4 ms·

I actually feel a lil guilty about how well things are going for me. Its not really been any change for me, same schedule - same job. I think the key is as yo

I actually feel a lil guilty about how well things are going for me. Its not really been any change for me, same schedule - same job. I think the key is as you said, mostly avoiding the news. Every day or two, I skim over the headlines on CNN but mostly I avoid it. I do check the stock market in the mornings - I swear the DJIA is just a yo-yo. But it's just out of curiosity as I still have 15+ years before I can retire...So not stressing about it even on bad days. I think previously, I was just way too wrapped up in the news cycles.

tmaly 6y ago
I have found that avoiding news all together has definitely had a positive impact on my days. This includes social media.
- mech422 6y ago
  HN is about the extent of my social media... I always found the signal-to-noise ratio of facebook, twitter, etc. to be too low to make them worthwhile. On the other hand, I can spend hours sucked into random tech books, blogs, etc. So I guess time wise it balances out.
shireboy 6y ago
Agree 100%. I've felt a little guilty too. I started working from home full time about 4 months before covid landed in US. I'd built a nice above garage office. Kids homeschooled already. Planted a garden that's doing well, had more time for home projects, etc. I have friends not doing so well. I have donated to individuals and organizations since I feel I have an obligation to help people in need. News is the biggest drag on my mental well being. It is important to be informed, but I genuinely feel that media is so driven by ad revenue and has optimized itself into being as negative and outrageous and _loud_ as possible, to the detriment of sane balanced information and opinion. I need to know the sides of current issues, but not loudly 24x7 with as much vitriol on all sides. I blocked several news sites and social media I habitually check in my hosts file, but somehow my browser still resolves the names. I need to fix that. HackerNews is really one of the few sites I can expect to find calm reasoned discussion and information.
- remmargorp64 6y ago
  Don't forget that you have to explicitly block every host name (including subdomains), if you are using the hosts file method. For example: 127.0.0.1 reddit.com 127.0.0.1 www.reddit.com
- mech422 6y ago
  >I blocked several news sites and social media I habitually check in my hosts file, but somehow my browser still resolves the names. I need to fix that. DNS over HTTPS maybe ?
  - priyaranjan 6y ago
    For macOS dscacheutil --flushdns
RickJWagner 6y ago
One thing that might help is more variety in your news-scanning. CNN will show relentlessly negative headlines until the election is over. Fox will be overly positive. There are other sources on both sides. For your mental health-- get a variety. You don't have to agree with all of it, but get diverse inputs.

tmaly 6y ago

I have found that avoiding news all together has definitely had a positive impact on my days. This includes social media.

mech422 6y ago
HN is about the extent of my social media... I always found the signal-to-noise ratio of facebook, twitter, etc. to be too low to make them worthwhile. On the other hand, I can spend hours sucked into random tech books, blogs, etc. So I guess time wise it balances out.

shireboy 6y ago

Agree 100%. I've felt a little guilty too. I started working from home full time about 4 months before covid landed in US. I'd built a nice above garage office. Kids homeschooled already. Planted a garden that's doing well, had more time for home projects, etc. I have friends not doing so well. I have donated to individuals and organizations since I feel I have an obligation to help people in need. News is the biggest drag on my mental well being. It is important to be informed, but I genuinely feel that media is so driven by ad revenue and has optimized itself into being as negative and outrageous and _loud_ as possible, to the detriment of sane balanced information and opinion. I need to know the sides of current issues, but not loudly 24x7 with as much vitriol on all sides. I blocked several news sites and social media I habitually check in my hosts file, but somehow my browser still resolves the names. I need to fix that. HackerNews is really one of the few sites I can expect to find calm reasoned discussion and information.

remmargorp64 6y ago
Don't forget that you have to explicitly block every host name (including subdomains), if you are using the hosts file method. For example: 127.0.0.1 reddit.com 127.0.0.1 www.reddit.com
mech422 6y ago
>I blocked several news sites and social media I habitually check in my hosts file, but somehow my browser still resolves the names. I need to fix that. DNS over HTTPS maybe ?
- priyaranjan 6y ago
  For macOS dscacheutil --flushdns

RickJWagner 6y ago

One thing that might help is more variety in your news-scanning. CNN will show relentlessly negative headlines until the election is over. Fox will be overly positive. There are other sources on both sides. For your mental health-- get a variety. You don't have to agree with all of it, but get diverse inputs.