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 reac

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.