Many of the responses were even more judgmental, from the one who basically berated their friend for watching Survivor, to one who literally used the word “enraged” to describe her feelings toward anybody who talks about This Is Us.
Granted, there were other posters who defended the consumption of entertainment, but even those were like, “I watched the Masked Singer last night but I was looking at news on my phone the whole time so it’s OK.”
What the hell? I get that these are extraordinary times, and we should all try to stay informed. But must we really be plugged into the news cycle 24/7? To me, the talking heads on cable news just become noise after a relatively short time. Escapism is necessary. I can step away from news for hours or even days, and it really isn’t difficult to catch up on what I’ve missed when I choose to. No guilt for me, much less feeling I’m “betraying my country.”
what I hate is people who think everything posted on facebook is "real news " like I’ve seen stories about Obama from “conservative action center” types of places
I remember when CNN headline news channel first started all you needed to was watch it twice a day because even though it was 24 hours it was pretty much the same loop for 12 hours … and it had an exact time each subject came on like if you wanted sports it was on at exactly x:45 every hour
the only problem was if you missed sports you had to sit through another hour of everything else until it looped around
The 24 news providers discovered that it is not the content of the news that keeps people watching, it is the emotional context of the delivery (urgency or outrage, usually). So, those stating that they feel compelled to give constant news higher priority than entertainment are not responding to the “news”, instead they are responding to the emotional stimulation. And in that, IMHO they are worse than entertainment addicts. At least with entertainment we understand and accept, and expect, that we are being manipulated emotionally. With news, many people don’t understand that they are being manipulated emotionally.
I agree with you. “Not guilty” of “betraying my country”. If somebody wanted to make the argument that it’s a patriotic duty to watch C-SPAN, or the SoTU address, or read the policy position papers of various candidates, I’d probably still disagree, but it’d be a more understandable position to me. Not watching the shit MSNBC / CNN pass off as ‘news’ is now unpatriotic? LMAO! Hell no.
I don’t watch the news and only read some of it because I don’t think obsessing about it is particularly good for your mental health. People who do obsess about the news, be it from right or left-leaning sources, all seem angry most of the time, and that’s not good for anyone they encounter.
Hell no. I’d even say, the society needs people who “have a life” – and in any case, how much update do you really need? Plus you have to have some sense of priorities, nobody can be up tio the minute on everything. Unless you work in the actual War Room, and then only about whatever affects the crisis you are managing.
The 24-hour news cycle is a product of the flawed notion that if some news is good, more must be better. But there really isn’t enough content to fill 24 hours. Enter 5 hours of talking heads and pseudo-experts obsessing about some slip of the tongue by Trump or some loose comment by Schumer. Enter the panel yell-fest and the tone of rage or breathless handwringing.
24 hour news is not necessarily a good thing, and even less a good thing to watch To the exclusion of all else. It is the difference between being well-educated about wine, and being an alcoholic.
I get being well-informed, but the emotionality of AllNews channels blocks the signal. You need a variety of voices (including long-form written pieces) and an external life to keep a sense of perspective.
It’s good for a citizen to have a general idea of political developments, but spending huge amounts of time obsessing over political news as many Americans (including myself :eek: ) do, is unproductive and perhaps unhealthy. The main defense I have to offer is: Some political thriller novels are fun to read. We are in the midst of one of the most amazing such thrillers ever! (If I were reviewing this novel, I might write “Fun … but unrealistic. Who could imagine the U.S. would choose a President who’s a blatant criminal and acts like a spoiled 9-year-old brat?”)
During the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s I paid a tiny bit of attention to the issues but almost no attention to details or the personalities. Maybe I’m making up for lost time?
Although I pity myself and others who are neurotically obsessed with today’s political details, I think that’s preferable to those who wallow in utter ignorance. Occasionally a Trumpist bigot will stop by my house for a beer. I try to keep attention focused on our garden or ancient history or a TV series, but eventually politics may come up. One Irish-born Brexiteer — who watches Fox because CNN is all lies and was bewildered that Americans elected a black President — complained that Trump was being persecuted; but he turned out to know absolutely zero. (He thinks he’s an intellectual and once declared that Tesla was a greater genius than Einstein. When pressed he said “There must be something wrong with them [Jews]. Why else have they been persecuted for thousands of years?”) Another visitor is a smart talented American, part of the ‘Audit the Fed’ crowd, and sure that Hillary is more criminal than Trump. When I try to turn the conversation to facts, he knows … Zero!
