7 ms·

One of the most common bit of wisdom I've heard from older folks is to ignore the news. Don't read the newspaper, don't watch TV news, don't listen to radio new

One of the most common bit of wisdom I've heard from older folks is to ignore the news. Don't read the newspaper, don't watch TV news, don't listen to radio news, etc.; they all say nothing in them is worth our time. It's among the most useful piece of advice I've ever had.

siva7 4y ago
Very true but does HN count? Would you be happier without your daily influx of GPT news and tech layoffs?
- RockRobotRock 4y ago
  HN definitely counts
- Dalewyn 4y ago
  Yup. I ignore 99% of the threads that come by here, and I wish I could do that without bothering to read the clickbaity (and generally sensationally false) headlines.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- hot_gril 4y ago
  I ignore a lot of the big topics. Layoffs don't concern me beyond just knowing that they're happening.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - hot_gril 4y ago
    (and of course, not getting laid off)
- pdimitar 4y ago
  Over the course of the last 3 years I found myself clicking on less and less HN stories. This place definitely feels like it lost the inventor spirit and the clever "how to" articles. A lot of stuff is either political or has very close political outcomes, and the rest is blind hype (ChatGPT won't revolutionize almost anything, and I'll stand by my words, bookmark this comment and show it to me in 5 years, I dare you). Let's not forget the yet-another-500-comments thread arguing pointlessly about whether startups are a good format or not. Or office vs. remote. And several others (but they are not many and it does feel like a tool a la ChatGPT could have generated them). Today I've gotten much bigger value for my time when reading about various CLI tools that process and ingest / export data (recent thread about `miller`) than all of the above, combined. HN, I feel, became more popular, and that has hurt its quality. So yes, I started reducing my consumption of it as well. I treat it like all other news sites 99% of the time, and I am right to do so at least 90% of them. I barely find 2-3 good articles per week these days. Soon I might start checking HN biweekly because the value proposition is just not there.
  - robswc 4y ago
    >ChatGPT won't revolutionize almost anything, and I'll stand by my words, bookmark this comment and show it to me in 5 years, I dare you 1. I'll actually take you up on this, because I'm interested to re-visit the discourse around launch, 5 years from now :) 2. I do agree it's overhyped to a degree. I think it will revolutionize _some_ things but it could turn out like VR. I do use it every day and I don't see a reason not to... I guess we'll see what the future holds!
    - pdimitar 4y ago
      My problem with the hyped up stuff, ChatGPT in particular, is that AI actually does not exist. The practitioners of the area of course have a vested interest to argue until the end of days that ACTUALLY AI does equal ML/DL and stuff but I am like "I see no Skynet so get off my back, we have no AI and that's that". :D But, I guess in 5 years we could argue whether certain progresses are indeed attributed to ChatGPT or is it something else entirely!
- collinvandyck76 4y ago
  Not as much in my opinion. True, there are spikes of negative and cynical HN threads, but it's not nearly as consistently sustained as general news media.
- flippinburgers 4y ago
  HN has changed a lot. As others have stated there is a lot of politics injected that I couldn't care less about.
LoganDark 4y ago
Going too far in the other direction can be pretty annoying, too, though. I'm autistic and vehemently ignore and reject most pieces of news, especially political, and that causes tons of terrible things to happen whenever some sort of spoiler gets out and I happen to see it. It's like I'm proud of my great ignorance and having that threatened with mere knowledge sends me into a panic of some sort. It's not just news. If I say "I don't know what that is lol" to someone, 9 times out of 10 their default response to tell me what it is (if it is some cultural/media thing) is the complete opposite of what I want, which is usually just for the other person to move on without telling. Knowing things can't be undone, so I strive not to know most things, apparently.
- ianai 4y ago
  Reply with a response that will get the response you want. If you want them to leave the topic, say something non-engaging like “ok”. You’re likely to come across not entirely socially acceptable in either case, but that’s probably impossible to counter.
  - LoganDark 4y ago
    > Reply with a response that will get the response you want. This is something that I understand, but unfortunately can't really perform for some reason. I always have to be... "honest", for lack of a better word. I will always say something that makes things worse for me because it's... just how I feel. I used to be a pathological liar, and from a young age I had this one friend who was a living lie detector, and they trained it out of me so hard that I now obsessively tell the truth in all situations even when it would be detrimental. ;-;
    - ianai 4y ago
      That’s not quite lying. It’s just not being interested in a topic and being clear but polite about it.
      - LoganDark 4y ago
nomilk 4y ago
I feel like we're failing to accurately name 'news'. The vast majority of what is offered as 'news' isn't news at all, it's gossip, schadenfreude, arbitrary drama, and frivolous feel-good stories. 'News' has a ring of plausible importance. I wish we had a more accurate name reflecting its mostly unimportant, worthless, and destructive nature.
- haimez 4y ago
  News is just what’s “New”. It’s name is already prefectly descriptive :)
- labster 4y ago
  But if we take all of those stories out of the news cycle, the only national news we’d have left is The Onion.
  - Dalewyn 4y ago
    I unironically and sincerely believe The Onion is one of, if not the, the best sources of journalism in our time.
- Gigachad 4y ago
  I’ve observed that so much of the news is published before the facts are even out. In a race to be first, they present half a story that hasn’t been verified yet. So you are left to either be outraged preemptively or just ignore the story entirely as it’s currently useless.
  - vachina 4y ago
    Yeah, they use words like “allegedly” or “according to unnamed sources” to free themselves from liability in the event when what they report turns out to be inaccurate. In that case might as well not report the news then if they’re not sure.
  - wolverine876 4y ago
    Could you give some recent examples, especially from news organizations with leading reptuations (NY Times, Washington Post, etc.)? To a degree, that's what journalists should do: They are not writing a history book. They can't wait until all the facts are out or we'd never know if someone was arrested or accused until the trial was over.
whitemary 4y ago
I don't think the reason to be informed is to feel good.

siva7 4y ago

Very true but does HN count? Would you be happier without your daily influx of GPT news and tech layoffs?

