Aaron Swartz wrote a blog post about the news[1] and just how terrible it is for the brain. Reading his post had a major impact on me—since then I have always thought differently about the time I spend online. It’s interesting how people, including myself, try to justify various addictions. How am I supposed to stay informed about important topics without the news? How do I know how to help people in need without kno…
Man, I don't get it. News is bad for you so become deliberately ignorant? Don't get distracted by the world so you can work more? It's like saying traffic lights distract you from driving.
If it's truly important, it will filter to you naturally.
If you’re looking for a ‘lean’ source of news (just the facts, no commentary) try Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events (RSS feed available)
Kids survived perfectly fine in the past without their parents being available 24/7.
Many summer camps require that you be available to retrieve your kid if e.g. they start showing Covid symptoms. I'd love to drop them off and forget about it, believe me.
But you can still let these people contact you, just not real-time. An hour or two delay should be perfectly acceptable. When they're on camp far away, does it really matter?
Many summer camps require that you be available to retrieve your kid if e.g. they start showing Covid symptoms. I'd love to drop them off and forget about it, believe me.
But you can still let these people contact you, just not real-time. An hour or two delay should be perfectly acceptable. When they're on camp far away, does it really matter?
I've done this with YouTube and it's been extraordinarily effective for me. Without the history associated with my account, the recommendation engine just shows me the default junk, preventing me from falling down rabbit holes when I just want to watch some video. For keeping in touch with channels that I still want to follow, I've subscribed to them via RSS. If you need an extra push to enforce that you only use pri…
We sound like casino addicts who voluntarily try to be banned from casinos. At least we’re only losing time, not money. But we’re still losing health, by staying in bed too much because of social media…
time is more valuable than money, we lose out big by getting addicted to nonstop videos.
The world moves faster than experts write books. The US has an important election coming up in a few months. Regardless of which part of the political spectrum a person is on there are issues most will care about a great deal that will be extremely impacted by the outcomes of the elections. Issues that are way too recent to get coverage in books written by experts. Like it or not, engagement with civic society requir…
Sure, but how many people are looking up congressional voting records, examining budgets, and reading thousands of pages of court decisions and the text of proposed legislation to form honest, independent opinions? It sure seems like most people use the internet and tv/cable news to reenforce their red/blue preference by watching shows or reading articles/posts that focus on how horrible blue/red is. Even for promine…
That's literally what journalists do. At least good ones. The entire point of this thread seems to be that a lot of journalism is low quality and pandering to emotional responses, which is certainly true. But the solution isn't to just shut yourself off. If you read the NY Times, Washington Post, maybe long-form stuff in the The Atlantic, New Yorker, Economist and listen/read to NPR and local public media you'd be well-informed and only feel outrage if something outrageous happens.
Aaron Swartz wrote a blog post about the news[1] and just how terrible it is for the brain. Reading his post had a major impact on me—since then I have always thought differently about the time I spend online. It’s interesting how people, including myself, try to justify various addictions. How am I supposed to stay informed about important topics without the news? How do I know how to help people in need without kno…
> There are much, much better ways than reading CNN/NYTimes every day.
Reading those once a day is actually pretty good, let's say at a dedicated time. In contrast to many-times-a-day-let-me-just-check-the-app. The latter is just causing dopamine rushes. The former keeps you informed.
More time to play in white water river parks and more time well wasted on ski lifts. I sometimes chat with tourists and listen when they tell me what is important to them. 'Deliberately ignorant' is your value judgment. Spend some time in rural eastern Europe, and the perspective changes for the better. Media propaganda is simply unimportant.
I don't understand this at all. Work and family restrict my travel. Reading news on my phone is inherently portable. And I'm not sure what visiting rural Easter Europe is supposed to prove. A lot of it is engulfed in war and I can't imagine those people are better off being completely ignorant of what Russia is doing. Certainly many of them are to everyone else's detriment. Media propaganda is obviously a bad thing,…
"Media propaganda is obviously a bad thing, but reading credible news isn't."
I would tend to agree with you but since Covid hysteria I do not believe in mainstream media anymore. So that’s an issue because I’m not able to find credible news anymore.
Man, I don't get it. News is bad for you so become deliberately ignorant? Don't get distracted by the world so you can work more? It's like saying traffic lights distract you from driving.
There's a lot of wiggle room between sane consumption and addiction. And addiction is becoming the norm. I'd add that even if you were to consume no news at all, you'd still get the summary of it one way or another. I'll now continue with my hot take: being informed, even being an expert, on anything outside your field of work is overrated, if not useless. Say you've been following the recent war in great depth. Or t…
You'll have witnessed history unfold in front of your very own eyes.
You'll know the difference between what the history books will claim 20 years from now and the public debate shift based on that, and what you've actually witnessed.
Granted, you are (likely) not actually on the ground where the tanks and rockets and soldiers meet, but you are another layer or two closer to being a witness of history. Which you are not if you ignore it.
Maybe. Maybe not. But no matter what those other people do, they’ll never ever be able to get more youthful, energetic years with their children and (hopefully) grandchildren. All that money and even Elon can’t buy time. I had kids relatively young for a yuppie male (27) and while that was 100% the “right time” I would have done it earlier if I had known how great they are.
I’m really struggling with this right now. I’m turning 33 next month and really want children. I have endless memories of my dad and grandfathers teaching me amazing lessons and being best/strongest men I have ever been around. I want to fulfill that role that for someone! We didn’t have much money but camping or diy building is something fondly reminisce on and made me who I am. My partner is 25 and is not decided o…
I was in the same situation, except she wanted kids and I do not. So I broke up with her.