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News is bad for you

theguardian.com

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Re: News is bad for you

#61

Post by mattfenwick »

nathan_long wrote: post #29

The biggest problem with news is that it's about newness and rarity. Whereas what we actually need to know is mostly not new. Eg, "man eaten by alligator" is a billion times less important than "decades of data say you will likely get heart disease." Another serious problem with news is its schedule. A daily paper must publish something every day, even if nothing important has happened. An hourly newscast is worse. M…

Your post reminds me of "The Truth" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_(novel)) by Terry Pratchett, in which the characters invent newspapers and deal with these issues. Hilarity ensues.

Re: News is bad for you

#62

Post by gnur »

oskarth wrote: post #20

While I agree with the sentiment, Rolf Dobelli himself is a plagiarist. This whole reasoning is basically stolen from Nassim Taleb. http://fooledbyrandomness.com/dobelli.htm http://blog.chabris.com/2013/09/similarities-between-rolf-do... EDIT: For another take on not reading the news, see http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews

No wonder he doesn't want you to read news :)

Re: News is bad for you

#63

Post by aaronem »

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?

Are you suggesting there is some point? That there's real value, to oneself or to anyone else, in repeatedly dismaying oneself over things which one does not have, and cannot obtain, the power to affect?

Re: News is bad for you

#64

Post by mailshanx »

DanielBMarkham wrote: post #2

I've been trying an experiment for the last year or two. I have an app that collects commentary, tech and science stories from across the web. (Recently I added news, but that was a mistake) I find I stay just as informed reading commentary, where I'm purposefully being manipulated, as I do reading news. In fact the news is better, as various authors advance various personal theories they've been working on for weeks…

You have piqued my curiosity, your app sounds really interesting! Can you share more details about it? What sources do you aggregate from, how do you filter your stories (manually / statistically)? Actually i've been wanting to build something similar too!

Re: News is bad for you

#65

Post by base698 »

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…

You've entirely missed the point. News is bad because it focuses on the sensational and misses the actionable. Ie bitcoin articles focus on the speculative aspect and not that it's a more useful, less friction method of payment. Business shows focus on day to day movement instead of broad sweeping trends that are game changers.

The medium is partly the problem.

Re: News is bad for you

#66

Post by aaronem »

nashashmi wrote: post #45

If you were ever part of an MLM network, or quixtar or amway, or anybody who was ever big on 'selling' things, you would know better than to read the news. A typical newspaper has a ginormous amount of negative articles. HN is different though.

You assume, I think without justification, that someone sufficiently ill-equipped that he cannot avoid being suckered into a Ponzi scheme, is nonetheless capable of recognizing the deleterious effect of excessive news consumption. (I've known a few such people myself -- they were decent enough, mostly, but generally encumbered with a regrettable excess of credulity.)

Re: News is bad for you

#67

Post by spenuke »

JeffJenkins wrote: post #52
furyg3 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this only a soundcloud thing or is this available somewhere as an (offline) podcast? Soundcloud link: http://l.economist.com/204894&t=v1g49i1qmlsq6a25ld8r6j8u40

You have to be a subscriber, and then it's available on their website: http://www.economist.com/audio-edition If you just want to read The World This Week it's available online for free: http://www.economist.com/printedition/

To be clear, since I can't see without being a subscriber, the "audio edition" is different from the "Economist radio" linked on Soundcloud?

Re: News is bad for you

#68

Post by aaronem »

coldcode wrote: post #24

Happier at the moment but possibly a lot madder when you find out how terrible the future might become.

Which is an excellent opportunity to study the practical application of the valuable old saw: "What can't be cured must be endured."

Re: News is bad for you

#69

Post by scotch_drinker »

base698 wrote: post #55
oskarth wrote: post #20

While I agree with the sentiment, Rolf Dobelli himself is a plagiarist. This whole reasoning is basically stolen from Nassim Taleb. http://fooledbyrandomness.com/dobelli.htm http://blog.chabris.com/2013/09/similarities-between-rolf-do... EDIT: For another take on not reading the news, see http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews

So? It's a summary article with the high level points easy digestible by current news addicts. It's A lot easier to get someone to read this article than Fooled by Randomness.

And the irony of that truth just made my head explode.

Re: News is bad for you

#70

Post by protonfish »

Aqueous wrote: post #44

If knowing the reality of what happens in the world leads to fear and aggression then perhaps we should be angry and afraid? We can't just shut reality out if we don't like the emotional state it puts us in.

The reality of what happens is all around me - I observe it directly. What is on mass media is information that other people want to promote to further their own agenda. Whether it is for ratings, to get us to buy their product or to further political aims it does not matter (we all have our own motivations) but it is clearly NOT reality. The fact that you confuse the two is sad and frightening.
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