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News is bad for you

theguardian.com

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191–200 of 239 posts

Re: News is bad for you

#191

Post by base698 »

marcosdumay wrote: post #174
base698 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If that is the case, then I used a bad example, but I really don't think I did. Off topic, but... I recently bought a days usage from put.io with bitcoin. They got their money instantly, I don't have to worry about a hacker getting my credit card info or using more bitcoins in my wallet than I gave. I didn't have to enter a bunch of personal information to prove my identity.

> I didn't have to enter a bunch of personal information to prove my identity. You are wrong here. You did exactly that (a bitcoin transaction is that), just in a way you are not used to.

Yes, but I didn't have to fill out a two page form, I clicked send in my bitcoin client.

Re: News is bad for you

#193

Post by satyampujari »

because of the fact that we discovered the news that news is bad on hacker news, I think (hacker) news is actually cool. This should make another news. Too much news for the day or may be its the lambdas on my screen: lambda f: (lambda x: x(x))(lambda y: f(lambda v: y(y)(v)))

Re: News is bad for you

#194

Post by cconroy »

grellas wrote: post #172
tokenadult wrote: post #17

Whether news is bad for you or not probably depends more than a little on what the source is. I don't watch television—for years our TV was in a box in a closet, brought out mostly just for watching the Olympics. But I do look at Google News and try to train it to give me mostly long-form suggestions about science and world issues from diverse sources with professional reporting and editing. That helps. The claim tha…

Yes, indeed, heartily concur. "News" is nothing more than a report of events potentially affecting our lives: if a particular report is intelligent, trustworthy, and helpful to our understanding of what we need to do to better our lives, it is something to be valued and even on occasion treasured; if, in contrast, it is nothing more than what amounts to a reporter's trick for grabbing attention or an attempt to pass…

A "giant filter" over google news still does not cut at the root. I think the problem is the perverse use of this medium (i.e. computer-web system). It is a medium that is not sufficiently understood by most, or perhaps any person yet. From reading (Englebart, et al) it seems this medium would be best used as a tool for collaboration.

Unfortunately most people (including myself) don't deeply reflect on a new medium/technology, to figure how best to yield it to amplify human intelligence (or make human progress).

I argue "cutting cord" for news via TV and the web may be the best thing to do now until more is understood of its affects on humans. People don't realize that it is the medium that is the problem and there is no amount of "filter" that will help them and they suffer unnecessarily.

Re: News is bad for you

#195

Post by mongol »

JeffJenkins wrote: post #8

For anyone who isn't ready to completely turn off the news spigot, consider switching to a weekly (or monthly) source of news. I get all of my (non-HN) news from The Economist's audio edition. It's released weekly and they have a section right at the start about big things happening in business/politics around the world in the last week. It's no more than a couple minutes to scan, and 10-20 in normal speed audio. The…

That section is really great. If you would read nothing else at all, and just add one thing, that would be the first thing to add. What I miss is something similar on a more local level. Both local-local, but also for my country. I even thought of doing a start-up at this (produce a one page PDF weekly to complement this spread).

Re: News is bad for you

#196

Post by mongol »

cschmidt wrote: post #98
JeffJenkins wrote: post #8

For anyone who isn't ready to completely turn off the news spigot, consider switching to a weekly (or monthly) source of news. I get all of my (non-HN) news from The Economist's audio edition. It's released weekly and they have a section right at the start about big things happening in business/politics around the world in the last week. It's no more than a couple minutes to scan, and 10-20 in normal speed audio. The…

I also love the Economist audio edition. I listen to it during my commute, and mostly get through it each week. It kept me sane on a horrible commute with my previous job. They have a separate digital subscription, if you just want the website and audio edition. It is included in a print subscription as well. You can buy a single week, if you want to try it out. Highly recommended if you want to ignore the advice of…

I think new subscribers must choose, print and digital are not included in each other, but there is a more expensive option for both.

Re: News is bad for you

#197

Post by nelmaven »

I don't watch TV news anymore, it's always same thing ever and ever: economy is bad, protests, war, that team won that game, here's the weather, a disaster just happened and thousand died and in the last 2 minutes is when they show something cheerful.

Re: News is bad for you

#198

Post by memracom »

untog wrote: post #51
AlexandrB wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I know a lot of people don't like the doom & gloom of news. But it's needed. I recently discussed with someone who doesn't consume news about the NSA revelations. They were shocked. They said "why didn't anyone tell me?" So I've been following the NSA news closely. But I'm not American! What actionable information has following the minute of the NSA revelations provided me? I can't influence the US government in an…

What actionable information has following the minute of the NSA revelations provided me? Encrypt your data better, perhaps. But that's kind of besides the point - are you suggesting that there is no point knowing about things you have no control over?

How about: Ask your political representatives for their position on surveillance of citizens and vote accordingly.

Re: News is bad for you

#199

Post by hsitz »

leokun wrote: post #146
PsychopompPoet wrote: post #77

"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers." Thomas Jefferson "Once a newspaper touches a story, the facts are lost forever, even to the protagonists." Norman Mailer "Newspapers are unable, seemingly, to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilisation." George Bernard Shaw "In the real world, the right thing never happens in the right pl…

> "The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers." Thomas Jefferson To be fair news papers are much different now than they were then. A history of newspapers in America will show you journalistic credibility was hard to come by early on.

I get that newspapers and the journalistic profession used to be different, and in many ways better, than they are now. Still, doesn't it strike you as interesting that brilliant, thoughtful people living at at the same time as those "better" newspapers made criticisms similar to those being made today? Thinking too poorly of the present and too well of the past is a common error. Or, on a related not, "There's nothing new under the sun."

Re: News is bad for you

#200

Post by lukifer »

vojant wrote: post #104
thisiswrong wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

''Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.'' Oscar Wilde

It's so ironic to use quotation in this case.

The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
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