I stopped viewing all news media companies five years ago. Real news will get to you pretty quickly by other means such as HN which I still frequent a couple of hours a week. Modern news is re-hashing even the trivial in the worst possible way and inviting the extreme idiots on both sides to fight it out in the comment section, I can honestly say I am missing nothing and still find myself informed and happier.
It is hard to abstain from news completely. The mainstream media is becoming increasingly like social media, feeding on shared sentiment and vague feelings of outrage.
If you watch the news, you'd think the sky is falling.
TOOL - Vicarious
"Eye on the TV, 'cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavor it happens to be like
Killed by the husband, drowned by the ocean
Shot by his own son, she used the poison in his tea
Then kissed him goodbye, that's my kind of story
It's no fun 'til someone dies
Don't look at me like I am a monster
Frown out your one face, but with the other
Stare like a junkie into the TV
Stare like a zombie while the mother holds her child
Watches him die, hands to the sky, crying
"Why, oh, why?"
'Cause I need to watch things die
From a distance
Vicariously, I live while the whole world dies"
Maybe it's like a drug? I never read/watched news in my entire life and find it pretty easy. It's impossible to completely shield yourself from getting the news at all, which is a bit unfortunate. I feel I would lead a happier life if I didn't get to know who the president of the USA was, for example. It's completely meaningless knowledge anyway. But for some reason most people are really interested and will tell you, even if you never ask.
Yes but very possible. I also did it during the latest once the latest election was decided.
Removed all news sites but also stopped looking at facebook, news on youtube, and the biggest one was reddit.
Reddit really affected me. It was so easy to read -> become angry -> engage.
I choose to be less informed to save my mental health, I know I'm way happier.
It really isn’t. I haven’t watched the news on tv in probably 20 years, I haven’t had any social media accounts ever, and at this point I use the internet as part of my day job, to do my job.
It is absolutely amazing to be so disconnected and I encourage everyone to try it. People at work tell me about interesting things happening in the world, and my role and my spouses role at her job have the (mis) fortune of keeping me informed about the goings on in the wider world. But there is no spin.
Just visiting this site means you're inundated with a lot of news about AI or tech companies, and politics pertaining to those matters. It's hard to remove politics from issues. I think only the most niche of communities avoid politics completely.
Same, I've learned if something is important enough I'll hear about it anyway
The news is virtually never important enough. And my definition of “important enough” is “actionable”.
There’s a pervasive idea, mostly among more educated people, that keeping up with political news is civic minded and responsible. I’m not sure if I’m just cynical or small minded but I just don’t see the point. Getting a daily blast of topics to worry about that I have no control over doesn’t seem like a good use of this life journey.