1---
 2template:
 3url: dont-news
 4title: You don't need news
 5subtitle: My hot 'n' spicy take on "news" today
 6date: 2020-06-21
 7---
 8
 9News -- the never ending feed of information pertaining to "current
10events", politics, trivia, and other equally useless junk. News today is
11literally just this: "<big name person> did/said <dumb thing>!",
12"<group> protests against <bad thing>!", and so on. Okay, shit's going
13on in this world. Another day, another thing to be `$FEELING` about.
14
15Now here's a question for you: do you remember what news you consumed
16yesterday? The day before? Last week? Heck no! Maybe some major
17headlines, but really, what did you gain from learning that information?
18Must've been interesting to read _at that_ time. Hence, news, by
19virtue of its "newness", is given importance -- and get this, it isn't
20even important enough for you to bother remembering it for a few days.
21
22News is entertainment. Quick gratification that lasts a day, at max.
23
24## actionable news
25
26So what is useful news, then? I think I'll go out on a limb here, and
27say "anything that is actionable". By that I mean anything that you can
28physically affect / information that you can actually put to use. Again,
29there are probably edge-cases and this isn't a rule that fits all, but
30it's a decent principle to follow.
31
32As an example, to readers living outside of the US, news regarding
33police brutality & the Black Lives Matter movement are unactionable.
34I'm not saying those problems don't exist or don't matter, but _what_
35are you really doing to help the cause? Sending thoughts and prayers?
36Posting angrily on Instagram? Tweeting about it? Stop, and think for
37yourself if these things actually make any difference. Your time might
38be better invested in doing something else.
39
40## other problems
41
42There are other, more concerning problems with modern news -- it is no
43longer purely objective. The sad state of news / reporting today is it's
44inherently biased. I mean political bias, of course. All news is either
45left-leaning or right-leaning, and narratives are developed to fit their
46political stance. This is essentially propaganda. Today's news _is_
47propaganda. If anything, this should be reason enough to avoid it.
48
49## but I compare multiple sources!
50
51Okay, so you read the same thing written by CNN, BBC, The New York
52Times, etc.? Do you realize how much time you wasted doing this?
53Ultimately to what end -- to forget about it by the next day, and do it
54all over again. What a dull, braindead process.
55
56## won't I be ignorant then?
57
58If you think keeping up with current events makes you intellectually
59superior somehow...boy are you wrong. Do something that actually
60stimulates your gray matter. But, here's the thing, if the "news" is big
61enough, you're bound to come across it anyway! You might hear your
62friend discuss it, or see it on Twitter, so on and so forth. How you
63process it thereafter is what matters.
64
65Give it a thought. Imagine if all that social media, news, and general
66internet noise didn't clog your head. I think it'll be much nicer. You
67might not, and that's okay. Mail your thoughts or @ me on the fedi -- I'd 
68like to hear them.