In the past few decades, the fortunate among us have recognised the hazards of living with an overabundance of food (obesity, diabetes) and have started to change our diets. But most of us do not yet understand that news is to the mind what sugar is to the body. News is easy to digest. The media feeds us small bites of trivial matter, tidbits that don’t really concern our lives and don’t require thinking. That’s why we experience almost no saturation. Unlike reading books and long magazine articles (which require thinking), we can swallow limitless quantities of news flashes, which are bright-coloured candies for the mind. Today, we have reached the same point in relation to information that we faced 20 years ago in regard to food. We are beginning to recognise how toxic news can be.
More here – The Guardian
Good article – Knowing I am saving half a day a week by not bothering with the news makes me feel much better about my propensity to binge read once I have my nose in a good book.
There is news and there is information. Without question so called news delivered by the media is toxic almost to a fault. But there are things to know about how things are in the world that are vital for maintaining a sense of balance and also understanding what is relevant and what is not. Most of us have a deep need to make sense of our world and this requires relevant, timely and balanced information in the right quantities. Finding the sources of that information, applying the appropriate filters and then taking it in for appraisal and consideration is a considerable challenge, but well worth the effort. Potential sources are actually multitudinous. I have met a lot of people who have applied the philosophy that they will not partake of media delivered news but so often they leave it at that. I think their world often becomes very small and naive. I believe there is another way, but it is along a road less traveled and those lucky enough to meet fellow travelers have a lot of richness to share.
If anyone hasn’t read Dobelli’s book upon which this article is based on then I highly recommend it. It is one book that has influenced a lot of my comprehension of behaviour and the historical contexts from which a lot of our behaviour derives.
If news is like a high sugar diet then Facebook is like a cocaine habit!
Ironic that this is an article in a newspaper Although I will admit the Guardian at least does have a more more analytical approach at times