Why You Should Stop Consuming News

“The goal of media is to make every problem, your problem.” — Naval Ravikant

 
In 2022 I stopped reading the news.

And as I don’t have social media, I’m 99% disconnected from current events.

According to my friends, I’m “living under a rock.” (Their words not mine).

I understand that many people believe it’s important to keep up to date with current affairs. If that belief serves you, by all means, continue. This is simply my experience.

I’ll explain how cutting out news helped me reclaim my attention, improved the quality of information I consume, made me more optimistic, and reduced stress.

The Danger of the News

“If you diet, invest, and think according to what the “news” advocates, you’ll end up nutritionally, financially, and morally bankrupt.” — Naval Ravikant

We consume news because we want to be informed. Yet, the news doesn’t aim to make us informed. The news aims to make us inflamed.

Incentives are misaligned.

News stations are private. They are profit-seeking like any other company. And if you’re not paying for news, advertisers are.

No different from HBO, news companies get paid by selling people’s attention to advertisers. The viewer is not the customer, they’re the product.

In this game, views become the focus. More eyeballs mean more revenue. Incentives change. To increase views, as Shane Parrish writes “the more controversy, the more share-ability, the more enraged you become, the better”.

Συνέχεια εδώ

Πηγή: thomasdixon.substack.com