The case against news

Oct 8th, 2023

personal

Reading the newspaper is a morning ritual in Indian homes — that, and listening to political debates while having dinner. I never liked watching the news or reading the newspaper (except if it was the Bollywood section). My rationale being – news is an ineffective and rigid way of staying up-to-date with what’s happening worldwide for the following reasons

• Impersonal: Conventional news mediums (newspapers or channels) only highlight events covering international affairs, politics, crimes, and bits of business, sports, or show business. A vast group of people are interested in none of these, and it’s all noise to them (and they are made to feel like they should care about these things). Adding to that, the headlines are all very disconnected pieces of information and ineffective if you actually want to learn in-depth.
• Negative: Things that make it to the news are primarily negative — accounts of crimes or calamities, atrocities worldwide, unemployment, lay-offs, deaths, etc. You won’t find the same amount of positivity. Consuming this information for years would at best make a person terrified of the world and at worse, an extremist or cynical.
• No intentionality: Ultimately news has the same issue as Instagram or Twitter. You are consumed with waiting to be amused or shocked. You don’t go to read the news with an intention. Those who habitually and religiously read news have gotten themselves into the same kind of addiction as social media.

The goal of media is to make every problem your problem. – Naval