general Avoiding the news

[Member Berry 1,217]

I've set myself a challenge to ignore the news. I read this last week and it's completely true:

 

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/12/news-is-bad-rolf-dobelli

 

Yes, I'm aware of the irony of it being posted on a news website

 

It's really difficult to do >.> I know about things happening and I don't know how I know. I'm trying to avoid the news like the plague but it's constantly there. 

 

I removed the trending thing on Facebook using this:

 

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/social-fixer-for-facebook/ifmhoabcaeehkljcfclfiieohkohdgbb?hl=en

 

I've also blocked news posts from my newsfeed. 

 

I'm still following science news as I'm interested in that and it's not depressing as sh*t. 

 

I just don't see the purpose of me knowing all the crap that's going on. I don't know what to do with that information. It's not like I work for the government and need to know any of it. 

 

I told my friends and family only to tell me stuff like the world imploding on itself.

 

Any advice on how to avoid the news? It's depressing.

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,303]

Whenever someone tries to tell you something news-like, yell, "Shut the f*** up!" and run in the opposite direction.

 

*Shrugs.*  Take a break from the internet every so often.  I mean, like, entire days if you can help yourself.  And tell anyone who's itching to share a news story that you really aren't interested.

[Discordian 6,015]

It's easy to avoid news. I've been doing it for twenty-five years.

 

You could say I don't care about the world around me...

 

Seriously though, you just gotta not go on sites that have news. See a link leading to news? Ignore it. Find a newspaper? Walk past it. Just don't look at any of it and occupy your time with things you actually care about.

[Member Berry 1,217]

It's just such useless knowledge to me. All I can realistically do about any of it is to vote in the next election and that's not until 2020 in Britain. I know who I'm voting for then anyway and I doubt my opinion will change that drastically by then.

 

No more news for me The vast majority or newspapers/sites annoy me anyway, they're farrrrr too bias.

Edited March 14, 2016 by Kayleigh

[Riganthor 484]

The only thing I do to keep a bit up to whats going on is reading the newspaper for the rest I kinda ignore it (that's why I didn't know about the brony craze untill I stumbled upon a brony reviewer in oktober last year)

[Ponies4Bronies 394]

Agreed, the news is depressing but sometimes they find positive things. Like a really inspirational kid or a lost dog returning home.

[Member Berry 1,217]

Agreed, the news is depressing but sometimes they find positive things. Like a really inspirational kid or a lost dog returning home.

Sadly that's like one in 100 news reports though :/

[碇 シンジン 27,433]

been avoiding news for some time now =)=)=) and im glad for doing this =)=) 

[Castle Bleck 19,380]

"Ignorance is bliss." -- Cypher (The Matrix)

 

Minus, you know, the traitor part, I actually agree wholeheartedly with that guy.

Edited March 14, 2016 by A.V.

[White 189]

Frankly, I don't see the point of ignoring the news, I find them quite entertaining.

Edited March 14, 2016 by White

[simba86 1,541]

wouldn't be so bad if the news wasn't so biased towards the negative and didn't sensationalize every tragedy to boost ratings

[Xylosian 140]

Bad News Blues is such a terrible syndrome affecting some many anxiously paranoid people, it's pretty sad. I do keep up with some news but I wouldn't let it affect me if it's reporting something terrible. I wouldn't avoid all news but some areas of it because some of the stuff they report is pure rubbish.

[Anneal 2,197]

Agreed, the news is depressing but sometimes they find positive things. Like a really inspirational kid or a lost dog returning home.

Except the reason why positive news is so rare is that watching news is the same thing as listening to a drama program. Now not as news are bad, but you can expect most of them not to be very moderate and unbiased. If you really want to know a story it's much better to look up the multiple sides of it. The mistake people make is reading one article that they believe fits their view and be done with it. That's not going to help you.

 

Nk doubt it exaggerates the issues people have, though. It's the reason why the majority of Americans are so pessimistic and depressed. When you look at a crime case every day, you'll be apt to generalize how crime rates are so high (hilariously crime rates here have been decreasing in the last few decades). It's practically the same thing with political media, which tends to be biased towards one party, if not wings.

[Once In A Blue Moon 895]

It does depend to some degree on what interests you, but I would recommend having at least some awareness of the world at large. Even if it's just focused on one subject - a podcast I listen to does a bit of computer gaming news, another statistics, whilst a third covers science and technology. Certainly if you want to work in a certain field - such as science, medicine, engineering or whatever, keeping up on the news relevant to that subject will be a big help to you.

