News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier • Hacker News Board

Re: News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier

#21

Post by ams6110 » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 1:28 AM UTC

twerquie wrote: post #12

ctdonath wrote: post #6

Any suggestions for a good neutral concise must-know news source?

Though there is no such thing as a neutral source, http://www.nytimes.com/

You have got to be kidding

Re: News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier

#22

Post by pattisapu » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 1:29 AM UTC

webwielder wrote: post #7

See also "I Hate the News" by Aaron Swartz http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews

Re: News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier

#23

Post by zampano » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 1:30 AM UTC

On the other hand, when my own personal problems seem immense, sometimes it can give me a lot of perspective to see the problems the world as a whole has to face. Surely in doses too large or too often, it can be a major detriment to my ability to work (especially when there is a news "crisis" going on, real or imagined). However, I'd say overall the net effect of regularly ingesting the news has been to make me feel closer to my fellow human beings than before I read the news often and had only the things and people in my immediate surroundings to ponder about.

Re: News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier

#24

Post by DanielBMarkham » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 1:31 AM UTC

I've come to a similar conclusion. Because news emphasizes the dramatic over the contextual, they're always providing me poor information in an even poorer context. That's just the way the business works.

I've done something weird, though: I switched to plaintext commentary. So each day I scan my personal news site, http://newspaper23.com. It only does commentary.

I find that by scanning the titles I can see what news items are hot in the world without getting so wrapped up in them. If I like, I can always read commentaries with opposing views on a particular issue. But the kicker is, somehow once the material is slanted, once I know it's spin, it no longer has the high level of emotional engagement. Writing an Op-Ed along the lines of "We must do X!" is simply a different art form than news fearmongering.

Seriously, if you haven't given up MSM news, you need to. That shit will rot your brain. It's crisis-of-the-hour stuff over there. And the pundits just make it worse.

Re: News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier

#25

Post by tippenein » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 1:34 AM UTC

"New has no explanatory power. News items are bubbles popping on the surface of a deeper world." Which news is this? weather.com has some rather shallow "news" but it's a pretty big blanket statement..

Re: News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier

#26

Post by bbbhn » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 1:37 AM UTC

ctdonath wrote: post #6

Any suggestions for a good neutral concise must-know news source?

No such thing as a neutral news source. The closet thing is a news aggregator which will expose you to a variety of different viewpoints.

For US political news realclearpolitics.com is pretty good. They also aggregate news on other topics but I haven't explored those personally.

Re: News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier

#27

Post by chinmoy » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 1:37 AM UTC

This blog post "The power of ignoring mainstream news" by Joel Gascoigne is also worth a read. http://joel.is/post/31582795753/the-power-of-ignoring-mainst...

Re: News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier

#28

Post by zarify » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 1:39 AM UTC

webwielder wrote: post #7

See also "I Hate the News" by Aaron Swartz http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews

Seems an odd thing for someone who was involved with RSS to write, considering that it lets you keep up with (selected) 'news' more effectively (sure, it might be the longer form stuff he says is more useful, but ultimately it lets you skim more individual articles which is the root of the problem).

I agree that most mass media news is a waste of time since you have no control over the stories or the level of detail. I think news via feed is a lot better; you have more power to investigate the things that actually matter to you.

Re: News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier

#29

Post by jugglinmike » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 1:40 AM UTC

Aqueous wrote: post #15

"News is Bad For you" by Guardian News. What's their angle here?

The real irony comes from the author's claims:

> Unlike reading books and long magazine articles (which > require thinking), we can swallow limitless quantities > of news flashes, which are bright-coloured candies for > the mind.

...and the manner of publication:

> This is an edited extract from an essay first published > at dobelli.com. The Art of Thinking Clearly: Better > Thinking, Better Decisions by Rolf Dobelli is published > by Sceptre, £9.99. Buy it for £7.99 at > guardianbookshop.co.uk

But there's a good case to be made for knowing your audience. In that sense, this version is actually much more likely to reach those who might be influenced by it.

Re: News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier

#30

Post by rurounijones » Mon, Apr 15, 2013, 1:43 AM UTC

ctdonath wrote: post #6

Any suggestions for a good neutral concise must-know news source?

I may be opening myself up to some flak here but I think it is generally accepted that the BBC is one of, if not the, least biased news source (Excepting climate change.)

Some of my friends swear by Al-Jazeera for non Middle-East news