8 ms·

Aaron Swartz wrote a blog post about the news[1] and just how terrible it is for the brain. Reading his post had a major impact on me—since then I have always t

Aaron Swartz wrote a blog post about the news[1] and just how terrible it is for the brain. Reading his post had a major impact on me—since then I have always thought differently about the time I spend online. It’s interesting how people, including myself, try to justify various addictions. How am I supposed to stay informed about important topics without the news? How do I know how to help people in need without knowing what’s going on? There are much, much better ways than reading CNN/NYTimes every day. Also, there really is nothing new about the human condition today compared to a hundred years ago. [1] http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/hatethenews

mtnygard 4y ago
I hadn’t seen that post before. This paragraph hit me as a tragic irony: ‘This seems to be true, but the curious thing is that I’m never involved. The government commits a crime, the New York Times prints it on the front page, the people on the cable chat shows foam at the mouth about it, the government apologizes and commits the crime more subtly. It’s a valuable system — I certainly support the government being more subtle about committing crimes (well, for the sake of argument, at least) — but you notice how it never involves me?’
- Buttons840 4y ago
  Plus, whatever the news is talking about endlessly this week will most likely be far down the list of important events come next voting seasons (or whatever milestone is important to you).
- Balgair 4y ago
  Kinda like the Murry Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect https://loricism.fandom.com/wiki/Gell-Mann_Amnesia_Effect https://loricism.fandom.com/wiki/Gell-Mann_Amnesia_Effect
- stevage 4y ago
  The bit his argument is missing is about how the news gets funded. Me, currently I pay for a Guardian subscription, because I think it plays an important role in our democracy - although I don't actually read it.
  - solarkraft 4y ago
    I occasionally do, so thank you!
tootie 4y ago
Man, I don't get it. News is bad for you so become deliberately ignorant? Don't get distracted by the world so you can work more? It's like saying traffic lights distract you from driving.
- landemva 4y ago
  More time to play in white water river parks and more time well wasted on ski lifts. I sometimes chat with tourists and listen when they tell me what is important to them. 'Deliberately ignorant' is your value judgment. Spend some time in rural eastern Europe, and the perspective changes for the better. Media propaganda is simply unimportant.
  - tootie 4y ago
    I don't understand this at all. Work and family restrict my travel. Reading news on my phone is inherently portable. And I'm not sure what visiting rural Easter Europe is supposed to prove. A lot of it is engulfed in war and I can't imagine those people are better off being completely ignorant of what Russia is doing. Certainly many of them are to everyone else's detriment. Media propaganda is obviously a bad thing, but reading credible news isn't. Unless you want to descend into abject solipsism
    - ben_w 4y ago
      Are you going to do anything about the war in eastern Europe? If the news causes no change in your actions, you might as well have put a small pebble in front of the phone and had it, instead of your eyes, absorb the photons emitted by the screen.
      - landemva 4y ago
        You suggest I do what? I could talk to people about two decades of NATO encroachment on (shall not be spoken) R. Or discuss with people how in the weeks prior to conflict, VP Harris was in Munich and said Ukraine should join NATO. Or discuss how comedian and Vogue model Zelinsky said Ukraine should re-acquire nuclear weapons. While true, none of those fit the rythmn of the mainstream narrative.
wildmanx 4y ago
> There are much, much better ways than reading CNN/NYTimes every day. Reading those once a day is actually pretty good, let's say at a dedicated time. In contrast to many-times-a-day-let-me-just-check-the-app. The latter is just causing dopamine rushes. The former keeps you informed. What did you have in mind?
- Zanneth 4y ago
  Swartz recommends reading books or long-form essays instead, and I agree. It doesn’t even matter if they were written recently. Like I said earlier, barely anything about the human condition has changed in the last hundred years. For example, I recently read “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius. Even though it was written over two thousand years ago by a Roman Emperor, you could almost mistake some parts as being written two days ago by a millennial. There is an infinite amount of wisdom and knowledge to be gained from some of these old works that is impossible to earn by just reading the news every day.
hi41 4y ago
Could you elaborate on the news sources you use to read about the current events of the world. I am looking for a podcast that in 30 minutes gives a summary of the weekly news or 10 minute podcast that gives a summary of the daily events. This way one doesn’t have to visit the news sources such as CNN on New York time websites.

