Quotes on News Consumption

We are not rational enough to be exposed to the news-mongering press. It is a very dangerous thing, because the probabilistic mapping we get from consuming news is entirely different from the actual risks that we face. Watching an airplane crash on television is going to change your attitude toward that risk regardless of its real probability, no matter your intellectual sophistication. If you think you can compensate for this bias with the strength of your own inner contemplation, you are wrong. Bankers and economists – who have powerful incentives to compensate for newsborne hazards – have shown that they cannot. The only solution: cut yourself off from news consumption entirely.

--Rolf Dobelli, "Avoid News: Toward a Healthy News Diet"

^ Written in 2010; I'd argue in 2024 this is just as applicable to infinite-feed sites. (Reddit being my personal number one culprit that I'm having trouble kicking.)

As I've written before, alarming news is nothing new, but the central place the news has come to occupy in many people's psychological worlds is certainly novel. Because of how digital media works – though also because the news developments themselves are legitimately huge – these global dramas start to feel like life's centre of gravity, with the immediate worlds of family, job and neighborhood relegated to the periphery.

--Oliver Burkeman, "Becoming News-Resilient"

One of the things making me think about this right now is just how much I feel like my actual view of reality has been/is being warped by news & media feeds. I know it's election season and these feelings are especially potent for everyone right now. I just want to approach life both calmly and realistically. One may argue that being informed helps with at least the latter, but I find that doubtful.

Lord grant me strength to avoid the bullshit.

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