I grew up watching the national and local evening news programs. We were poor, it was the 90's, we had all 4 channels NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX (not news). Doing this

I grew up watching the national and local evening news programs. We were poor, it was the 90's, we had all 4 channels NBC, ABC, CBS, FOX (not news). Doing this gave me good insight into geopolitics, and informed me of who was running the show nationally. As an adult, I used to follow the news much more closely. But I realized that most of what is shown to Americans as news was really just opinions and "news" as entertainment. It was the run up to the 2016 election that sealed the deal for me. I started noticing the narratives ever channel had. How much they were hoping for a Trump win because Trump was driving ratings and ad revenue, and regardless of what spectrum they fell, Trump would be good for them. Nowadays, I watch very little. I'll briefly listen to NPR usually when driving on occasion on the web. For me, its nice to have a general idea of what is going on. The big picture news develops over weeks and months, not hours or days. Following it so closely isn't good for your mental health and doesn't get you anywhere. Listening to peoples opinions just keeps you from being able to form your own. Ideally I just want to briefly be updated on the important facts of the world once or twice a week. Since doing this. Even though I dread the state of the US I not being constantly reminded of it frees up my mind to worry about other things. Which is nice.