Keeping up with the news

[user43770]

I'm addicted to reading the news: local, national or world, doesn't matter. I love it all.

But it's all very depressing. I know I would be better off not keeping up with world events, but it seems kind of weird to even consider...like I'm being am unproductive citizen.

Then again, I don't have any control over the course of events, so I just end up arguing with people for the sake of it...we all have our say, and our emotional feel good endorphins get released. All is well again...

I'd like to hear some of your perspectives. Is keeping up with the news beneficial, or does it bring more harm than good?

 

[Epicenter]

In this day and age it is more important than ever before to be able to make good decisions for the future.

Of course one get's easily over attached. There is obviously a need for balance to not get dysfunctional.

But it's important to prepare for the worst case scenario.

 

[Epicenter]

You are absolutely right. I am guilty of that too. My rationalization is that I could indirectly make money through the stock market. There is some truth to that. So it makes is extra hard.

Additionally I feel like these litte information nuggets may create a level that might help me make important decisions in the future.

I like learning about communication skills. It's an easy way to immerse in it. In acient greece people who did not know politics were called idiots. I don't want to be called an idiot.

Also it is more interesting then movies and stories. It helps to learn more about psychology if one likes to do further research. That can help navigating through the world better.

Mainly it's a dopamin kick I guess. If one has the emotional energy and maturity then one should go for a better alternative.

If one would do worse things as an alternative then staying with it is obviously better.

Maybe one needs a plan. Like with everything that is addicting. Maybe I should reading something like your article a habit so I have an additional reminder to enforce a schedule for consuming news.

 

[Spaz]

It is beneficial.

News = Information.

Information = Power.

Power = Influence.

News can come from many sources, be it traditionally from the media, from friends, general public and those you hire specifically to "get" information from a specific target.

It's how you use those information.

If its to propagate conspiracy theories and get people to rile up without any clear profit to you then it's just a waste of ur life and time.

If it is used to profit you then of course it is beneficial.

Always remember, everything a man does MUST be profitable.

 

[Epicenter]

It is beneficial.

News = Information.

Information = Power.

Power = Influence.

News can come from many sources, be it traditionally from the media, from friends, general public and those you hire specifically to "get" information from a specific target.

It's how you use those information.

If its to propagate conspiracy theories and get people to rile up without any clear profit to you then it's just a waste of ur life and time.

If it is used to profit you then of course it is beneficial.

Always remember, everything a man does MUST be profitable.

I agree. The challenge is it's a dopamin kick. Like with most things in life on the
short run in "profits" you. You feel good. Later you have to pay for it.

Ideally it should go from instant gratification to delayed gratification. Which is quite a challenge and need hammering the habits to make them work on autopilot.

The news or politics are sometimes be compared to the stock market. If you are not emotionally evolved for it you have to stop your greed and take time to learn how to handle your emotion otherwise you have to pay a high prise for it.

So we profit always in some ways. I think we need to be more clear what profit is. That is not an easy thing to figure out because we have always limited information and basically count and operate with the unknown. In that regard Nassim Taleb's idea about the black swan and anti-fragility comes to my mind.

 

[zekko]

But it's all very depressing. I know I would be better off not keeping up with world events, but it seems kind of weird to even consider...like I'm being am unproductive citizen.

Depressing is right. I followed the news most of my life. But there were a good many years there where I decided to intentionally stay away from it. News and politics, I found myself focusing on things outside my "real" life, things that were on such a large scale that I couldn't really do anything about them anyway. As you said, it could be depressing, and upsetting. So I stepped away from it for a long time, and I think I was better off for it. Instead of the news, I focused on myself.

The way this year has gone, however, I've been sucked back in. With the way things are right now, I feel like what I don't know might kill me. So I'm watching.

By the way, when I was a youngster, the news had to be unbiased, they weren't allowed to be impartial. I can't remember the details, but I believe there was a law or FCC regulation or something that required the news to be unbiased. Then that law was repealed, or else cable TV made it obsolete, I can't remember which. But that led to the types of national news networks we see now, which are less interested in presenting the news than promoting an agenda they want to push.

 

[Xenom0rph]

By the way, when I was a youngster, the news had to be unbiased, they weren't allowed to be impartial. I can't remember the details, but I believe there was a law or FCC regulation or something that required the news to be unbiased.

News these days is biased, I don't think any rational person would deny that Fox News is conservative while CNN/MSNBC/ABC are leftist....

Both sides cherry-pick facts convenient to their narrative and ignore facts that contradict their narrative.

When facts are cherry-picked and presented with a bias to further a narrative, it's not news, it's propaganda.

CNN/MSNBC/ABC/WaPo/NYT are just as much propaganda as Fox News.

The problem is that CNN/MSNBC/ABC/WaPo/NYT's propaganda is far more detrimental than anything Fox News can push out.....

 

[Epicenter]

News these days is biased, I don't think any rational person would argue that Fox News is conservative while CNN/MSNBC/ABC are leftist....

Both sides cherry-pick facts convenient to their narrative and ignore facts that contradict their narrative.

When facts are cherry-picked and presented with a bias to further a narrative, it's not news, it's propaganda.

CNN/MSNBC/ABC/WaPo/NYT are just as much propaganda as Fox News.

The problem is that CNN/MSNBC/ABC/WaPo/NYT's propaganda is far more detrimental than any Fox News can push out....

That could be true that the news were more unbiased. The reason might be because the government had the luxury that people had not much power anyway. The governments could do mostly what they wanted to do. Though I am not shure about it.

Now people have more information. So there is more possible interpretation of the world. Plus people have more power to organize. That brings the government, media basically in panik mode I guess.

