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Does anyone here have a news/politics addiction?

Discussion in 'Off-topic Discussion' started by Deleted Account, Jul 22, 2021.

  1. Hello,

    I feel like I’m the only person who reads and watches the news anymore. But I have withdrawals when I’m not reading the news. My family can’t go a day without watching the news and talking about politics.

    The thing is that not only the news is super negative but it has no effect on my personal life. Even when something bad happens, I can’t do anything about it.
     
    EpsilonDelta and Meshuga like this.
  2. FirefromAbove

    FirefromAbove Fapstronaut

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    Many people are absorbed into the news and world affairs and fail to realize it.

    Me too. I used to get mad everytime something I was reading was contrary to me worldview and everything in my area is contrary to my worldview. So I simply stopped watching it.

    The majority of things that happen on the news have little to no affect on me so why care.?
     
  3. AlyCat

    AlyCat Fapstronaut

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    Honestly I got into it for a little bit but like it seems like everyone is angry...not matter which side. Just seems depressing to me
     
    Meshuga likes this.
  4. gordie

    gordie Fapstronaut

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    We have almost an instinct to information. If you’re addicted to the news, channel that into some kind of healthy information gathering. Read instead about international relations, read journals instead of cable news (or high level publications like Foreign Affairs), if colleges have hybrid or online classes and you have some cash take an international relations course.

    Cable news is so bad it’s hard to stomach. It’s like a gotcha game between two parties that are extremely lost in America right now.
     
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  5. HE^MAN

    HE^MAN Distinguished Fapstronaut

  6. GotCaught

    GotCaught Fapstronaut

    Isn't that called a drama addiction.

    Sorry If I'm wrong
     
    Meshuga likes this.
  7. Please understand it's NOT just about the content, it's partly the medium and the delivery system. You won't get that far by thinking it is just the content and people CONTINUALLY ignore this point.

    Put it this way: Do you just want to find other people who have this issue or do you want to overcome it? What good is support if everyone in that circle is just kind of swimming blind?

    Something to consider is most of a news article is not new, they have to recap so a lot of it ends up being repetitive and basically wastes your time and attention.

    Another thing is how the information is formatted. If you're going to talk about statistics it makes sense to compare the percentages with different populations and different areas for example, so if it's going to be comprehensive put it in a damn chart - but the vast majority of time it's just little tidbits here and there in a few paragraphs and it's just lame.

    But then you might start looking at why is it formatted this way? Aside from the content level, why get your information in such a sloppy form? You might even get a better perspective by reading a book a year after the fact than all the little bits and all the stress it's going to cause.
     
  8. Atticus

    Atticus Fapstronaut

    I like the weather, if that counts.
     
  9. Excerpt from Ten Arguments by Lanier (and yes, you don't have to get your news through social media but it's still bad)
     
  10. Meshuga

    Meshuga Fapstronaut

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    I was nowhere near as "addicted" to news as some people, but when I made a conscious decision to withdraw from it, I did find it difficult at first so there's that. It definitely is designed to attract and persuade you to engage. It's not a great medium to inform. They're advertising a thing they don't sell.

    My first clue was getting a lit degree at a university that prides itself in its journalism school. I learned how writing is done, and was soon able to pick up on the manipulative tricks of writing. I saw how journalism, an industry purporting to be obsessed with ferreting out the truth, is in reality an industry obsessed with ferreting out advertisement dollars, clicks, responses, engagement. They will sensationalize, and they always, always, always pander to their base.
    Most of pandering is telling the people what they want to hear, and people want to have their biases confirmed. They want to hear their enemies are evil, and anything that sounds logical or sympathetic coming from that section is a trick. Strangely, they don't want to hear that everything is going to be okay, that things are looking up, that life is better than it ever has been, and is getting better. People want to hear the world is going to hell in a handbasket, that they are part of the small Force for Good facing the overwhelming Evil Empire, and they and their worldview hold the key to salvation, if only the moronic masses would listen. They create a narrative where every single person listening gets to be the plucky protagonist who gets it.
    And it's a lie. They lie by selective reporting, choosing what they cover and, when the story is too big to ignore, how they cover it. They lie by using dubious sources. They lie by choosing a sensationalist and technically accurate headline, and burying the most relevant information at the bottom of the article where fewer people will read it. They lie by sneaking inflammatory language into an otherwise professional article, usually by quoting a witness. And, when all else fails, they lie by making things up.

    So I quit. Eventually. I was depressed and I noticed I was less productive and more unhappy when I paid attention to news, so in the interests of improving my mental health I quit. No more radio in the car, no more reading articles on the web. I even quit YouTube, which builds an algorithm that traps you in an echo chamber of what you want to hear, rather than what you need to hear. My life is so much better. I have no clue what is going on in the wide world. Wife just told me my state is the worst for the delta variant. I didn't even know there was a delta variant, and I give not a single warm poo. I am more relaxed, I'm more compassionate, I have more mental overhead to address the things in my life I have actual control over.
     
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  11. gordie

    gordie Fapstronaut

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  12. FirefromAbove

    FirefromAbove Fapstronaut

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    I was literally sitting at work one day, and the news was going on about how a principle was being investigated for dropping the N-word. I then turned off the TV and went outside, since it was break. The sky never looked so beautiful.
     
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  13. FCat_CB

    FCat_CB New Fapstronaut

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    I check the news daily, at least 3 times per day (during meals). I've lost most confidence I've ever had in the news media. How can the same event can be told in two completely different ways? Moreover, if I'm beginning to question myself about events happening today, what will the people in 10, 20, 50, 100, 500 years later think about it? How much about the history we've been taught falls under disinformation, propaganda or bias? I don't know if I should stop worrying about it or not.
     
  14. Just turn off Phone and stop read journals, too much news bring to cognitive overload, and mostly of journalist are snales that want to attract people with the news titles. Only a few can read journals without being influenced by their brainwash. There was this nobel i don't remember his name that many years ago refused to listen to radio, read journals and news, and he said that if was not for that choice he would never get the nobel prize, he also said that if something really important happen, someone of his friend would surely tell to him. If someone find the name of the guy will be a great thing!
     
  15. gordie

    gordie Fapstronaut

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    Which one? I’m actually a big fan.
     
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  16. Everything after 1880 but al his book can give you something. My favorite for now is Ivan Il'ic, despite Father Sergij is better, but it is incomplete. But my interst for Tolstoj is not for novels, but for his anarcho pacifist writings, his anti army writings and vegetarians writings. (and yes he refused to read journals, as we are talking)
     
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  17. LetsBeLovely87

    LetsBeLovely87 Fapstronaut

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    No, you don't are the unique person in the world that reads and watches the news, just lower a little the time you spend in these news(no need to cut 100%), and don't worry, the world for you is your life, your family, your neighborhood, your city :)
     
  18. gordie

    gordie Fapstronaut

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    Father Sergeius is one of my favorite short stories ever written. Of his post- 1880 stuff, I’ve read the Gospel In Brief and Kingdom of God is Within You. Both were fantastic.
     
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  19. Atticus

    Atticus Fapstronaut

    My father is an old man. For months when the pandemic started and things on the news were "HAPPENING" after "HAPPENING" he started to get insanely stressed, because he always drank his coffee to the morning news.

    So I challenged him. "Spend one week not watching the news in the morning. Just drink your coffee to silence, smooth Jazz or some Tchaikovsky. Spend your nights away from the news as well, sleep is sacred. I bet your stress will go down dramatically."

    Long story short: He only watches for weather now. I'm happy for the old guy. That meme reminds me of him. Thanks for posting it.
     
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