# How common is this: People never, and I mean never, watch/read the news. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 22, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-this-people-never-and-i-mean-never-watch-read-the-news/705364 "2014-11-22T21:21:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Calatin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Calatin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calatin)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-this-people-never-and-i-mean-never-watch-read-the-news/705364/41 "2014-11-25T15:45:08Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > For people who don’t actively try to stay informed, do you vote? If so, what do you base your decision on? One of the few “heated” arguments I’ve had with my father was when I was in college, and I came back home for fall break. After running some errands with him, he drove me to the polling place and expected me to vote. I’d told him that, since I went to college halfway across the country, I hadn’t done much (if any) research into the candidates or issues. (This was for state / local candidates & issues) I told him I wasn’t going to cast an uninformed vote, and he told me that he would just tell me for whom I should cast my ballot. I responded by saying I wouldn’t do any such thing, as I could be voting against my interests or beliefs. I remember sitting in the parking lot, us yelling at each other, until he finally gave up and took us back home. You don’t have a responsibility to vote; you have a responsibility to cast an informed vote. ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2014, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-this-people-never-and-i-mean-never-watch-read-the-news/705364/42 "2014-11-25T15:46:08Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > \*\* I think US news in particular is in large part about trying to make you angry or scared about something.\*\* The benefit of hearing about things that might actually affect you is very much diluted. > And furthermore it doesn’t _really_ foster a great deal of understanding (I think it’s more that people knowledgeable about the world tend to find the news interesting, rather than the news helps you become knowledgeable). Bolding mine above – not uncommon elsewhere, too. The bolded sentence is an excellent description of Britain’s _Daily Mail_, at least 95% of the time. Nasty, nasty rag: I am almost totally, at pains to avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![Fubaya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@Fubaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fubaya)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-this-people-never-and-i-mean-never-watch-read-the-news/705364/43 "2014-11-26T00:39:59Z")
I haven’t watched TV news in years and never go to news sites unless I’m looking for more information on something. The only news I get directly is that I scan the headlines in our local newspaper’s smartphone app and occasionally click a story to read. Having said that, I’m not that poorly informed. I somehow absorb a fair bit of news without ever seeking it out, but I rarely get into any detail with any of it. At election time, I do read up on candidates, their position, brush up on the issues, etc, otherwise, I spend just minutes per week seeking out news. I used to be a news junkie, reading everything I could on several news sites daily, listening to news and political podcasts, etc arguing politics with people. Then I realized that the world will go on exactly the same whether I know every little detail about it or not. Pretty much 100% of news doesn’t effect me in any way and my opinion, however well informed it may be, doesn’t effect the news either. Even if I get upset over Ferguson or worried about ISIS and wanted to do something about it, I would be powerless to do anything. In short, being well informed on the news is a complete waste of my time. And, frankly, I am often baffled at people who don’t seem to understand how much time they’re wasting on these things. To me, the person who has a wealth of information, gossip and theories about Chuck Hagel’s resignation looks just as foolish as the person who doesn’t know who he is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-this-people-never-and-i-mean-never-watch-read-the-news/705364.md?page=2)