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Ask HN: Why do you read news?

21 points by jaredwiener 8y ago

What drives you to check the news, read an article, watch a video, or however else you consume news? What do you get out of it? Does it vary based on what kind of news it is? (i.e. business news vs. political vs. tech blog?)

AudioBookKing 8y ago
Fear and greed.
- jaredwiener 8y ago
  Serious question -- but like looking for an edge in investments/business?
bsvalley 8y ago
Like Chris Sacca said a while back, news feeds should be a push and not a pull. Also, majority of the people read news in order to kill time, which is counter intuitive. I would think people would read news mostly to stay informed with what's going on in the world. So to answer your question(s): - Why people read news? based on current data (do a quick google search) it seems that people need to kill time. - Why would I read a specific article? Same as previous statement as well as personal interests in the moment - Why would I watch a video? In my case I watch more videos than your average person because I hate reading. It's just not efficient enough. So I'd most likely consume video news rather than articles. Why would I click on a specific video? This goes back to the 2 previous points...
- jaredwiener 8y ago
  I think what I'm asking is a little deeper. It's a question I'm wrestling with because I do it too -- I consider myself a news junkie. But WHY do we want to be informed? What good is it to know whats happening? Especially if its something happening far away to people I dont know -- I AM interested, but it doesnt make rational sense to me. I think it is a little more complicated than just wasting time. You can waste time in lots of ways -- so there has to be SOME draw to news.
  - mbrock 8y ago
    I think it has to do with the sense of participation in imagined communities (https://people.ucalgary.ca/~bakardji/community/imagined_communities.html https://people.ucalgary.ca/~bakardji/community/imagined_comm...). That's kind of why I read the news from my home country even though I don't live there anymore.
mikestew 8y ago
I read to remain an informed voter, and an informed investor. Don't care about the Kardashians enough to even look up how to spell their name. Don't care about popular sports (though I won't disparage those that like their "sportsball"). Nope, in my increasingly old age I care about which asshole needs to be voted out of office next time, and how can I make more money through capital investments. The rest is trivial noise, and perhaps even written to manipulate me. That's not to say I don't enjoy a naughty little look at the occasional personal interest story. Oh, okay, I'll just take a quick sneak and see who Tom Cruise is sleeping with. But the vast, vast majority of the time the front page of, say, the NYT will suffice.
- jaredwiener 8y ago
  This is really interesting, and makes perfect sense -- theres an actual, quantifiable value that youre getting. But if the NYT is all you need (and not to disparage them; they are a great news organization) then why are you on HN? Is there more that you are looking for here?
  - mikestew 8y ago
    then why are you on HN? Just because there's "news" in the title doesn't mean I consider it to be newsworthy. I'm hear for the same reason a lot of people are: keep up on the industry, and something to dick around with between builds. I mean, I'm not a monk, I dick around killing time like anyone else. But HN and a few mailing lists is about it. Reddit, Twitter, FB I don't waste time on (Reddit, once in a great while r/o on select subs). In summary, HN is my "People Magazine", for lack of better comparison.
- fgheorghe 8y ago
  Interesting. So you actually find the news to be a reliable source of information when deciding to buy stocks and voting? I mean, there are no bias or clueless writers out there?
- phailhaus 8y ago
  > though I won't disparage those that like their "sportsball" ...but you just did though? Your entire response is pretty disparaging and patronizing of anyone who cares about different things from you.
randomuser80 8y ago
Personally, consuming news is a source of entertainment and a topic for small-talk. If you interface with clients or coworkers on a daily basis, "small-talk" improves relationships among your peers. Not to mention, you seem more personable and likeable - traits that are revered in the modern workplace. This isn't a blanket endorsement to start talking politics in the workplace, I'm simply saying that being well-versed in current events has value.
- jaredwiener 8y ago
  does this influence the type of news you consume?
- perilunar 8y ago
  You don’t even need to be well-versed. If you just read the headlines you can ask people to fill you in. Some people just love to tell you what they know ;)
IronWolve 8y ago
Check the news for any tech security issues and any new hot services or software I dont know about. Politics is just for kicks, because I know most of it is filtered and slanted by its organization. Seems it takes a day or 2 before we get the real truth to anything. The facts are normally too skewed and biased on release.
- piocho 8y ago
  > Politics is just for kicks, because I know most of it is filtered and slanted by its organization. Seems it takes a day or 2 before we get the real truth to anything. The facts are normally too skewed and biased on release. I'm totally agree with you. Most of the actual news articles are looking to create some "buzz". I rather prefer waiting few days and read complete article well structured that exposes the facts.
nodivbyzero 8y ago
I use rss to read the news
jaredwiener 8y ago
To summarize some of the answers here: - Direct personal gain -- i.e. information for political engagement, investing... - Fear of missing out - To be able to participate in conversations with others - Lack of something better to do. Anything else?
wolfpwner 8y ago
Boredom at work
toyg 8y ago
Addiction. I grew up reading newspapers in the morning, which was my gateway drug to bitesize information. When the first feed readers appeared, in the late ‘90s, there was no going back. Information is a hell of a drug.
- jaredwiener 8y ago
  to continue with your analogy -- what are your withdrawal symptoms? is there a FOMO built in?
  - pier25 8y ago
    (I'm not the author of the parent comment) I once made a 14 days Vipassana silent retreat. Nothing but meditation, eating, and sleeping. Obviously no phones or anything that could distract you from the purpose was allowed (books, conversations, etc). I'm the biggest information junkie, and I had no troubles letting go. When I came back into the real world the habit grew progressively again. TL;DR: No withdrawal symptoms.
  - toyg 8y ago
    I feel slightly nervous the first day or two when I go on holiday in places where I have to disconnect. After that, it’s fine. As soon as I manage to get hold of a phone or newspaper i can read, though, it’s back in the tunnel.
  - jryan49 8y ago
    Whenever I'm severed from the internet or news there is no withdraw symptoms what-so-ever. I don't even think twice about it. It's strange.
- ksec 8y ago
  I still remember there were papers claiming News is even more addicting than Porn. Your porn time only last so long, but you could spend hours reading news. From technology to music, fashion, industry news, gossip, Anime, politics, or ever growing interest you have. Also the anticipation of wanting something to happen, but still hasn't happen yet, things where you cant really do it yourself. Nuclear Fusion breakthrough, Solid Battery breakthrough, MicroLED breakthrough ( So we can throw away those awful PWM OLED ), collapse of property pricing. etc.
spondyl 8y ago
Fear of missing out on something interesting or worth knowing ;)
- jaredwiener 8y ago
  What do you consider interesting/worth knowing -- and why?
tonyedgecombe 8y ago
It's a bad habit, I really should stop because I gain nothing from it.
- swah 8y ago
  Sometimes I'll go the whole week without news by accident, and then wonder why I'm feeling "so positive and energized recently"...
tenebrisalietum 8y ago
I read news, sparingly and often not to intensely, simply because everyone else does and social interaction is required to survive in society. Some people react to current news, or let it affect their judgement, and it helps me sometimes predict or understand people's behavior. This is especially true of local or political news. It's always good to keep an ear on the grapevine even if most of it is garbage simply to know where many people's mind will be. Other people like to talk about news, bringing it up for small talk, and therefore having some semblance of knowledge of current headlines lets me feel and give the impression of not being an outcast. Oftentimes for me, if a headline catches my interest, I'll read the story, and then try to find out what really happened myself. This is rare.
arbol 8y ago
Why am I reading these comments? ^_^
grecht 8y ago
I don't understand people who don't read the news. Do they also not vote, as they cannot form their own political opinion? In reality they probably do, but are susceptible to populism, be it right-wing, left-wing, green or what else. Or they take on their parents' or friends' political views. Sometimes party programs sound just great. "More of this, more of that, less of the bad stuff". I want to be able to cut through the bullshit and make decisions based on my knowledge of the world. And I'm curious about it, anyways! That's why I read the news. Everyone should read a prestigious newspaper. But especially educated people who hold higher positions with more responsibility, whose actions have a higher impact than those of the average citizen, should stay well-informed.
abledon 8y ago
Cause it’s socially acceptable to read bews multiple times a day in my browser tab as a form of mental rest from programming rather than getting up and walking around the office building every 45 minutes

