Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I hate the news

aaronsw.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 75 posts

Re: I hate the news

#31

Post by mieubrisse »

frozenport wrote: post #9

Besides always having something to talk about when meeting with people, reading the news is an exercise in critical thinking and analysis. Distilling a narrative from various sources about remote subjects is a skill that is applicable to yourself. If you can understand the narratives you hear on you may gain the skills to understand your immediate circumstances. tl;dr Critical thinking is good for you!

I think this is the point I agree with the most on the topic. Though some - not "all"! - news may not be relevant to the reader (it's sheer impossibility to claim that absolutely nothing is relevant), I find it's important to apply analytical skills to situations which have widely local impact.

Re: I hate the news

#32

Post by mark-r »

A little OT, but seeing his posts end with "You should follow me on twitter here" makes me very sad. It's a constant reminder of what we'll miss.

Re: I hate the news

#33

Post by obstacle1 »

pscsbs wrote: post #6

I completely disagree with Aaron, but I respect his opinion. Reading the news is incredibly important, and it shapes your understanding of culture and circumstances outside your social bubble, which in turn affects your future social interactions.

>and it shapes your understanding of culture and circumstances outside your social bubble

This isn't really an argument against Aaron's position, because it is Aaron's position. News shapes your perception of culture and The World, which is a negative because it does so in a harmful way.

Re: I hate the news

#34

Post by propercoil »

I don't read news anymore (two years now), only watch tech shows in my "niche".

But some say perception is reality, so maybe it's smart to be in the know from time to time.

Re: I hate the news

#35

Post by thorum »

frozenport wrote: post #9

Besides always having something to talk about when meeting with people, reading the news is an exercise in critical thinking and analysis. Distilling a narrative from various sources about remote subjects is a skill that is applicable to yourself. If you can understand the narratives you hear on you may gain the skills to understand your immediate circumstances. tl;dr Critical thinking is good for you!

Reading the news is an exercise in critical thinking, but is it a better one than reading books? If you want to practice distilling a narrative from various sources, why not read several different books about history or science or philosophy instead?

Re: I hate the news

#36

Post by frozenport »

thorum wrote: post #35
frozenport wrote: post #9

Besides always having something to talk about when meeting with people, reading the news is an exercise in critical thinking and analysis. Distilling a narrative from various sources about remote subjects is a skill that is applicable to yourself. If you can understand the narratives you hear on you may gain the skills to understand your immediate circumstances. tl;dr Critical thinking is good for you!

Reading the news is an exercise in critical thinking, but is it a better one than reading books? If you want to practice distilling a narrative from various sources, why not read several different books about history or science or philosophy instead?

This is a hard question and in my initial post I wanted to write a paragraph rant about it.

I think there is a case for the similarity between the slow stream of aleatory snippets that characterize the websites like the New York Times and the way we receive information concerning our everyday lives. The way we get information in our lives is certainly granular, contains much noise, and is primarily observation. Novels are not granular with little noise. Philosophy is explanation and we may miss out on the initial gather steps. Although it would be fun to phrase this a testable hypothesis.

I think its a different kind of critical thinking.

Re: I hate the news

#37

Post by jrockway »

I think it's funny that the article about the news being irrelevant ends with the cliched tagline: "You should follow me on Twitter."

Because that would be relevant.

Re: I hate the news

#38

Post by askimto »

Felt the same way this morning when I caught a few minutes of This Week, covering the next "fiscal cliff", the lack of women in Obama's cabinet, and so on. What a waste of time.

Re: I hate the news

#39

Post by halviti »

FrojoS wrote: post #17

"I think following the news is a waste of time." I'm sure this plaid a role in him being so productive. But I do think its my obligation to read the news. Even if it makes me less productive. Without the news I would have never learned about Aarons hack and his trial. Of course, just knowing the news is not enough. One has to act. In the case of Aaron, we didn't act.

You missed the point of the article entirely.

Let's say you knew of Aaron's plight. Would this news have changed your life for the better by you getting this knowledge the day it happened?

Re: I hate the news

#40

Post by halviti »

jrockway wrote: post #37

I think it's funny that the article about the news being irrelevant ends with the cliched tagline: "You should follow me on Twitter." Because that would be relevant.

Comparing aarons twitter feed to cnn in this context; to me it actually would be more relevant.
Post reply on HN