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Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#11

Post by JimtheCoder »

sylens wrote: post #3

I was recently listening to a podcast recapping a television show set in the early 2000s, where a current college aged student basically said "I wish I had the experience of being a teenager in that time period - it seemed much simpler as you weren't aware of every bad thing that was happening around the world" And that's really the way it used to be. It was even better before 24 hour news networks, as your evening n…

"I was recently listening to a podcast recapping a television show set in the early 2000s, where a current college aged student basically said "I wish I had the experience of being a teenager in that time period - it seemed much simpler as you weren't aware of every bad thing that was happening around the world"

I'm sad that kids these days did not get to experience things like the Sopranos, otherwise known as the best TV series ever.

One hour. Once per week. No binge watching.

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#13

Post by barbazoo »

starttoaster wrote: post #7
sylens wrote: post #3

I was recently listening to a podcast recapping a television show set in the early 2000s, where a current college aged student basically said "I wish I had the experience of being a teenager in that time period - it seemed much simpler as you weren't aware of every bad thing that was happening around the world" And that's really the way it used to be. It was even better before 24 hour news networks, as your evening n…

> There was no need to follow the result of every individual rocket volley in the Ukraine or each individual comment from a politician. This is really it. Who has the time or the emotional bandwidth to spare for following all of this? I was talking to somebody about the overturning of affirmative action, and their response to me was basically "if you haven't read the Supreme Court opinions on this matter, we can't ha…

I wonder if they meant that you need a deeper understanding to have a meaningful conversation. Talking about what "the news" presents to you only scratches the surface and only covers what "the news" wants you to pay attention to. In that sense, only consuming "the news" could be considered a waste of time.

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#14

Post by brushfoot »

I not only avoid it, I've added news sites that I used to read to my hosts list, redirecting to localhost so I can't compulsively check them in the middle of the day anymore.

Personally, I think Aaron Swartz was right [1]: I feel better off, emotionally and mentally, reading a monthly magazine or an annual book than trying to absorb every tidbit of clickbait dished out by the view-driven media. Monthly content is generally more nuanced and often more actionable, and whatever social media furor accompanied each small part of it, as it developed, is omitted for being the tempest in a teapot that it was.

[1]: http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#15

Post by awelxtr »

sylens wrote: post #3

I was recently listening to a podcast recapping a television show set in the early 2000s, where a current college aged student basically said "I wish I had the experience of being a teenager in that time period - it seemed much simpler as you weren't aware of every bad thing that was happening around the world" And that's really the way it used to be. It was even better before 24 hour news networks, as your evening n…

This is the reason I receive every morning a notification with a link to the pdf version of a newspaper: to get an abridged recap of news like in the old times.

Sometimes to keep your sanity you need help from others.

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#18

Post by mywacaday »

24 hour news stations should be banned along with on the hour news. The constant feed of content edited to poke our serotonin receptors serve no real benefit. News 3 or 4 times a day should be plenty, very very few news stories require blow by blow coverage. The news has just turned into another thing to buy/sell our limited attention for profit.

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#19

Post by jcfrei »

The problem is that people don't just ignore the mainstream news media. A lot of them also turn to fringe channels that peddle an alternative view of the world that's more affirmative of their own worldview - without being more truthful. It's going to be a huge challenge to every democracy because people will fundamentally disagree about basic facts.

Re: Do you avoid the news? You’re in growing company

#20

Post by networkchad »

whycome wrote: post #10

The definition of what "the news" is has become blurry... Are the articles I read on HN considered 'news'? (I mean, it's right there in the title!) Is this article 'news'? The article talks about 'traditional' sources of newspapers, NPR, MSNBC -- is there a certain type of 'news' that people are starting to avoid?

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