It might be better to consume all news in small daily doses rather than blocking out potentially critical information.
the public is already doing what they need to do (physical distancing, washing hands, self-quarantining if necessary). medical professionals and scientists (and their suppliers) need time and support to provide care, create/perform tests, and develop new treatments and protocols.
beyond that, we need to get our houses in order and then just relax as much as we can and wait until we get substantial evidence to do something different. all this corona hysteria is entirely counter-productive.
We've had a global underreaction that didn't pan out exactly well due to politicians and media sticking the head in the sand while the outbreak started in China.
So I disagree, this is good, the situation is critical and people need to be fully aware/informed.
For examples, the top five headlines from lite.cnn.com/en/ right now:
>This nurse demonstrates just how fast germs spread even if you're wearing gloves
I'm not a nurse, and I don't have gloves, so this isn't actionable. It might be if I were a nurse, but I'm not.
>Fact-check: Trump says some states aren't in jeopardy from the virus, denies saying it would go away by April
There is nothing I can do about Trump being an idiot. Not actionable.
> Opinion: Trump put American lives in China's hands
Ditto.
> Supplies could be delayed due to confusion from the White House, companies say
Ditto.
> Trump says HHS secretary meant the 'concept' of a pandemic kept him up at night in 2019 comment
Ditto.
>I moved to Paris during lockdown. Here's what I found
I am not in Paris, so this article is worthless to me. There is nothing I can do with knowledge of the situation in Paris.
> How to make your own face mask
This however, is information I could actually put to use. Articles like this are sadly a minority.
The truth of all of this won't be known until at least two years out looking back, studying the news from this era. I do not think history will look kindly back on this moment. I think the future will hold 2020 as a cautionary tale, of how even when the dangers are real, we can still be susceptible to hysteria on a truly global scale.
If you follow the news, you know there's a pandemic going on, and you know there's a wealth of information out there if you need it. But if you're skimming headlines on most aggregators, that's more or less all you get to know (with the notable exception of gripe-pieces/love-letters concerning the Trump administration).
The cognitive overhead of filtering out all that redundant information, and the accompanying bullshit hot-takes by self-aggrandizing bloggers masquerading as journalists can be so exhausting that you risk giving up or developing tunnel-vision around it.
It's hard not to remember to check for pandemic updates even if you do deliberately filter them out of the news - it directly effects you.
I think this plug-in is a very good idea, and should make it easier to stay informed with respect to the bigger picture of the world.
Missing a couple articles lamenting our circumstances isn't really going to save that many lives.
I'd rather read the one news app on my phone - which basically covers everything of what's interesting about the pandemic - than trying to consume all news but ending up reading the same thing on every social platform. This add-on could be a solution to this.
Anything that can support critical and informed thinking really.
Also the news were cause of many arguments among the family. For this reason, I decided to stop for the time being to read anything at all. The quarantine is already taxing (fifth week this Monday) and I don't want to make it worse it already is.
only if that actual makes a material difference in your life. I think the opposite is true in this case.
People read about Covid-19 all day as a coping mechanism because absorbing more information gives people the illusion they have control over the situation.
Reality is nobody has much individual control over a pandemic, life got more dangerous, and reading a thousand papers isn't going to reduce that anxiety. We live in an age where people keep telling us that 'knowing things' is an antidote to tragedy or danger in life, because they're content creators, but really it isn't.
Everyone can learn how to deal with this in 5 minutes. Wash your hands, only leave your house if necessary, yet still people may die, even some you know. No news source in the world will fix that.
I doubt that's the case for most people, unless they have the luxury to completely isolate themselves for months.