Ten Tips for Staying Sane While Following the News

Following the news is stressful, and often pointlessly so, not only because of the undeniably terrible things going on in a world that is very likely becoming more unjust, more conflicted, more dangerous, but because the scum of the Media-Industrial Complex are intent on getting and holding your attention through confusion, fear, outrage for the sake of advancing their assorted political agendas (which are unlikely to be in your personal interest), and of course, commercial gain. They will report much that is unimportant, while what they report that is important they are likely to report unhelpfully--offering a few bits of information that may be inaccurate or false over and over and over again (not always innocently), with the associated content puffed up with associated irrelevancies, ill-connected factoids, empty speculation and mindless bluster from their so-called "experts." My suggestion is that those not intent on shutting out the world utterly curate their news carefully. As this is admittedly easier said than done, what would be some actionable advice here? I offer the following ten items as being of use in following the news generally.

1. Carefully time the occasion and quantity of your news intake. This means that you should not let yourself compulsively seek out the news--and avoid whatever will force it on your attention. Keep away as much as possible from social media accounts, from clickbait-crammed portals to your e-mail accounts, and anything else that will inflict "What's trending" on you, and when you must use those services ignore those trying to lure you in. Instead check the news only deliberately, when you want to do so, preferably with a clear head so that you don't get distracted, don't lose track of the time, don't waste time paying attention to what is probably important to you. Indeed, delimit the amount of time you're willing to put into this--something a lot easier to do if you make a point of looking at the news not every day but every week (or two) as you read your news rather than watch it (reading offering more control than subjecting yourself to a broadcast where they tell you what they want in the order in which they want to tell it to you around a series of commercial breaks), and use that time carefully, only reading past a headline if you are convinced there is really something important here, and when you do even that, "preview" a piece before deciding whether to do more. (In brief: look at the opening paragraph, look at the conclusion, look at the accompanying graphics and topic sentences. Unless there really is something you really want to read, don't look at any more.)

2. When you do seek out the news avoid news aggregators, which are of decreasing value. These increasingly push on you utterly worthless sources (perhaps due to a failure of filtration, perhaps due to other reasons), while the proliferation of paywalls and adblock blockers has meant that you cannot simply, at no financial cost, conveniently sample the coverage of a variety of news outlets the way you used to, depriving them of what was once their primary advantage. Instead I would suggest your having a select--ideally, very short--list of news outlets that follow current events that you find worthwhile and rely mainly on those.

3. Remember that an accurate image of a major event, which is likely to be complex, is likely to emerge only slowly--and unless you yourself are a public official or activist, or personally, financially or in some other way connected to what is going on, there is rarely (not never, but rarely) any reason why you personally can't wait. Barring a news outlet's having really, really earned your trust, take everything you read, see and hear with at a minimum a grain of salt--the more in as very few in the news media will let a little thing like the truth get in the way of their object of stoking fear, anger, hatred at their chosen targets to make you keep watching.

4. In light of the slowness with which a clear picture is likely to emerge of a current event, and the fact that it is very rare that you will actually need to immediately do anything in response to the report, learn to avoid getting sucked into following a story from minute to minute, or even day to day, when you do not absolutely have to pay such close attention. Again, this is easier to do if you get in the habit of only checking in with the news once a week or less, and if you take everything reported in the news with a grain of salt--with this also the easier if you favor sources that are in at least their original, non-web, version print rather than TV-oriented and so oriented to the mind-numbing 24/7 news cycle.

5. Do not presume to understand any event or issue out there on the basis of the news media's torrent of little bits--all as, again, taking in all the little, usually low-content, bits is likely to leave you understanding events less than more. Even a minimum of comprehension will require stepping back and doing some research of your own. Of course, if you check the news only intermittently you will have more time for this, and more of the lucidity needed for making such judgments, but this is time consuming, and no one person can do it for everything. Again, be selective about when you make the effort.

6. In doing such research, especially in the absence of a deep background in a subject, one unavoidably has to turn to those who are equipped to make sense of these things. In finding them out be ready to step away from the "objective" mainstream (which is really anything but objective) and look at more avowedly "ideological" sources for a grasp of what is going on. They are less squeamish about explaining things, and indeed some such media outlets pride themselves on their effort to do so. (Compare, for example, what you are likely to get in Vox or The Conversation with what you get from the New York Times.) Additionally, in contrast with the hypocrisy about objectivity you get from the mainstream media they are usually pretty clear about where they stand. (If a publication is ready to apply a contentious ideological label to itself such as "conservative" or "progressive" I find that they tend to live up to the promise.) This makes it the easier to judge what they may get right, and where they may fall short--and indeed I would suggest that you have such sources on your list of "go-to" sites.

7. Rid yourself of the presumption that all sides in an argument are equally worthy of respect. They aren't, as the controversies over "both sidesism" show. In a rational argument the side that doesn't respect the facts or logic is unworthy of any more respect than that--and if you are at all interested in understanding what is going on, you have the responsibility to make the judgment. Judge carefully, of course, and be ready to judge again should new information seem to call your old judgment into question--but in the end do not shrink from judging.

8. If you care about what actually matters in the world, pay less attention to politics (in the sense of the sound bites of political hacks, and the endless analysis thereof) and more to policy (what, in the end, governments actually do)--because the latter is so little discussed that you have to strain to find it, as against the "show business for ugly people" with which the news media is so enthralled, and expects the public to also be enthralled. Really, it isn't all that enthralling--and even were it so you aren't there to be enthralled, but informed in the way that attention to this prevents you from being.

9. Remember that the way the news media works means that no amount of effort will perfectly insulate you from the trivial and the pernicious. Indeed, should you try to dig a little deeper into a matter and in the process engage in Internet searches, widen the variety of the news outlets you consult, etc., you will probably subject yourself to a great deal of this. The result is that it will take restraint to keep you from being diverted or baited by it (for instance, enabling the human refuse who present a piece "bad on purpose to make you click" to snare you into clicking).

10. When you have had enough of the news for a period, feel free to take a break from it altogether. Indeed, while an occasional "news fast" is no substitute for more careful news consumption (just as a period of fasting is no substitute for a healthy diet) I can personally testify that they can be helpful--not least in getting you "back on the wagon" after a period of lapse from whatever habits you have developed to manage your news intake.