So thank you for your many thoughtful responses to the post. My battery is about to die which means I am over and out (until I drive somewhere tomorrow and re-juice the phone). But to be honest, you've all done a pretty good job of answering why HN sits high in the list of nervous tics. I genuinely look forward to returning to read everything posted in the interim. In the meantime here's a picture of the sky from where I'm sat ~ https://ibb.co/cwDD7GG
Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?
51–60 of 222 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?
#52Perhaps we need to view 'news' through the lens of 'is this information' before reading and therefore allowing it to impact how we feel about our lives. News being an event that may or may not impact your life, vs. information that can be assimilated to improve your life. Or perhaps, did you seek out the information because you need to learn something, or, are you reading what is being presented to you unprompted by…
I think an important point is that news outlets have learned how to sell news as tabloid entertainment. ...and when you engineer the narrative into a story that people find compelling, then if become emotionally addictive.
...and entirely destructive to political discourse.
Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?
#53How does one decide what information to consume? If I shun news altogether, then how will I come to know of some events that might have a direct effect on my life?
Even with what we consider useful knowledge, how much of it is really useful? Yes, it is fun learning new stuff, making connections between seemingly disjointed topics etc, but how much of it has direct influence on our daily lives? I've learned a lot from HN, but I often wonder if I should have spent all that time elsewhere, carefully picking up only those knowledge and skills that benefit me in my life and that I can use to help others.
This isn't an answer to your question, because I don't know the answer. I've the same question as you. My one guess is that everything that is made today is made with the explicit intention of getting users hooked - from fast food to social media, including news.
Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?
#54I am an online media junkie but recently I've found so much of the news boring. Not because of what's going on, but because how it is reported is all the same. Hyperbole, listicles (never more than 10 items), predictions about the future that are simply opinions, etc.
Maybe there is hope that too much news just exhausts everyone.
Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?
#55Coincidentally neuroscientist Andrew D. Huberman was on the JRE podcast yesterday and among the many topics/studies he discussed was one where electrodes were hooked up to brains and the subjects were given complete control over the areas they stimulated.
Contrary to what one might think (or at least the scientists) that the subjects would stimulate areas of sexual response or pleasure, it turns out they elected to stimulate areas of anger and frustration.
Without knowing exactly what "news" you found yourself reading, I think its a fair guess the majority of news now-a-days (or maybe always) triggers this area of the brain and so you are probably just elected to trigger anger and frustration over stimulating your brain with the natural beauty of the world around you (so don't feel bad apparently this is the norm).
Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?
#56A lot of things going on. My amateur take on _just one_ of the factors is that we are evolutionarily inclined to be aware of events, especially negative events.
Bad news is so addictive because knowing about the bad things in our tribe’s region helps us survive.
Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?
#57My understanding is it’s the little thrill your brain gets from the possibility of finding something super interesting. That’s the addicting piece. The gambling piece of it. I read (or more likely heard on a podcast) about an experiment with mice and a food dispensing button. In one case, the button reliably dispensed food every time it was pressed. In the other case, sometimes the button wouldn’t work. The mice with…
I think doomscrolling is quite related to this -
Obsessively reading social media posts about how utterly fucked we are.
https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=doomscrollin...
Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
I appreciate this. Watching the news cycle feels like being in an abusive relationship. You watch and wait for the next eruption, anticipating if it will be violent or joyful. It leaves you feeling depleted and helpless.
On a non-subjective basis, there are many bad things going on in the world, with implications for both ourselves and our families. A genuine question: is it access to news or content of the news that messes with our sense of wellbeing? Does “the media” upset me, or knowledge, for example that climate models appear to be more conservative than reality, upset me? In not reading the news, are we simply happy in the way…
> climate models appear to be more conservative than reality
I've read this sentence multiple times and still not sure what it means. Would you please expound?
Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?
#59From a fellow Aussie: I'm in Melbourne atm in the midst of the latest C19 outbreak and I wish I was there
Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am just one of those people who can listen to Wagner without invading Poland ...
That's a straw man statement. Listening to something is not the same as sharing a quote from a horrible person.
The full quote is as follows:
Stop watching the news
Because the news contrives to frighten you
To make you feel small and alone
To make you feel that your mind isn't your own
It is relevant here as the mice in the experiment loose control over their "mind" and start behaving in a self defeating manner.