I turned on the TV. They were showing the evening news. War. Earthquake. Terrorism. Corruption. Death. I turned off the TV. Guess I’m not missing anything I thought.
I’m going to say something now that might shock you. Ready?
I don’t watch the news. I’ve watched them about two or three times in the last 3 years, and one of the experiences is described above. I don’t buy the newspaper, and haven’t read one in years.
I know, I know. How can I be a responsible citizen? How do I know what’s happening in the world? How can I be so ignorant?
Living without “the news”
I used to be like most people. I would watch half an hour of evening news every day. I would read the newspaper, and watch political debates at the weekend. But one day, I realized how useless this inflow of information is to me. (okay, that last sentence was complete bullshit. Actually, we moved to a new apartment, one without a TV. But the point is, I stopped watching the news.)
And I felt great. After a few weeks, I realized I’m not missing out on anything. From time to time, I’d hear people talking about some catastrophe, and have no idea what they’re talking about, but that’s about it.
I believe information is like food for the brain. There is good healthy food, and there’s junk food. Similarly, there’s good, useful information, and there’s junk information.
Starving will leave you without energy. Eating a bit of food will give you energy. Therefore, surely eating more food will give you more energy. Yeah, right.
Elvis Presley died because he lived at a time when nobody realized how bad junk food is for your health. He consumed some 50 000 calories a day towards the end of his life (20 times the recommended amount).
I believe we are now living at a similar time as him… except it’s not junk food that’s the problem, it’s junk information.
The trouble with most information is that:
1. It’s irrelevant
2. It’s negative
3. It’s non-actionable
And, of course, it’s seriously time-consuming.
If you fill your mind with junk information, the useful stuff will get drowned out. It’s like eating a good balanced diet throughout the day… and then stuffing yourself with two super-size menus of junk food in the evening.
If I had a formal process for deciding whether to consume a particular bit of news, it would look something like this:
1. Is it actionable?
2. Is it positive?
3. Is it relevant? (to me, or my interests)
By this virtue I haven’t been following the presidential elections - this information is non-actionable, neutral, and irrelevant to my interests. (I still heard all the main updates from friends and acquaintances).
Now, I don’t strictly follow the process above. I wouldn’t mind hearing awesome positive news from my areas of interest, even if they’re not actionable. (for example scientists inventing a new, cool, more efficient solar panel.)
I also don’t strictly avoid all negative news. But the fact is, you can’t fight starving children in Africa, earthquakes in China, corrupt politicians in America, and melting glaciers in Antarctica, all at the same time. You’re better of choosing one area, and making the world a better place there. I personally chose self-improvement and education (stay tuned for next Saturday - I’ve got a great post about education coming up).
Consuming less information will allow you to do more with what you have.
Winding down for the day
One big reason why many people watch the evening news is because they just want to sit down and relax for half an hour after a long day. That’s perfectly alright. But please avoid the news. Here are my favorite alternatives, in order of preference:
1. Take a quick nap
Sometimes this isn’t possible, for whatever reason. If so, move on to the next alternative.
2. Read a FICTION book
For several years, I read only non-fiction books. I felt like time spent reading a fiction book would be wasted. Of course, that led to too much consumed information. I couldn’t really make use of so much information.
Plus, half an hour of reading fiction is better than sleeping pills for putting the troubles of the day behind you.
3. Watch a TV series, or a movie
Watching TV alters your brain wave patterns. If you watch TV right before bed, your sleep will be more shallow, and lower quality. If you’re going to watch TV, switch it off at least half an hour before bed. Your morning self will thank you.
The Low-Information Challenge
Now that I’ve given you reasonable alternatives to watching the news, here’s my challenge for you:
Do not watch the news, or read a newspaper, for two weeks straight.
At first you might feel like the world’s going to come to an end if you don’t watch it closely. But when you talk to a friend or colleague over lunch, and ask them what’s happening in the world, you’ll notice you didn’t miss absolutely anything. It’s still the same old, same old.
