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Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

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Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#91

Post by ppeetteerr »

wnolens wrote: post #42
ppeetteerr wrote: post #24

So much to unpack here. For starters, being informed makes for more interesting conversations with others. It means that you get to reflect on what you stand for, and grow as an individual with an opinion. News is also the gateway for deeper information. If you stick to just the news, that's one thing, but if you then go deeper into the topic (what is the relationship between Ukraine and Russia?) then you get invalua…

But you're not truly informed, at best you know the opinions of others. Or more typically, you're informed as to what media outlet publishes to get eyeballs for advertising revenue. Your conversations with others are only more interesting because you're engaging with people who are themselves very interested in discussing the opinions of others. My friends are not like this. And the ones that are, I try to avoid endl…

I agree with much of what you wrote. Finding curious and open minded people is super important and I would encourage you to spend the time to find people who actively participate in their society. Unless, of course, you'd rather not.

> But you're not truly informed, at best you know the opinions of others. Or more typically, you're informed as to what media outlet publishes to get eyeballs for advertising revenue.

I do disagree that you're not truly informed. If you're coming at News from this point of view, you're essentially lumping all publications, from the Economist to OANN to RT to Huffpo to War Room together. This is a naive approach and leads to the rise of partisan publications and channels that distort reality.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#92

Post by cpach »

telchior wrote: post #59
cpach wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah enormous difference. It is indeed a good idea to avoid TV news. My suggestion: Go to a news stand instead and grab a copy of The Economist. One who does that will learn much about the world. About countries one rarely hear about in other media outlets. About advances in science and technology. In my opinion, time spent reading The Economist is not wasted. Well that’s my 2¢ anyway ¯\＿(ツ)＿/¯

I agree, it's a great magazine. But don't forget that even the Economist is only providing a shallow overview of any given topic (despite the apparent depth); has a specific partisan viewpoint / world philosophy; and is frequently wrong. Most people know that at an intellectual level, of course. But it's all too easy to read something like an Economist article and come away thinking "oh, I learned a lot / have a dece…

Good point. To really get to know a field / question, one needs deeper sources.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#93

Post by chiefgeek »

I was never a big news guy to begin with. Haven't had cable since 2009. For awhile I read the NYT and for a shorter while, Talking Points Memo. I've quit reading most world news and especially political news. His point that

>“Being concerned” makes us feel like we’re doing something when we’re notis what really drove it home for me. I can do more to improve the world if I am in a good mood and improving myself than I can if I walk around angry that X is happening somewhere.

CNN and Fox are so far apart they practically touch.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#94

Post by reincarnate0x14 »

MangoCoffee wrote: post #30
mrweasel wrote: post #7

At someone point in the last two years I stopped watching the news, because it was just an endless stream of useless information about COVID. I’m not sure I felt better, but it certainly saves some time. Point 3 is spot on, most of the commentators have no idea about what going to happen. At best their guesses a marginally better than my own. Once you realise this, watching debates between journalist and political co…

a lot of news is clickbait or junk. Buzzfeed is the pioneer of that. there's a reason why trust in media is decline https://www.pewresearch.org/2022/01/05/trust-in-america-do-a...

Buzzfeed is hardly the pioneer. Cable TV news has been doing it since the 1980s with constant "shocker!" bait segments and constant bullshitting between talking heads who make any banal thing they feel like sound like a impending disaster.

And as was mentioned, it's no small irony that Buzzfeed's investigative journalism, while a limited part of their impact, is pretty good.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#95

Post by cpach »

xattt wrote: post #48
cpach wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah enormous difference. It is indeed a good idea to avoid TV news. My suggestion: Go to a news stand instead and grab a copy of The Economist. One who does that will learn much about the world. About countries one rarely hear about in other media outlets. About advances in science and technology. In my opinion, time spent reading The Economist is not wasted. Well that’s my 2¢ anyway ¯\＿(ツ)＿/¯

I’m waiting for someone to jump in and shit on The Economist. However, I don’t think a person that doesn’t have any sort of social standing to uphold will have anything bad to say.

There are of course things one could criticize them for. I still believe it’s a useful and interesting publication. And quite unique, dare I say.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#97

Post by bambam3000 »

rr808 wrote: post #12

What I'm amazed is how the news directs people's attention and forms agendas. From Covid, the Southern border migration, Police shootings, Venezuala, Syria etc they're all multi-year ongoing problems but suddenly reach crises then a few days later you never hear again. The Media has so much power to influence what people care about.

I would go as far as to say "The Media controls what (most) people care about."

Once you step outside and look with fresh eyes it really is quite terrifying.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#99

Post by reincarnate0x14 »

I spent years without a TV at all and haven't watched any sort of broadcast or cable regularly since like 2004. As a result, I have a few distinct memories of "news events" that persist like visits to a carnival of madmen.

The disappearance of MH 370 was on literally non-stop on CNN in particular, and we'd walk out of the hotel lobby to see the same group of people repeating that basically nothing had changed but oh my god maybe this personage or another will have something soon, walking back in the evening past the same thing, for days.

It's really no wonder people came up with insane conspiracies about it, because for like two solid weeks multiple TV channels were going on about it as if the world had ended.

Re: Things you notice when you quit the news (2016)

#100

Post by LordDragonfang »

damnyankees wrote: post #32
systemvoltage wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My father tells me - "Why do you care what Andrew Cuomo is doing in New York city?" and it kind of was eye-opening. I really don't. I wish I paid more attention to local news, local politics, and perhaps check-in on international news on a weekly basis. The internet changed all this. When I was growing up, my dad read local newspaper daily. National and international news were briefly covered in the local paper. He'd…

> "Why do you care what Andrew Cuomo is doing in New York city?" In and of itself, I don't. Unfortunately, the local politicians toe the party line and ape the Big City / Big State politicians, the Cuomos and the Garcettis of the world. Suppose you could paint it at some level as "know thy enemy" (pardon the abrasiveness of the wording) because those states are something of a test bed for what to expect from the loca…

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