Disadvantaged people would therefore suffer more from disengaging with the news than people of privilege.

Strong disagree with the black and whiteness of this. Ignoring all news and politics, full stop, is less a privileged and more an ignorant position to take.

But I'd argue the worst position is one of non-stop media bingeing without action. In fact, I'd say the only way to act reliably or with clear intention is to not binge on media, to not stay in the zone of manufactured outrage. But instead to keep sanely abreast of what's happening and engage only when meaningful action can be had.

Re: The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News

#219

Post by hackits » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 2:01 AM UTC

cmod wrote: post #218

slg wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It needs to be pointed out that this is an option that originates from privilege. Ignoring the news means ignoring politics. Ignoring politics is tacit support of the status quo. The status quo does not put everyone on equal footing. Disadvantaged people would therefore suffer more from disengaging with the news than people of privilege.

Strong disagree with the black and whiteness of this. Ignoring all news and politics, full stop, is less a privileged and more an ignorant position to take. But I'd argue the worst position is one of non-stop media bingeing without action. In fact, I'd say the only way to act reliably or with clear intention is to not binge on media, to not stay in the zone of manufactured outrage. But instead to keep sanely abreast…

I found when I disconnected from the news and politic in my own country that the people around me didn't really have well developed retention of the new's they where talking about. For example, news event A occurs on day, and everyone in the office talks about A, and how it made them feel. Then news event B occurs the next day, and there doesn't seem to be any cognitive awareness how A connects to B, instead A is forgotten and everyone emotes about B.

I've had to use the analogy to people how weird it appears. It's like everyone talks about a blue cat one day, and the next day talk about a red cat. Everywhere you go everyone talks about the same colored cat's.

Re: The Urgent Quest for Slower, Better News

#220

Post by ChristianBundy » Thu, Apr 11, 2019, 2:05 AM UTC

shsbr5392 wrote: post #215

old-gregg wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. News != politics. In fact, if I replace the "status quo" in your statement with "reality", the meaning will change significantly. I don't need a journalist to tell me that the healthcare situation (to pick an example) is absurd, or that taxation (fed+state) in some states is already at European levels, yet without any healthcare or education benefits. It's easy to be aware of these facts, you just have to…

This is dangerously naive with respect to how marketing works in the era of social media. Questions you should be asking yourself... Who controls the influential twitter account or blog? Do they make money from it either by posting sponsored content or do they run ads? Could someone who controls a botnet or clickfarm manipulate them by either granting or withholding likes, traffic, and clicks?

> This is dangerously naive with respect to how marketing works in the era of social media.

I was going to point out that this makes the assumption that they're consuming corporate social media, but we're on HN so I suppose that's implied.

I should probably delete this account too.