21 June, 2020

You don't need news

My hot 'n' spicy take on "news" today

   News -- the never ending feed of information pertaining to "current
   events", politics, trivia, and other equally useless junk. News today
   is literally just this: "<big name person> did/said <dumb
   thing>!", "<group> protests against <bad thing>!", and
   so on. Okay, shit's going on in this world. Another day, another thing
   to be $FEELING about.

   Now here's a question for you: do you remember what news you consumed
   yesterday? The day before? Last week? Heck no! Maybe some major
   headlines, but really, what did you gain from learning that
   information? Must've been interesting to read at that time. Hence,
   news, by virtue of its "newness", is given importance -- and get this,
   it isn't even important enough for you to bother remembering it for a
   few days.

   News is entertainment. Quick gratification that lasts a day, at max.

actionable news

   So what is useful news, then? I think I'll go out on a limb here, and
   say "anything that is actionable". By that I mean anything that you can
   physically affect / information that you can actually put to use.
   Again, there are probably edge-cases and this isn't a rule that fits
   all, but it's a decent principle to follow.

   As an example, to readers living outside of the US, news regarding
   police brutality & the Black Lives Matter movement are unactionable.
   I'm not saying those problems don't exist or don't matter, but what are
   you really doing to help the cause? Sending thoughts and prayers?
   Posting angrily on Instagram? Tweeting about it? Stop, and think for
   yourself if these things actually make any difference. Your time might
   be better invested in doing something else.

other problems

   There are other, more concerning problems with modern news -- it is no
   longer purely objective. The sad state of news / reporting today is
   it's inherently biased. I mean political bias, of course. All news is
   either left-leaning or right-leaning, and narratives are developed to
   fit their political stance. This is essentially propaganda. Today's
   news is propaganda. If anything, this should be reason enough to avoid
   it.

but I compare multiple sources!

   Okay, so you read the same thing written by CNN, BBC, The New York
   Times, etc.? Do you realize how much time you wasted doing this?
   Ultimately to what end -- to forget about it by the next day, and do it
   all over again. What a dull, braindead process.

won't I be ignorant then?

   If you think keeping up with current events makes you intellectually
   superior somehow...boy are you wrong. Do something that actually
   stimulates your gray matter. But, here's the thing, if the "news" is
   big enough, you're bound to come across it anyway! You might hear your
   friend discuss it, or see it on Twitter, so on and so forth. How you
   process it thereafter is what matters.

   Give it a thought. Imagine if all that social media, news, and general
   internet noise didn't clog your head. I think it'll be much nicer. You
   might not, and that's okay. Mail your thoughts or @ me on the fedi --
   I'd like to hear them.