Not Informed, but Stimulated

If you’re reading the news several times a day, you’re not being informed, you’re being stimulated. Try giving yourself a break from it. Look at this stuff at wider intervals, and in between sessions, give yourself time to think and assess.

--Alan Jacobs, "Periodicity"

A good point in a week of terrible news. Leaving social media (including, for the most part, Reddit) has been really beneficial for my mental well being. And I often wonder about the notion of "being informed." Being informed about what? By whom? And for what purpose?

With what seems to be a literally insane amount of misinformation (read: lies and ignorant claims) being promulgated on social media platforms and news sites, I'm just not convinced it is good or right for any of us to be aware on an hour by hour basis about what's going on outside of our immediate, local communities.

Tagged: media, social media, attention,