 

If it all seems too depressing, The News Quiz on BBC Radio 4 covers a number of topics from the week's (UK-centric) news in a fairly lighthearted manner (they have a panel of comedians answer questions about it.)

 

At the opposite end, I also listen to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies podcast, which is a US think tank that covers a range of political, economic and security issues - which can give a very interesting insight into the mindset of US policy makers (quite a different view to British comedians, to be sure) and what a number of experts think about various subjects.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,732]

To my everlasting shame, the news has a habit of bringing my mood down. Either in a depressive way or a frustrated way. So the news is something I try to avoid but that is actually incredibly hard to do. Everywhere you go, there is the news to remind you of the bad things going on. Everywhere I go I get to hear about Donald Trump despite me despising him. I get to hear about murders, thievery, death in general, its all....not...fun. Still, I attempt to avoid most of it. 

[Castle Bleck 19,380]

Everywhere I go I get to hear about Donald Trump despite me despising him.

 

^Him, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, the Electoral College, ISIS, etc.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhQst2mFlJM

[SparklingSquirrels 21,354]

Yup, I avoid the news . After all, news is all the same anyways: murder here, oppression there, violence everywhere. And Donald Trump stuff.

 

I just don't watch news channels or go on news websites... that's all there is to it.

[El Duderino 879]

Ignorance is bliss.

 

It is very important in todays society to be informed on important matters. I don't think you should completely ignore the news, but you can ignore most of it. 90% of all news now days is complete bull**** propaganda or stupid celebrity news that doesn't matter. I also think you should never stick to one source for your news. Get it from multiple sources in order to get the big picture on what actually is happening instead of just one news providers biased reporting. 

 

I don't watch news on TV because I think that TV news stations are some of the most bull****  news sources, but I try to stay somewhat informed on important matters. 

 

However, I will admit that the news I pay attention to the most is related to video games

Edited March 15, 2016 by El Duderino

[Grtxkkyz 388]

Indeed, whenever i check up news, i usually go to Google News just to get an overall view of whatever's happening on the world and scroll down as quickly as i can. Truth is, there are a few news which do catch my eye, and are usually related to science and entertainment stuff, but the others i'm not usually fond of, i mean, Donald Trump, Kim Jong Un, ISIS and World War Three are pretty much everywhere... I completely avoid watching news on TV, not only because the programs are yellow as f&*k, but also because the reporters are annoying too

[CupcakeShed 38]

Yeah, I also try to avoid the news, but it's harder than some people make it out to be. I kinda have some OCD-related issues that sometimes result on me clicking a link, even though I know I shouldn't.

[Gearbox10mm 794]

I actually do watch the news, it's about the only thing I routinely watch on television these days. I often keep it on in the background for it's white noise value.  

[Zyrael 1,471]

I don't have a tv, and nobody's forcing me to watch/read the news (yet), so avoiding it is easy enough. I still have a vague idea about what's happening, and that's good enough for me. Otherwise it's just hearing about how many shootings there were the past week... that can get depressing after awhile.

[Steve Piranha 29,432]

Well, I''m not pro of being completely ignorant, but yeah, having a break of news is mentally healthy, as I had a period of where I became angry and depressed for reading them. Now I seldom read them 

[Invincible 2,091]

"News is bad for you--" Do you know what else is bad for you? Ignorance. True, whatever is out there isn't usually pleasant, but I, personally, think ignoring it isn't the right way to deal with it. I'd much rather value the truth than my own bliss.

[KatonRyu 1,033]

I'm an expert at not giving a flying feather about the state of the world so my personal ways of avoiding the news are:

 

- Listen to your own music in the car instead of the radio.

- Don't check social media. (This is a big one, I think. I loathe social media so I never check it to begin with, the only use of my facebook being to occasionally talk to people I don't have on skype or whatsapp.)

- Don't read news articles, obviously.

- When a name or event is mentioned that you don't know, don't investigate.

 

Most of my news comes from 9Gag and this forum, and even then I generally don't bother to look up what it's actually about.

 

I did check out the first article you posted, but I honestly think they're exaggerating. I fully agree that knowing all the horrors in the world is pointless and that news gives a superficial and often factually inaccurate description of events, but in the case something interesting shows up in the news you can just do some research yourself that does not involve news articles. Maybe it's because I'm a callous bastard, but I can't bring myself to care even if I read the articles, simply because I can't care about everyone in the world and I'm sure as hell not going to try.