Of course it’s not an explicit expectation, but the news cycle is dominated by a mix of 24/7 news and daily summaries. It’s rare that I see weekly, bi-weekly, monthly summaries. I’m thinking, is there really that much that can happen in a day and that warrants our attention? Most news are clickbait focused on the negative, making us feel depressed and feeds our negative emotions. I wouldn’t be surprised if the news actively contributes to the mental health crisis.
At the same time I think it can be of importance to have some understanding on what’s going on in one’s local area, one’s country and in the world. For me I think a weekly summary would be good balance, but those are weirdly hard to find. What are your thoughts?
That’s one of the reasons I’m subscribed to a weekly magazine.
Which one?
A small French protestant weekly called Réforme. I doubt the title in itself is relevant for you, but the periodicity is just right to have fresh news but with hindsight.
It really took me a while to experience the perfect newspaper for me. It comes daily with actual news and background stories as well as investigative reports from time to time. It is public owned, so if you have shares you actually have a say what they report.
It is a very left daily newspaper, which suits me well. Taz, if you ever heard of it.
Though, daily news aren’t too good for your mental health, especially bad ones. So, who is deciding that you „have to keep up“? I think no one expect yourself. So if you decide to just not read for a week or even a month, it is just on you. You can catch up by reading some headlines and decide, what catches your interest later on.
You’re expected to keep your head in the sand, work for a fraction of the value of your labor until you die, too late for you to realize your life has been stolen.
People who want to know what the fuck is happening around them have to read the news and learn about the world in order to do that.
I absolutely don’t do that, I have curated my lemmy home page to avoid politics as much as possible too, it’s mostly just people wallowing in misery complaining and not doing anything anyway, it’s a waste of time.
That seems like a very healthy habit, but adding some broccoli to your diet wouldn’t hurt. You know, that bitter green stuff with a funny texture that you just slather orange cheese over and pretend it’s close enough. You know it’d be good for you, right in the electorals
I have no idea if that second part is some sort of meme reference or what
No, i was standing on a chair balanced on a table, reaching for my kids balloon with tongs and overbalanced. You’re just the ambulance siren for my stretch at an analogy. It’s done. Can’t be saved
You should make yourself do things that make you uncomfortable because it’s good for you.
That’s impossible, everything is political
Existence is political. If you don’t pay attention to politics, you’re defenseless.
I don’t like being punched in the face, so I do my best to ignore when my bully is running towards me so I don’t have to think about being punched in the face
Personally I read the news daily because it’s one of a few things that keeps updating in real time, with a story line tying it together. Like, the events each day relate to yesterday, and it keeps developing in real time so there’s that discount aspect to checking it. That’s the need that it fulfills to me. I’d like to get off the News but I haven’t found anything else like this yet. Reddit/Lemmy doesn’t do
I would rather keep up on the news that I think matters to me than the news in general. People seem to just love reporting the exact same things. I used to have frequented r/news to note this.
Lots of news about dead people, dead children .etc that sparks a lot of age-old debates.
Occasionally some celebrity dies, some small, some big.
Political follow-ups that ultimately just lead to arguments.
I tend to also like getting news a little after the fact. It helps the digesting and processing in a sense.
I think you’re just describing market forces. Good recaps are harder to write. You’re describing cheap news. If we want proper news, we need to subsidize it.
I definitely don’t. Better for my mental health.
That’s an illusion. Believe it or not if you ignore the “news” it goes away. Most “news” isn’t worth your time anyway and will just make you feel helpless. The best way to get the news is to be selective with what you consume. E.g. once in a while listen to the BBC news report on the radio, sub to independent journalists (channel 5 w\ Andrew Callahan, Caspian report. YT). If there’s an issue you actually care about that you heard from the news, do what you can and not what you can’t.
That’s an illusion. Believe it or not if you ignore the “news” it goes away.
Some news are irrelevent, I do agree with that.
But not all are.
Example:
“Hurricane is on its way to [Your Area]” probably shouldn’t be ignored.
No, just ignore the news. Maybe skim though the headlines if you are really curious.
Only thing you have to worry about is if the headline say stuff like:
“Hurricane/Tsunami (or other disasters) is imminent”
“Our country is being invaded”
“Martial law has been invoked”
Stuff like “Leader says stupid thing” is not worth your attention, don’t bother reading such articles.
Not that you’re looking for recommendations, but Delayed Gratification magazine may be close to what you’re looking for!
https://www.slow-journalism.com/This looks really great. How’s the quality of the journalism? And what political leaning do they have?
I’m sorry to say I’ve never actually subscribed 😬
I don’t think it’s a social expectation. It’s more of an outcome of the interaction between the current societal system and technology. There are likely several systems we can develop and implement to reduce the overwhelming amount of info we need to consume on a regular basis, but as with any social system, changing things takes power away from the ones in power.
On a good note, one reason your expected to be updated on news is that you have a say in the political system. If you didn’t have any power in the political system, then not only would you not be expected to stay updated on news, but you would be prevented from it.
Most aren’t expected to, unless it’s your job like Kimmel, SNL, Stewart, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, etc
It’s just easier to find new content reading material than today’s market in fiction which is disappointingly awful of late.
Whose expectations? Who says we have to pay them any mind?Unless their name is on the deed, or they pay me wages, I don’t much care what they expect.
I know someone who only learned Biden had dropped out upon seeing his name was not on the (mail-in) ballot. I was a little jealous.
I follow current events, but I strive to filter out politics beyond the very top level headlines.
The elites want us to be tired all the time. It’s how they won the battle for the internet.
it’s how they won’t the battle for the internet
It’s how they won all status quo benefits to them. They also know status quo changes and why they put so much energy, effort, influence and time into continuing to try to make things worse so the likelihood of large-scale change decreases.
However, at a certain point, history shows people will revolt. The question is when, and how much of the horrific foundation that has been laid with people used to it can be ripped up before our short attention slams turn back to other interests?
The problem with that reasoning is everyone is waiting for someone else to start the revolution
I didn’t advocate for a slow response, history shows people just like to boil like frogs as were very adaptable, for good and bad. Id love it if swift, collective action were our norm.
