Some days I have to skip my usual news podcasts. I have digital subscriptions to two national newspapers and one Nevada newspapers, but I get my daily news from their related audio podcasts plus one Las Vegas specific podcast and a couple NPR news podcasts. If it’s a rough news day and I see the same three stories in the podcasts headlines, I’ll listen to two of the podcasts and skip the rest of the news podcasts.
I do not trust my social media feeds for news… ever. Their revenue is not based on giving me the best information or most complete information. They see their job as keeping me “engaged” and feeding me as many ads as possible per minute. They’re not evil. But their objective does not include my mental health or getting quality information.
It’s probably a lifestyle thing, or maybe personal preference, but I’ve never been a TV news viewer, cable, national or local. First, TV news tends to require complete attention and I’d rather listen while I do something else (housework, making breakfast, driving, whatever). Also, I don’t keep “normal” hours, so anything that requires that I watch at the same time every day ain’t happening. And finally, and this is especially true of local news, they have 30-minutes to fill regardless of the kind of news day it’s been, so it tends to not be the “best” when it comes to journalism, or something that I want to spend a chunk of my time with every day. I just don’t have time for meaningless fluff every day.
That said, I could definitely do better when it comes to time spent watching one short video one after the next on both FB and YouTube. I find myself way too often getting stuck in that unhealthy echo-chamber. Sadly, I know that this behavior is by design, and still I find myself doing it. This has nothing to do with staying informed, but is something that I need to lessen in my life if I’m going to at all protect my sanity, or what passes for sanity. So, I guess I adjust my news intake, depending on the kind of “news day” it seems to be developing into.
How do you stay informed without going crazy? JBB
Sources:
- Photo by SHAHBAZ ZAMAN on Pexels.com
Tags: in the news, journalism, meditations on, social media is not news, too much information
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