TL;DR: Yes I spend far too much time watching Rachel Maddow et al. But that’s infinitely better than knowing nothing but a couple of Sean Hannity lies.
Perhaps someone should have a word with that person and point out that the world doesn’t actually revolve about them or depend on their opinion on the news.
I’ve never bought into the 24-hour news concept. Of course, things are happening all the time, all around the world, but for most of us, the important thing is to have access to the kind of considered summary/analysis that will keep us more deeply informed than if we obsess about every minor twist and turn of who said what to whom and when.
That way we’re in a position to make a considered judgement when the time comes for us to do our bit in relation to whatever it is - and that doesn’t have to be immediate, and in the minute. One probably gets a better view over time.
Over-stressing over every little thing may actually make society worse: is this why there are so many conspiracy theories and so many extreme reactions?
The local ABC affiliate is something like 10 hrs of news a day, including the 2am or 3am (? - whatever time I wake up after occasionally falling asleep on the sofa) rebroadcast of the 11pm news.
I’ve watched more than one of the broadcasts when I’ve been home on a given day, either sick or working from home. The majority of it is the exact same from one timeslot to another. As in literally, the same clips rebroadcast; sometimes they’ll update something but even then there’s very little point in watching a later timeslot if you saw an earlier one in a given day.
In terms of TV news, we have actively avoided it for a long time. On the scale of 20+ years for national news and 10-15 for local news. It is some much pure junk.
But there’s the Internet so I’m actually more up-to-date on stuff since if a story breaks at 9am I’m far more likely to hear about it sooner than if I watched the evening news. If the “news” actually decided to report real news at all.
Being a news junkie is a disease and I have personally seen people get messed up watching 24-hour news channels and such. Their minds get into “worry about everything” mode which is not healthy. And this also screws up things like their ability to critically analyze what they are hearing and reject a lot of it.
Scared, irrational people are more likely to watch these shows again. So guess what they try to do to their audience?
Local news:
1 - Start with Rapes, Murders and Robberies
2 - Then switch to local outrage or sad story over some issue with melodramatic reporting:
“Suzy had walked all the way to the cashier with her kids in tow, little did she know the express lane limit was 15 items, and because she grabbed two cans of tuna fish, she would be right at 16 items. Although the checker let her through without a word, this type of situation is all too common. We wanted to get the manager’s input on this and how we can come together as a community to try to…”
3 - Then sports - scores and highlight good - idiotic interviews with players and coaches bad
4 - Then weather - “it’s 62 degrees here, and if you walk 100 feet to the west it’s 61 degrees, and 70 feet north of that it’s 62 degrees, and then if you moved over here so you were in the shadow of this building it would be 60 degrees, but the other side of the building is 63 degrees…”
I get my news from articles on the internet where I can skip most and only read things I think are important. I skip most of the political theater but I do typically read up on significant issues.
If we don’t consume it, where will it all go? Inward and outward, polluting Earth and the cosmos. Yikes. Can our universe’s psychosphere survive such far-flung phrenetic flatulence? NO!
Suck up ALL newz at ALL times. Save the poor innocent Zeta Reticulans. Think of the hatchlings!
Also consider that media devices and products can serve as garden mulch. Bury your iPhone.
If being instantly informed of the most recent developments in the world never invokes an immediate effort on your part to influence the state of affairs, then there is zero value in being instantly informed.
Inane chatter within your circle of like-minded friends about Trump’s latest tweet does not count as “effort to influence the state of affairs”. Calling or writing to your elected officials, participating in a protest, fund-raising for candidates or charities, and numerous other activities do count, but those things do not rely on participants to know what events have transpired in the last five minutes. Having the news constantly live-streamed into your head will not make you a better citizen, and you should feel zero guilt for watching precious little of it.