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Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

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Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#111

Post by silicon2401 »

One of the best things I've done in my life is to start actively avoiding news. That doesn't mean I try to stay ignorant of what happens outside my home's walls. News is not information. Information you can find on your own, news is somebody deciding for you what you should know and how you should feel about it.

I've had nothing but an improvement in quality of life since starting this, and think people should try it at least once in their life, just to see how unhealthy news can be

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#112

Post by silicon2401 »

tossthere wrote: post #109
frereubu wrote: post #21

Seems an appropriate time to post my favourite piece on news addiction by Charles Simic in the NYRB. "I’m having trouble deciding whether I understand the world better now that I’m in my seventies than I did when I was younger, or whether I’m becoming more and more clueless every day. The truth is somewhere in between, I suspect, but that doesn’t make me rest any easier at night. Like others growing old, I had expect…

I figured this out a few years ago and completely stopped all news watching/reading entirely. I have nothing but positive things to say about that decision, and surprisingly I seem to be better-informed and feel like I have a worldview that more accurately reflects reality than most of the people who follow news daily. Daily news watchers now seem like such ineffective people to me, and I’m reminded of the know-nothi…

I feel the exact same way. If there's something really important, it'll make its way to me. If there's something I want to know, I'll make my way to it. Otherwise it probably wasn't worth my time. Like you, I read about and hear acquaintances talk about anxiety, etc from the news so often, and just feel like I'm talking to someone complaining about sunburn and continuing to go out without sun protection

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#113

Post by SamBam »

tossthere wrote: post #109
frereubu wrote: post #21

Seems an appropriate time to post my favourite piece on news addiction by Charles Simic in the NYRB. "I’m having trouble deciding whether I understand the world better now that I’m in my seventies than I did when I was younger, or whether I’m becoming more and more clueless every day. The truth is somewhere in between, I suspect, but that doesn’t make me rest any easier at night. Like others growing old, I had expect…

I figured this out a few years ago and completely stopped all news watching/reading entirely. I have nothing but positive things to say about that decision, and surprisingly I seem to be better-informed and feel like I have a worldview that more accurately reflects reality than most of the people who follow news daily. Daily news watchers now seem like such ineffective people to me, and I’m reminded of the know-nothi…

> I completely stopped all news watching/reading entirely. ... I seem to be better-informed.

How do these square? How is it that you become informed?

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#115

Post by dencodev »

tossthere wrote: post #109
frereubu wrote: post #21

Seems an appropriate time to post my favourite piece on news addiction by Charles Simic in the NYRB. "I’m having trouble deciding whether I understand the world better now that I’m in my seventies than I did when I was younger, or whether I’m becoming more and more clueless every day. The truth is somewhere in between, I suspect, but that doesn’t make me rest any easier at night. Like others growing old, I had expect…

I figured this out a few years ago and completely stopped all news watching/reading entirely. I have nothing but positive things to say about that decision, and surprisingly I seem to be better-informed and feel like I have a worldview that more accurately reflects reality than most of the people who follow news daily. Daily news watchers now seem like such ineffective people to me, and I’m reminded of the know-nothi…

Does being on HN not count? Feel like I see lots of news on HN. It's in the name after all.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#116

Post by latexr »

0dana wrote: post #4

My 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…

Slot machines essentially reproduce that mice experiment on humans, as does pull-to-refresh.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#117

Post by lotsofpulp »

yetanta wrote: post #97
frereubu wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For me personally, it's the volume. If you concentrate on your local area, particularly if you live somewhere smaller than a city, there are crimes and tragedies, but even if some of them are horrible they're relatively few and far between, and can be processed mentally. If you take the entire world of 7+ billion people you could spend your entire waking hours reading about brutality, tragedy and horror from around t…

I live thousands of miles away from New York city. A few months ago I was reading about someone getting into an argument in central park. Why am I being show that? It was to provoke an emotional response out of me. They are using our emotions to manipulate us.

Or maybe the advent of easy to use and accessible recording devices is shining a light on the prejudice and abuse that people with certain characteristics have been suffering from for decades.

Those with political power in the US could conveniently turn a blind eye to the problem with plausible deniability with a he said she said excuse, but now they have to face the problem.

I think that’s an important development in the progress of my country.

You should be having an emotional response to the huge undercurrent of racism and classism pervading society.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#118

Post by pb7 »

dencodev wrote: post #115
tossthere wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I figured this out a few years ago and completely stopped all news watching/reading entirely. I have nothing but positive things to say about that decision, and surprisingly I seem to be better-informed and feel like I have a worldview that more accurately reflects reality than most of the people who follow news daily. Daily news watchers now seem like such ineffective people to me, and I’m reminded of the know-nothi…

Does being on HN not count? Feel like I see lots of news on HN. It's in the name after all.

Definitely cheating and I’m not the GP, but I would argue HN is curated enough to filter out most guilty pleasure outrage news cycles. Still in the same realm though.

For example, the Twitter hack has made its rounds here but, say, Kanye having a political meltdown hasn’t necessarily (or at least I haven’t seen it) despite it being a prominent trend on Twitter.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#119

Post by pb7 »

SamBam wrote: post #113
tossthere wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I figured this out a few years ago and completely stopped all news watching/reading entirely. I have nothing but positive things to say about that decision, and surprisingly I seem to be better-informed and feel like I have a worldview that more accurately reflects reality than most of the people who follow news daily. Daily news watchers now seem like such ineffective people to me, and I’m reminded of the know-nothi…

> I completely stopped all news watching/reading entirely. ... I seem to be better-informed. How do these square? How is it that you become informed?

One way that I could imagine is having long-form discussions about it with friends rather than getting a journalist’s opinion and settling on it as fact.

Re: Ask HN: Is it just me? why is “news” so addictive?

#120

Post by lotsofpulp »

abnry wrote: post #99
netsharc wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't blame the reporting... the scientists are also very conservative, because they're afraid of being labeled doom-sayers by deniers.

If they are worried about being labeled doom-sayers by deniers then they aren't very good scientists.

Or they’re worried about losing their source of income with which they feed and house themselves and their families. Because the leaders of the US have explicitly threatened them.
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