mikestew 8y ago
If that's your take-away from my comment, I do wonder how you make it through a workday, being so ready to take offense, without bursting into tears. For the record, at worst I was shooting for irony, not offense.
- tuesdayrain 8y ago
  Pointing out that your sportsball comment was patronizing doesn't mean he was personally offended by it.
- phailhaus 8y ago
  > without bursting into tears Yeah see, this is what I'm talking about. You're being very rude, condescending, and generally insufferable. It's possible to make your point without insulting people. For example, things that you don't care about aren't automatically "trivial noise".
  - PerfectElement 8y ago
    Not the parent, but do we have to start every sentence with "IMHO"? To me it was clear that they were stating their opinion, not trying to establish a standard for what one should care about.
    - phailhaus 8y ago
      It's less about it being an opinion and more about being respectful when sharing it. Obviously it's fine not to care about sports or reality shows (I don't either!), but he went out of his way to basically make fun of those who do. In fact, he didn't have to mention others at all! His entire comment could have been summed up as "I read news to make financial and political decisions." No need to brag about how much you don't care about celebrities or sports.
  - mikestew 8y ago
    I'll state up front that your comments indicate that engagement will be a waste of time. But I like a challenge. And I like to read words on the screen that I wrote. You're being very rude, condescending, and generally insufferable. Insufferable, I'll grant you. For example, things that you don't care about aren't automatically "trivial noise". Well, at least I think I found the disconnect. By definition, those things most certainly are trivial noise. Because I don't care about them. Q. E. D., or summat. Do you care about the Kardashians? It's okay to admit it, this is a safe space. And if you do, guess what? I don't care. Don't care enough to hear about it, don't care enough to even disparage the idea. But you obviously care very deeply about reality TV stars, and that's okay. Because, again, I can't even muster enough concern about the topic to say it's not okay. And that's okay, too. May you have a pleasant day, and a Kardashians/sportsball double-header on TV tonight.