Now everybody has to work harder to exert influence. So naturally being unbiased loses its worth as it's a matter of winning and survival now.

People are easily influenced. So why waste your time with delivering unbiased information when you can invest the energy to bring them on your side?

 

[Xenom0rph]

That could be true that the news were more unbiased. The reason might be because the government had the luxury that people had not much power anyway. The governments could do mostly what they wanted to do. Though I am not shure about it.

Now people have more information. So there is more possible interpretation of the world. Plus people have more power to organize. That brings the government, media basically in panik mode I guess.

Now everybody has to work harder to exert influence. So naturally being unbiased loses its worth as it's a matter of winning and survival now.

People are easily influenced. So why waste your time with delivering unbiased information when you can invest the energy to bring them on your side?

True indeed. Every major network has to compete for eyeballs. That's why news these days is actually more a form of entertainment rather than fair reporting.... which also why female news anchors have been getting progressively hotter and sexier every year.

Here's a pic of Brianna Ruffalo, she's the weather reporter on ABC 7 Los Angeles..... We can clearly see that she was hired because she's attractive which will attract viewership.

There's no other reason for hiring such a hot girl for something mundane like the weather forecast....

 

[zekko]

The problem is that CNN/MSNBC/ABC/WaPo/NYT's propaganda is far more detrimental than anything Fox News can push out.....

Well, nearly all the news stations are leftist, except for Fox News. Fox gets better ratings, but they're the only one that leans right.
I might add all the sports channels (which are half politics these days) all lean left as well, even FS1. Which is Fox Sports 1, so I'm not sure why that is.

 

[Epicenter]

True indeed. Every major network has to compete for eyeballs. That's why news these days is actually more a form of entertainment rather than fair reporting.... which also why female news anchors have been getting progressively hotter and sexier every year.

Here's a pic of Brianna Ruffalo, she's the weather reporter on ABC 7 Los Angeles..... We can clearly see that she was hired because she's attractive which will attract viewership.

There's no other reason for hiring such a hot girl for something mundane like the weather forecast....

View attachment 4277

Yes you make a good point right there.

That is one reason I like the american media it's kind of entertaining. Specially with the online critic against them. It's funny how they can keep up the straight face.

 

[Epicenter]

Well, nearly all the news stations are leftist, except for Fox News. Fox gets better ratings, but they're the only one that leans right.
I might add all the sports channels (which are half politics these days) all lean left as well, even FS1. Which is Fox Sports 1, so I'm not sure why that is.

The common theory seems to be that cooperate america is a dominating force. They want to create a consumer culture and don't want anybody to stop it.

They have two challenges from the right and the left. In democracies normally the left is stronger. Who does not want free money? So the cooperations have to satisfy the left.

The left is normally focused on the class divide that is socialism. The coops don't like that much. So they channel the energy into culturel socialism that is the ideal of equality of gender, race, faith and so on.

The coops hope that they can distract the socialists with that project so it does not come to to the worst case scenario. They would sacrifice maybe the middle class so they have to pay the redistribution as long as the coops are ok.

If the coops are unlucky they get socialized and it's game over.

That seems to be one perspective to the bigger picture.

 

[user43770]

@Epicenter definitely pays to keep up if you're in the stock market.

@zekko also helps to keep track during riots lol. To have a heads up on when the looters arrive...

@Spaz you made an argument for controlling the news, not to watch or read it

@Xenom0rph that's a bad ass weather girl!

@samspade spot on, as usual

 

[user43770]

It's just a distraction from reality.

Social media, porn, movies, video games, books, GI joes. They're all just a way of taking your mind off the monotony of your life.

 

[user43770]

@samspade gi joes were the sh1t. Kids these days...

 

[user43770]

I spent all of my time outside as a kid. These days, kids are on their phones at a young age.

I think it's an overwhelming cycle that needs to stop.

 

[Spaz]

I spent all of my time outside as a kid. These days, kids are on their phones at a young age.

I think it's an overwhelming cycle that needs to stop.

It is what it is, these changes are progress that will herald a new kind of life.

 

[user43770]

@Spaz

Great movie, by the way.

 

[xplt]

I'm addicted to reading the news: local, national or world, doesn't matter. I love it all.

But it's all very depressing. I know I would be better off not keeping up with world events, but it seems kind of weird to even consider...like I'm being am unproductive citizen.

Then again, I don't have any control over the course of events, so I just end up arguing with people for the sake of it...we all have our say, and our emotional feel good endorphins get released. All is well again...

I'd like to hear some of your perspectives. Is keeping up with the news beneficial, or does it bring more harm than good?

I had the same problem. Take a break.

I read across multiple news websites every day, till 2018. I realized how overwhelming the effect of flooding information was for me. 20+ open browser tabs everyday and I was only running over the pages, quickscanning them for infos. I closed most tabs without even reading a single word. It totally destroyed my attention and my focus shifted to the negative headlines.

This behavior transfered to reading books and learning, I wasn't patient enough anymore, had to read pages two to three times because i forgot what I just read.

I don't watch TV anymore, I don't listen to the radio anymore, I only sporadically read news on the web.

 

[user43770]

I had the same problem. Take a break.

I read across multiple news websites every day, till 2018. I realized how overwhelming the effect of flooding information was for me. 20+ open browser tabs everyday and I was only running over the pages, quickscanning them for infos. I closed most tabs without even reading a single word. It totally destroyed my attention and my focus shifted to the negative headlines.

This behavior transfered to reading books and learning, I wasn't patient enough anymore, had to read pages two to three times because i forgot what I just read.

I don't watch TV anymore, I don't listen to the radio anymore, I only sporadically read news on the web.

Boss. I agree with your response the most.