I stopped getting the newspaper more than a year ago, and have consciously reduced using Facebook (which was already limited to specific topics related to "grea

I stopped getting the newspaper more than a year ago, and have consciously reduced using Facebook (which was already limited to specific topics related to "greater good", to put it in words that don't expose too much). Since I don't have cable at home, there's nothing blaring in the background with a regurgitation of the same stuff and flashy animations about some "breaking news" that's mostly of no practical value. Many a times it just increases frustration and stress over things you don't generally care about or can't really do something about. I don't mind not having anything to gossip about with co-workers. There's enough going on in general anyway, without mainstream news adding to it. I've seen that life does actually get a bit difficult in certain ways when one doesn't keep up with news, especially anything related to taxation and other policies (related to real estate, automobiles). So I still check a few online news sites once every two days or so for the headlines alone. In general, staying away from these sources reduces what I feel as "internal agitation" that usually bleeds into many other activities (while being in the background). I would anyday recommend people to get off standard cable TV and also news, and instead making choices that are a bit more involved. The mental peace thus obtained alone is worth it! P.S.: Slightly related is giving up surfing the web itself, which my mind (that's been modified to have a low attention span due to years on the web) would probably benefit a lot more from.