The news only informs you of what’s on the news. The news doesn’t inform you about what’s happening in the world. It just added a steady stream of limited and unsubstantiated viewpoints on select issues to my head, which is already full of limited and unsubstantiated viewpoints. The news never really added to my knowledge in any meaningful way. Now I realize I was not giving up anything of any use to anyone. I even felt irresponsible, for deciding to focus on the ins and out of my own life while I ignored the plight of the world. A worthy trade, I figured at the time, but I really did believe I was giving up something important. I’d be gaining more time, and protecting my pleasant mood, but only at the penalty of knowing considerably less about what’s happening in the world. I pictured giving up news as some sort of sacrifice. My peers would be exchanging crucial details about the state of the universe, and I’d have to ask sheepishly, “What’s swine flu?” or “Who’s the US president right now?” How embarrassing. Initially, I feared I would feel out of the loop, that suddenly I would not know what was going on in the world. I used to turn on CNN first thing in the morning, and listen while I made breakfast. Television news was no better, mostly celebrity misbehavior and crises of some kind: fires, diseases, bombings and market trouble. There was too much to disapprove of, too many unsettled and unsettling stories. ![]() ![]() It took too much time to read, and often it would put me in a bad mood. I don’t watch the news anymore, and I don’t get the paper. “Do not seek the truth, only cease to cherish opinions.”
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