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Comment by jebarker | Hacker News Reader

Is it the Napeoleon Technique or Ostrich Effect to decide not to read the news? I’ve been doing this for the past ~1 year and I’m much happier for it. I’m torn whether I’m just being a bad citizen/selfish or genuinely just not paying attention to things that I have no influence over.

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I basically have never actively sought out World News, and just find out "through osmosis" by talking to friends or hearing about things coincidentally. Then I go google specific events that interest me. I find that most immediate reporting is unclear anyways, and adding 2-3 months of hindsight generally results in more facts and less speculation. I think this has worked really well for me. If the world goes to shit within 3 months I think I will notice even without reading the news.

I'm not sure if this strategy can generalize to the entire population, since I am relying on my friends to mention events to me.

I guess the counter-argument is that the world is slowly going to shit and it's only by paying attention and getting involved that we can prevent that. But I don't think that justifies daily news reading.

Much news is biased towards specific political PoVs so that if you’re not aligned with those views, it can be frustrating to hear the same opinions, day after day, on matters that should be solved differently.

It takes a lot to move the needle, and I can understand anyone who simply doesn’t have the energy.

And then other folks ignore international law and simply do whatever they want, while others look on or pay the matter only lip-service.

I would argue it makes you a better citizen by not falling prey to the emotional manipulation that all of the news sources blast us with non-stop. There is enough hate and anger in the world and the constant stoking of those flames is doing us no good. And unless you're actually going to take action and do something about it (and I'd argue that posting rants on social media does not qualify), then what is the point of absorbing that anger.

I know people on both sides who have fallen prey to this and are no longer pleasant to be around.

I do not read the news either. Reading about all the shit every day just makes me feel down, and I am fully aware of what is going on in the world without actively seeking out the news. Trickle down news is enough.

One is not a bad citizen for not constantly swimming in the depressing narratives. In addition, a lot of news are spun to make you feel as bad as possible, just like social media thrives more the worse you feel.

The news, and with it politics, have largely deteriorated to the point where only a few percent of the highest quality sources are worth any attention. It's all simple narrative grievance and entertainment. NYT in particular has fallen into oblivion resorting to typo clickbait and hate reads. The attention economy has defeated the information economy, with this one weird trick...

My prediction for the New Year is that LLMs won't make it better.

I've been doing this for a little over a decade now and nothing bad has happened due to not keeping up with the news.

In fact, my stress levels have declined significantly.

It turns out knowing about events that you have no power to influence and do not directly affect you isn't even remotely useful.

I went for a while without reading any news but my grandmother told me I should always stay informed. I figured she was right so I at least keep abreast of things but don't read too deeply.

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