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How much should I care about news? (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 11 months ago by Danterious@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/chat@beehaw.org

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I read this article recently and I was just thinking about my news consumption and how much I want to be affected by it.

I feel like it is important because shit is going on in the world however I usually don't change my habits much over it.

I also think that there should be a middle ground somewhere but I can't think of it so if anyone of you have ideas please share them.

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[–] t3rmit3@beehaw.org 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Detaching yourself from the reality of what's happening in the world is certainly one way of coping, but IMO unless you're doing it to protect your mental health (in which case I highly recommend reducing your news consumption), it is just a form of isolationism at best, and an abdication of our shared human responsibility to protect and help each other at worst.

Let me reiterate: if you are seeing your mental health decline as a result of news consumption, you should reduce that consumption, or at least make changes to which news sources you consume.

Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.

I strongly disagree with the person in this article's recommendation of detachment for the average person. This is akin to advocating for political non-participation, because how can you intelligently assess who is best to represent you in the world if you don't know the state of the world?

We on the Left (rightfully) criticize people who cannot seem to care about an issue unless or until it personally affects them... well guess how they got there; not being informed about anything external to their own immediate lives.

It's quite the privilege to be able to cut off externalities and be happy; many people do not have the luxury of being able to do that, because those externalities will intrude into their lives whether they like it or not, like Roe being overturned.

/rant

Since you asked for recommendations, I only really have one that worked for me, which was to cut off social media news (i.e. ditching Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit).

All 3 of those were news... combined with some of the worst takes on that news by the horrible people on those sites. I don't need to hear a bunch of conservatives and white nationalists and misogynists and racists (apologies for the redundancy) give their takes on the news, especially because we know that they gain an outsize representation on social media due to 'interaction' being rewarded, good or bad.