Stop Watching the News (2019) • Hacker News Board

Re: Stop Watching the News (2019)

#131

Post by andarleen » Wed, May 27, 2020, 9:20 AM UTC

> When was the last time you watched the news and thought, “thank God I saw that. Let me go take action.”?

Well I did read about covid early on an nearly bought masks in preparation (didnt do it because WHO said it’s fine).

I read a lot about the UK government so I can tell when to buy and when to sell british pounds. Doom and gloom on the guardian or dailymail? It’ll go down. Good (fake or exaggerated) news on the dailymail? It’ll go up.

But indeed most news are just a distraction. And most news websites are a load of BS with titles meant to drive page traffic up.

Re: Stop Watching the News (2019)

#132

Post by Hoenoe » Wed, May 27, 2020, 9:41 AM UTC

I see know one here defining what news is. “News is all about sensational, exceptional, negative current events – and those five words capture precisely thats wrong with it.” - the Correspondent

News doesn’t teach you much about how the world and things work because it focuses on exceptions.

Here is a good piece about it from the Correspondent who run their news platform on the same thought.

https://thecorrespondent.com/22/the-problem-with-real-news-a...

Re: Stop Watching the News (2019)

#133

Post by HeadsUpHigh » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:52 AM UTC

TulliusCicero wrote: post #4

> If that’s the case, what’re you actually getting from the news? Aggravated? Wound up? Certainly not informed about anything important. This seems like the author is explicitly arguing for the tragedy of the commons. Yes, any one individual getting 'wound up' doesn't accomplish much, but the public 'at large' getting wound up can and does effect real change sometimes. Like, it's very easy to point to a variety of to…

The entirety of human civilization and progression up to the last decade or so happened without being constantly outraged by the news and social media. At some point I have to choose my own health over whatever people think they are achieving by getting pissed off.

Re: Stop Watching the News (2019)

#134

Post by [deleted] » Wed, May 27, 2020, 12:19 PM UTC

wayupthere wrote: post #110

tobltobs wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doing a Google search 'site:reuters.com "far right"' I couldn't find any hit where the "far-right" would be inappropriate. Could you give an example where Reuters is left-leaning in your opinion.

I know it's hard for people to stomach. But look at the difference in the number of results for far left vs far right and you can see the bias.

[deleted]

Re: Stop Watching the News (2019)

#135

Post by untog » Wed, May 27, 2020, 12:31 PM UTC

HeadsUpHigh wrote: post #133

TulliusCicero wrote: post #4

> If that’s the case, what’re you actually getting from the news? Aggravated? Wound up? Certainly not informed about anything important. This seems like the author is explicitly arguing for the tragedy of the commons. Yes, any one individual getting 'wound up' doesn't accomplish much, but the public 'at large' getting wound up can and does effect real change sometimes. Like, it's very easy to point to a variety of to…

The entirety of human civilization and progression up to the last decade or so happened without being constantly outraged by the news and social media. At some point I have to choose my own health over whatever people think they are achieving by getting pissed off.

That’s not true at all. TV, and newspapers before that have inspired outrage when they expose wrongdoing for a very long time now. No, it’s not constant like social media, but it’s still been a powerful force. There’s a reason the printing press is regarded as such an important invention!

Re: Stop Watching the News (2019)

#136

Post by beaker52 » Wed, May 27, 2020, 1:39 PM UTC

A few years ago I thought I was noble reading the news and trying to read between the lines on global affairs. I also realised I was bitter and angry about what was going on in the world, and that more people weren't prepared to learn and act on what they read, however which way they could.

So one day, I just stopped and my life has become immeasurably better. I do now have to awkwardly say "oh, no I hadn't heard about that" when someone talks to me about some insignificant world event, but it doesn't matter to me. Of course, you still hear about the major things, but I try not to concern myself with things that Trump says or does. It doesn't add to my life in any way, it only detracts from it.

Would definitely ask yourself the question, does keeping up to date with the news really add to your life? And that's all the author is really suggesting.

Re: Stop Watching the News (2019)

#137

Post by downerending » Wed, May 27, 2020, 3:31 PM UTC

Barrin92 wrote: post #130

downerending wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a large scale, perhaps so. But in terms of what I individually can accomplish, the answer is "nothing". The chances that my vote, my petition, my call to a politician, my letter to a newspaper, my post on social media, will affect the world in any way are infinitesimally small. Weighed against near certain negative mental health effects, it makes a lot of sense to just check out. Or at least to stop spending more…

>The chances that my vote, my petition, my call to a politician, my letter to a newspaper, my post on social media, will affect the world in any way are infinitesimally small they are but that's not actually participating in politics. Participating in politics can mean joining a party yourself, joining a city council. Running for a local office. Participating in a local activist campaign, and so on. The author's thes…

> Participating in politics can mean joining a party yourself, joining a city council. Running for a local office. Participating in a local activist campaign, and so on.

By my estimate, those would also have an infinitesimal chance of significantly changing the world, compared to just staying home and pushing my kid on a swing.

If that makes me an "idiot", so be it.

(And if it makes you feel any better, that should make it easier for you to push politics in your direction.)

Re: Stop Watching the News (2019)

#138

Post by GoodJokes » Wed, May 27, 2020, 5:10 PM UTC

jumbopapa wrote: post #111

zests wrote: post #106

Almost all news is a race to the bottom and full of dark patterns. I'm quite surprised to see how many people here are defending the news. I see people who seem to have extreme anxiety caused by the news. Constantly refreshing NYTimes or Twitter. Its not healthy. Read slow news. The article mentions local news which I agree with wholeheartedly. The Economist comes out once a month. There's balanced coverage and no cl…

The economist comes out weekly.

The economist is mainstream fast news.

Re: Stop Watching the News (2019)

#139

Post by zachware » Wed, May 27, 2020, 7:25 PM UTC

What this points to is the concept of distilled vs undistilled information. When X happens it often takes a short or long period of time for X to appear in context of the thing that's actually newsworthy.

That GE stock is down 1% at 2pm isn't useful unless you are an professional active trader. But the stock's trend line and the company's financials could, over a few days, point to a story you can take action on.

We didn't evolve to receive this level of information flow. Our brains think it's all relevant.

My strategy is to read a summary of sorts on Sundays, a paper copy of The Economist. It's not all encompassing and sometimes has a bit of bias, but it's the only weekly I've found that comprehensively sums up the stream of events that happened rather that generally line up in some sort of context. I've found that useful.