RockRobotRock 4y ago
HN definitely counts
Dalewyn 4y ago
Yup. I ignore 99% of the threads that come by here, and I wish I could do that without bothering to read the clickbaity (and generally sensationally false) headlines.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
hot_gril 4y ago
I ignore a lot of the big topics. Layoffs don't concern me beyond just knowing that they're happening.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- hot_gril 4y ago
  (and of course, not getting laid off)
pdimitar 4y ago
Over the course of the last 3 years I found myself clicking on less and less HN stories. This place definitely feels like it lost the inventor spirit and the clever "how to" articles. A lot of stuff is either political or has very close political outcomes, and the rest is blind hype (ChatGPT won't revolutionize almost anything, and I'll stand by my words, bookmark this comment and show it to me in 5 years, I dare you). Let's not forget the yet-another-500-comments thread arguing pointlessly about whether startups are a good format or not. Or office vs. remote. And several others (but they are not many and it does feel like a tool a la ChatGPT could have generated them). Today I've gotten much bigger value for my time when reading about various CLI tools that process and ingest / export data (recent thread about `miller`) than all of the above, combined. HN, I feel, became more popular, and that has hurt its quality. So yes, I started reducing my consumption of it as well. I treat it like all other news sites 99% of the time, and I am right to do so at least 90% of them. I barely find 2-3 good articles per week these days. Soon I might start checking HN biweekly because the value proposition is just not there.
- robswc 4y ago
  >ChatGPT won't revolutionize almost anything, and I'll stand by my words, bookmark this comment and show it to me in 5 years, I dare you 1. I'll actually take you up on this, because I'm interested to re-visit the discourse around launch, 5 years from now :) 2. I do agree it's overhyped to a degree. I think it will revolutionize _some_ things but it could turn out like VR. I do use it every day and I don't see a reason not to... I guess we'll see what the future holds!
  - pdimitar 4y ago
    My problem with the hyped up stuff, ChatGPT in particular, is that AI actually does not exist. The practitioners of the area of course have a vested interest to argue until the end of days that ACTUALLY AI does equal ML/DL and stuff but I am like "I see no Skynet so get off my back, we have no AI and that's that". :D But, I guess in 5 years we could argue whether certain progresses are indeed attributed to ChatGPT or is it something else entirely!
collinvandyck76 4y ago
Not as much in my opinion. True, there are spikes of negative and cynical HN threads, but it's not nearly as consistently sustained as general news media.
flippinburgers 4y ago
HN has changed a lot. As others have stated there is a lot of politics injected that I couldn't care less about.

LoganDark 4y ago

Going too far in the other direction can be pretty annoying, too, though. I'm autistic and vehemently ignore and reject most pieces of news, especially political, and that causes tons of terrible things to happen whenever some sort of spoiler gets out and I happen to see it. It's like I'm proud of my great ignorance and having that threatened with mere knowledge sends me into a panic of some sort. It's not just news. If I say "I don't know what that is lol" to someone, 9 times out of 10 their default response to tell me what it is (if it is some cultural/media thing) is the complete opposite of what I want, which is usually just for the other person to move on without telling. Knowing things can't be undone, so I strive not to know most things, apparently.

ianai 4y ago
Reply with a response that will get the response you want. If you want them to leave the topic, say something non-engaging like “ok”. You’re likely to come across not entirely socially acceptable in either case, but that’s probably impossible to counter.
- LoganDark 4y ago
  > Reply with a response that will get the response you want. This is something that I understand, but unfortunately can't really perform for some reason. I always have to be... "honest", for lack of a better word. I will always say something that makes things worse for me because it's... just how I feel. I used to be a pathological liar, and from a young age I had this one friend who was a living lie detector, and they trained it out of me so hard that I now obsessively tell the truth in all situations even when it would be detrimental. ;-;
  - ianai 4y ago
    That’s not quite lying. It’s just not being interested in a topic and being clear but polite about it.
    - LoganDark 4y ago

nomilk 4y ago

I feel like we're failing to accurately name 'news'. The vast majority of what is offered as 'news' isn't news at all, it's gossip, schadenfreude, arbitrary drama, and frivolous feel-good stories. 'News' has a ring of plausible importance. I wish we had a more accurate name reflecting its mostly unimportant, worthless, and destructive nature.

haimez 4y ago
News is just what’s “New”. It’s name is already prefectly descriptive :)
labster 4y ago
But if we take all of those stories out of the news cycle, the only national news we’d have left is The Onion.
- Dalewyn 4y ago
  I unironically and sincerely believe The Onion is one of, if not the, the best sources of journalism in our time.
Gigachad 4y ago
I’ve observed that so much of the news is published before the facts are even out. In a race to be first, they present half a story that hasn’t been verified yet. So you are left to either be outraged preemptively or just ignore the story entirely as it’s currently useless.
- vachina 4y ago
  Yeah, they use words like “allegedly” or “according to unnamed sources” to free themselves from liability in the event when what they report turns out to be inaccurate. In that case might as well not report the news then if they’re not sure.
- wolverine876 4y ago
  Could you give some recent examples, especially from news organizations with leading reptuations (NY Times, Washington Post, etc.)? To a degree, that's what journalists should do: They are not writing a history book. They can't wait until all the facts are out or we'd never know if someone was arrested or accused until the trial was over.

whitemary 4y ago

I don't think the reason to be informed is to feel good.