12/2008 I was laid off.
I mention this only because as a result of being an employee I received a huge discount on cable/internet/phone. When the job went away so did the discount and since I was unemployed I had all my cable disconnected. And without any antenna that means no TV. As someone who had a larger right thumb due to channel surfing I am amazed I have adapted so well.
However here is the problem. Friends are constantly haranguing me since I no longer see the news. I attempt to explain to them that if something really important happens (war, meteor, etc.) someone will tell me or I will find out the hard way.
These “friends” insist that I need to know: when a parent leaves their kid in a car, when some poor boater drowns in the river, when a motorcyclist dies in a crash, when some woman takes fertility drugs and has a multiple birth, when there is a drug selling ring arrested, when a politician does something illegal, when a celebrity does anything. (These friends never mention science news or health news.)
To this I say why?
Why do I need to know these things? Why do I need to know news about people, animals, whatever that are so completely removed from me? What “value” is there to knowing this information? I ask you since my friends seem incapable of answering that question.
I haven’t watched the news for years, mostly because I don’t trust mainstream media to give me the full unbiased story on anything.
The only thing I miss, perhaps, is when there’s a conversation around, ‘Did you see that story on… last night?’ but then, there’s always someone happy to explain it to me.
I’m right there with you. I quit watching the news everyday when I moved out of my mother’s house, and I don’t miss it at all. 25 minutes of commercials and pumping upcoming segments and five minutes of “news” I can live without. I have Yahoo as my homepage, get the Sunday paper, and if something really major happens, I hear it from the first person I talk to or my husband when he gets home from work.(Or the Dope!) I feel like I’m less of a worry-wart, too. Do you feel a bit “freer” or more relaxed now, too?
I’ve been staying at a friend’s for a couple of weeks. No TV (it used to be my house and he hasn’t bothered buy a TV either). He comes in and asks me “have you read the newspapers?”
“Nope”
Then he started telling me about some news… and since it was international stuff, I’d already heard it.
Yes I feel much freer and relaxed. Also I should have mentioned I do not read the newspapers either. Sometimes when my “friends” insist upon telling me something I do not need to know I spend the remainder of the day wishing I could “unhear” it.
I have three TVs in my house (I refuse to allow TVs in the bedrooms, otherwise I’m sure we’d have five), and I usually don’t watch the news, though my husband is a news junkie. We take the Dallas Morning News daily, and I’m online a lot. The TV is a crappy way of getting most news.
I have never even seen the videos of the planes flying into the WTC. I knew it was happening, when it was happening, but I never felt the need to watch the videos. YES, it was a horrible thing. But watching the videos of the planes crashing and the buildings falling isn’t going to make it any better, and I won’t be able to do anything about it, or do anything useful with the information. The only thing I can do is shake my head and say “How terrible!”
Showing a reporter standing out in the thunderstorm/blizzard/hailstorm is useless. I would much rather know where the storm is, how severe it is, and when it’s predicted to stop.
I don’t follow sports, but I would imagine that showing a clip of a defining play actually WOULD provide useful information.
For the most part, though, TV news is all shine and no substance.
It’s not like anyone really needs to watch TV or read newspapers. Assuming you’ve got a job that has a high enough Ration Level to get you food, shelter, and clothing, you’ve got enough basic common sense to avoid the BioHazard and Radiation Zones and avoid personal contact with the Infected, and you’ve got a few phrases of Basic Mandarin so you can respond properly to simple commands from the UNUSRM troops, then (as the OP says) watching the damned TV news is just going to depress you anyway.
I consider myself fairly well informed but I almost never watch TV news. During the run-up to the last election I watched The News Hour on PBS periodically, especially on Fridays. I listen to All Things Considered on public radio occasionally, but most days it’s just too much at the end of a long work day. That’s the great thing about PBS and public radio news – you don’t get the sensationalist crap, you get, um real news. Sure, public radio especially has some cultural news, but it’s not about whether or not Brad and Angelina are going to have/adopt another child, or what Nice White Girl has disappeared, or whatever. So, if you feel the need to be informed but hate the crap that passes for news in most outlets, Public is the way to go.
There are a handful of news sites on the web I check everyday, but often I just read headlines or headlines and lead paragraphs: CNN, The NYTimes, Salon.com, the local daily and weekly paper. I actually buy a local Sunday paper most weeks. I just don’t read any of the “human interest,” celebrity, etc. stories, and I only read crime stories when they are local, and mostly for personal safety reasons (i.e., it’s good to know if there have been a rash of muggings at the mall nearest me). So, I feel myself well-informed enough to watch out for my personal interests and be able to participate in local and federal government, etc. and have a general idea of what’s going on in the world. But no, I don’t need to see endless footage and talking heads and speculation and see the reporter at the foot of the street where the wildfire is roaring down, or see pictures of the Duggars’ 105th child, or get the latest on the Outrage of the Day, or hear about the Vital Issue that Will Affect ME AND MY FAMILY.
TV news, in general, makes me ill. And, lately I’ve been cutting back on the web-checking, etc. because the experience usually just makes me depressed and angry. Who needs it?
Ditto this. We don’t take a newspaper but I listen to two-three hours of NPR every day. My husband watches TV news. There’ll be a 30-second “story” leaving him with a WTF was that about? I’ll usually be able to clarify it (if he’s really interested) because NPR doesn’t just repeat headlines, you get background and (usually) unbiased analysis. It’s a national treasure, I tells ya!
I havent’ watched the TV news in 3 years, mainly because my TV is broken and I’m too lazy and chintzy to get it fixed. But I don’t think I’m missing much–when I did watch it I only paid attention to the first five minutes of it because that was the part that actually contained real news. The rest of the broadcast was taken up by weather–and I can get a good idea of what the weather will do just by looking at the clouds or observing the local wildlife–or sports, which rarely interests me. Then there’s always a glurgy feelgood story at the end, designed to tug your heartstrings but usually making you roll your eyes instead. Feh.
I get most of my news online now, from Yahoo, Google, the NYTimes and a few other papers, and from various message boards.
You need to know about these things so that they can frighten you, so that your fear can drive you to watch even more news, so that advertisers can sell you amazing miracle food choppers for only 3 easy payments of 19.95.
We only watch the first few minutes of local news. I do think you need to be informed of current political events, but some apartment fire down the street? Not so much.
I haven’t watched the news on TV in decades - literally. The house I lived in before this one didn’t have TV reception and I’ve lived in this one for almost 17 years and haven’t watched it here either. The number one reason why -
I happened to be driving when this happened and stopped at a friends house who told me and insisted I watch the TV. They repeated those videos over and over and OVER while saying inane smarmy things, until I just wanted to put my fist thru the TV.
I have never been so glad to have an eight hour drive in front of me…
I read the local newspaper every day, mostly for the Denver area news, and everything else? I get from the Dope. There’s a plethora of intelligent and deep-level analysis of ongoing world news here, from all political stripes (plus, a few raving nutbags that I refuse to read), and I can’t imagine getting better news from anywhere else. Sometimes, I’ll tune into BBC World News if I have time.
I stopped watching TV news after 9/11. I get my news from newspapers online now. I have more control that way- I can spend more time reading a story I’m interested in, not what the newscaster thinks is interesting.
Since you seem to have internet access (I don’t know if you are accessing it from home or somewhere else), why don’t you just read it online? That way you can read about things that may actually be relevant to your life and you can skip over the latest horrible unicycle accident.