Free your mind of information overdose, and your happiness and productivity will soar.
Stay tuned for next week’s article! I’m going to tell you all about education, and how to fix our education system. You’ll learn why giving students grades is bad for their learning, and much more. Learning can be interesting, learning can be fun!
I’m glad I’m not the only one. I catch odd bits of news occasionally between radio programs I want to hear and in the morning when my husband has the radio on. As a general rule, though, I don’t listen to, watch or read any news.
And I feel better for it.
For me, the issue isn’t too much information, it’s too depressing information. The majority of the news is bad news. After all: “thousands of planes arrive safely at their destinations” isn’t news. “One plane grounded/crashed/otherwise inconvenienced” is. It would be a sad world if “single plane makes it through and arrives safely” was major news, wouldn’t it?
So, I’ve reached the same conclusion for different reasons. Too much news is bad for your health.
I’m not really into news either. There will always be problems, and if something really important has happened, people will often have a lot of eager to tell you what has happened… therefore you don’t need news, since it will come to you, if something important has happened…
your posts are usually good, but this one smacks of cheap, feel-good pop psych. are you registered to vote? if so, reading the newspaper sure as hell is full of “actionable” information. do you use money to buy things out in the real world? then reading about what’s happening in the world is actionable. do you have investments?
the news might only be full of non-actionable information if you’re a self-absorbed recluse who doesn’t care about society or your impact on the world, living on a self-contained commune. and even then, you’d probably be wrong. information is only non-actionable if you choose to make it so.
i’m glad it feels good, but that doesn’t make it a correct idea.
I haven’t read or seen the news in at least five years. Curiously, most of my friends also see me as a very happy man. I agree with you on this one.
Congratulations.
@fairyhedgehog, @mikael, @tedel:
Yeah, a big reason I don’t watch the news is that it’s negative. I wouldn’t mind consuming useless information so much (I’m human after all) if it was positive.
In fact, I even considered starting my own news network, called Happy Hippo News Network (HHNN). I would just collect the main positive news every day and post them on a website.
Then I googled up “positive news”, and saw it’s already being done. I guess humanity isn’t doomed after all
@jonathan:
I would never base my investments on what I read in the newspaper. And as to voting, I think it was best summed up by Tim Ferris:
“When it was time to vote in the presidential elections, I asked several of my friends with similar values who they’re voting for and why.
“Then, while I was in Europe, I asked a German friend what he thinks, to get an outside perspective.
“I then voted based on that. I got the hundreds of hours of presidential debates narrowed down to a couple dozen minutes.”
Note the late post of this comment. Is not keeping up with blogs in the same category, I wonder? Just kidding.
I thought the point about news being (not) actionable was interesting. People who feel helpless act helplessly, and maybe that explains the disparity I seem to see with people who, while well-informed, don’t seem interested in acting within a limited sphere of influence.
As an example: I once lived in a small town in Idaho and worked at a company that employed over a hundred people, most of whom were young, fitness-oriented, concerned environmentalists. Despite the fact that many lived within two miles of work, only a handful rode bikes in, even in the finest weather. Now I am one of those horrid non-news watching, irresponsible people, and I do not belong to any environmental groups, and yet I rode in all weather, even using home-made studded bike tires in the winter.
Maybe feeling helpless has something to do with substituting advocacy (political side-taking) with quiet, persistent action.
Thanks for the great blog, by the way.
I am one of those people who do watch the news. But I think there is one thing I have to point out:
In Germany (where I used to live, now I am in Brazil) we have some “official” TV-Channels. All TV owners have to pay taxes to them, and the channels have the obligation to inform properly. So you don´t find news about famous nobodies living their exiting life, but only usefull news.
An american friend told me news are different in the States.
But even better then watching TV news or reading the daily newspaper is reading more profund articles in weekly newspapers. You will also find the “bad news” in them, but only if they are important. so you wont find an article about a single airplain crash, but maybe about general safety problems and how they can be avoided.
I think it is important to stay informed in certain areas of life.