mtnygard 4y ago

I hadn’t seen that post before. This paragraph hit me as a tragic irony: ‘This seems to be true, but the curious thing is that I’m never involved. The government commits a crime, the New York Times prints it on the front page, the people on the cable chat shows foam at the mouth about it, the government apologizes and commits the crime more subtly. It’s a valuable system — I certainly support the government being more subtle about committing crimes (well, for the sake of argument, at least) — but you notice how it never involves me?’

Buttons840 4y ago
Plus, whatever the news is talking about endlessly this week will most likely be far down the list of important events come next voting seasons (or whatever milestone is important to you).
Balgair 4y ago
Kinda like the Murry Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect https://loricism.fandom.com/wiki/Gell-Mann_Amnesia_Effect https://loricism.fandom.com/wiki/Gell-Mann_Amnesia_Effect
stevage 4y ago
The bit his argument is missing is about how the news gets funded. Me, currently I pay for a Guardian subscription, because I think it plays an important role in our democracy - although I don't actually read it.
- solarkraft 4y ago
  I occasionally do, so thank you!

tootie 4y ago

Man, I don't get it. News is bad for you so become deliberately ignorant? Don't get distracted by the world so you can work more? It's like saying traffic lights distract you from driving.

landemva 4y ago
More time to play in white water river parks and more time well wasted on ski lifts. I sometimes chat with tourists and listen when they tell me what is important to them. 'Deliberately ignorant' is your value judgment. Spend some time in rural eastern Europe, and the perspective changes for the better. Media propaganda is simply unimportant.
- tootie 4y ago
  I don't understand this at all. Work and family restrict my travel. Reading news on my phone is inherently portable. And I'm not sure what visiting rural Easter Europe is supposed to prove. A lot of it is engulfed in war and I can't imagine those people are better off being completely ignorant of what Russia is doing. Certainly many of them are to everyone else's detriment. Media propaganda is obviously a bad thing, but reading credible news isn't. Unless you want to descend into abject solipsism
  - ben_w 4y ago
    Are you going to do anything about the war in eastern Europe? If the news causes no change in your actions, you might as well have put a small pebble in front of the phone and had it, instead of your eyes, absorb the photons emitted by the screen.
    - landemva 4y ago
      You suggest I do what? I could talk to people about two decades of NATO encroachment on (shall not be spoken) R. Or discuss with people how in the weeks prior to conflict, VP Harris was in Munich and said Ukraine should join NATO. Or discuss how comedian and Vogue model Zelinsky said Ukraine should re-acquire nuclear weapons. While true, none of those fit the rythmn of the mainstream narrative.

wildmanx 4y ago

> There are much, much better ways than reading CNN/NYTimes every day. Reading those once a day is actually pretty good, let's say at a dedicated time. In contrast to many-times-a-day-let-me-just-check-the-app. The latter is just causing dopamine rushes. The former keeps you informed. What did you have in mind?

Zanneth 4y ago
Swartz recommends reading books or long-form essays instead, and I agree. It doesn’t even matter if they were written recently. Like I said earlier, barely anything about the human condition has changed in the last hundred years. For example, I recently read “Meditations” by Marcus Aurelius. Even though it was written over two thousand years ago by a Roman Emperor, you could almost mistake some parts as being written two days ago by a millennial. There is an infinite amount of wisdom and knowledge to be gained from some of these old works that is impossible to earn by just reading the news every day.

hi41 4y ago

Could you elaborate on the news sources you use to read about the current events of the world. I am looking for a podcast that in 30 minutes gives a summary of the weekly news or 10 minute podcast that gives a summary of the daily events. This way one doesn’t have to visit the news sources such as CNN on New York time websites.