A lot of people have written about the toxicity of news. This idea, that reading news is something to be avoided, might not be new to you. But today might be a great day for a reminder. I needed a reminder, because I’m tempted… very temped.
I could make the case again, that avoiding news is the thing to do, but Rolf Dobelli already did this elegantly. In his article, Avoid News, he discusses fifteen points:
News misleads us systematically
News is irrelevant
News limits understanding
News is toxic to your body
News massively increases cognitive errors
News inhibits thinking
News changes the structure of your brain
News is costly
News sunders the relationship between reputation and achievement
News is produced by journalists
Reported facts are sometimes wrong, forecasts always
News is manipulative
News makes us passive
News gives us the illusion of caring
News kills creativity
His article was written in 2010 and since then the world has changed. In a world where everything is “Fake News!” and conspiracy theories are becoming normal, complaining about news makes me sound like one of the crazies. The world has become a place where mainstream media doesn’t seem toxic anymore, but a breath of fresh air.
Nonetheless, the fact that worse alternatives exist, doesn’t make his points invalid. I notice myself craving to know what is going on, on the other side of the world, on an hourly basis, while it will only cause me stress. And none of the information will be actionable. If you currently live in America the case might seem harder to make, but even then a daily update from a friend will probably suffice.
Dobelli ends with the following advice:
Go without news. Cut it out completely. Go cold turkey. Make news as inaccessible as possible.
Don’t read news
A lot of people have written about the toxicity of news. This idea, that reading news is something to be avoided, might not be new to you. But today might be a great day for a reminder. I needed a reminder, because I’m tempted… very temped.
I could make the case again, that avoiding news is the thing to do, but Rolf Dobelli already did this elegantly. In his article, Avoid News, he discusses fifteen points:
News misleads us systematically
News is irrelevant
News limits understanding
News is toxic to your body
News massively increases cognitive errors
News inhibits thinking
News changes the structure of your brain
News is costly
News sunders the relationship between reputation and achievement
News is produced by journalists
Reported facts are sometimes wrong, forecasts always
News is manipulative
News makes us passive
News gives us the illusion of caring
News kills creativity
His article was written in 2010 and since then the world has changed. In a world where everything is “Fake News!” and conspiracy theories are becoming normal, complaining about news makes me sound like one of the crazies. The world has become a place where mainstream media doesn’t seem toxic anymore, but a breath of fresh air.
Nonetheless, the fact that worse alternatives exist, doesn’t make his points invalid. I notice myself craving to know what is going on, on the other side of the world, on an hourly basis, while it will only cause me stress. And none of the information will be actionable. If you currently live in America the case might seem harder to make, but even then a daily update from a friend will probably suffice.
Dobelli ends with the following advice:
If you want to explore this topic further I recommend the article by Dobelli: Avoid News, and an article by Gwern: Littlewood’s Law and the Global Media.