In the book Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport talks about how we can live a focused life in a noisy world, and he says, “Humans are not wired to be constantly wired.” I quoted the book, but I haven’t read it yet. I guess you thought, for a split second, that I read the book because I’m quoting it here.
That itself is the problem we all have. We form a view on many things we read. We intuitively connect two dots and form an opinion. It’s the same regardless of whether we read a tweet, article, or book. And it was also one of the main reasons for me to detach myself from daily news.
The news created anxiety and forced me to worry about things that I could never change. Hence, I decided to change a few things in my life. I started consuming the news weekly or biweekly instead of many times a day. As Newport’s quote says above, I wanted to cut some wires to set myself free.
Before all these changes, I usually consumed the news via Twitter and news websites. These platforms decided how I should have perceived the world. Twitter deluded me because I thought I read different news from various sources. Later, I learned that was my flaw. What I needed was more time, not more sources. Let me explain.
Every minute, many voices come from everywhere in the world, making it almost impossible to grasp the truth. As people rarely sift the information through a sieve to eliminate their emotions and unnecessary thoughts, whatever they say will always be biased. We can’t estimate the correctness of the information, which makes it unusable.
If I can’t judge whether anything is correct or not, it becomes irrelevant to my life.
Moreover, while everyone flocks to the web with unfiltered thoughts, social media lately has gotten even worse. Everyone abruptly transitioned to a journalist. Everyone interprets the impact of the war in Ukraine or the conflict in Gaza, albeit nobody can comprehend what’s going on. Without any research, analysis, or even reading contradicting sides, many feel entitled to write a summary of the situation with their commentary. This is utter nonsense; just because they have a voice doesn’t mean we should listen.
“Not all writing is worth reading. Just because someone can put words on a page doesn’t mean they are worth reading or add value.” — Schopenhauer
I can’t endure the people who make a rumpus anymore. Instead of hearing news from everyone who has an emotional attachment—thus, false assessment—to the events, I prefer to read news from professional and independent journalists who do research.
I’m a big fan of good journalism. Proper journalism opens minds, creates awareness, and pushes you to think something differently. It doesn’t always comply with your thoughts. It provokes them from various angles but leaves the decision to you. And it’s rare because it’s difficult. And that’s what I’m after.
Thus, I stopped using social media, cutting the primary source of my news habit. The next stop was news websites, the evil of a society.
There is a reason why the ‘who do research’ and ‘independent’ are bold above. Most of the news agencies are a lost cause. They are pursuing the wrong goals and steering the crowd (and journalists) in the wrong direction. They focus on speed rather than quality. Being the first reporter on any event is more important than what they say. That hasty nature of the agencies (evolving with TV and making a giant leap with the Internet) destroys good journalism. They forgot that it takes time to comprehend complex events and write about them.
That’s why many journalists have introduced their own newsletters (e.g., in Substack), which they send only once or twice a week. They take the time to analyze, investigate, and write down what they find.
Thus, I stopped checking out websites focusing on the latest news, cutting out the evil from my life.
As a result of this revamp, I also realized a shift in my thinking, which made this new habit stick and helped me compound the benefit of deep thinking.
The fundamental change was how I perceived news and what I could do with it. I usually read the news as it has been published. I found myself sitting on my desk or couch, reading everything, thinking it was better for me to know these things. That was inherently wrong.
Do you remember Cal Newport’s quote above?
Knowing all these events is the worst-case scenario. I am aware that they happen every single second around the globe. Although the economic crisis makes people’s lives miserable, wars affect people from close and far distances, or all environmental and education problems are present everywhere, I can’t do anything about it when I read the news from my couch. I still care about problems, but I can only create an illusion for myself when I share that news with my commentary. That doesn’t contribute to any solution. At all.
Also, if we look at the events, nothing has changed in the world for decades. Problems take different shapes, but they are identical. There are always economic hurdles, novel diseases, violence, wars. It’s the reality of our world. If we worry about all this, there is no good living—even in prosperity.
Hence, I decided to live my life on my own terms, not on others. This change is a slow shift but a fundamental one. I still read newspapers and newsletters. The difference is I read them when I want instead of when they are sent to me. I sometimes buy paper-based weekly magazines. I often read them a few weeks later and learn everything late. And that’s OK.
If any news survives more than a week, then it’s worth knowing. When a new war breaks out somewhere in the world, it will be in the news for years (e.g., Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine, Gaza. Pick one) and impact everyone’s lives from various angles. It’s possible that I can find myself in the middle of the war, or the country I live in decides to support one side of the war. If that’s the case, I’m sure it will be impossible to escape any news. Only then will I opt to follow that specific news more frequently. Until then, it’s much better to live in my small echo chamber. Some people can consider me as ignorant or this approach as bullshit. I’m aware that it’s not for everyone. And that’s also OK.
These shifts are not sudden. Changing behaviors takes time. This journey took me a few years. Meanwhile, many governmental elections happened, an earthquake struck my home country (Türkiye), the Ukraine war started, the global economy was shaken, the Gaza massacre happened (and is still happening), and many more. I still know all the big events, but life is much better without knowing every single detail. Yes, I’m not so strong on day-to-day news anymore. And yes, I fall behind in casual conversations around whatever is hot. I consider the latest news part of pop culture, which I’m consciously staying away from. One last thing I can tell you is I don’t think I will look back.
P.S. This change was another addition to my decision list.
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