Stop watching/reading the news?

[Waffle]

"Pretty much all the issues reported on TV and in the newspapers are beyond your circle of influence. As such, you can’t help solve those problems, and so it’s a waste of your time and energy to worry about them. You’d be infinitely better off using that time and energy to solve problems in your own life and community."

6 Reasons why you should stop watching the news

I've been thinking that I spend way too much time watching and reading the news.   So I googled "stop watching the news" and this is one of the articles that came up.  Other reasons included that the news is depressing and you'll never know it all, anyway.

So, what say you?  Discuss.

[msventoux]

I'm not a news hound.  I read the headlines online and any articles I find interesting online.  I browse a couple of national news sites daily, and a couple of local ones. 

I find it maddening when people have the news on 24/7.  Of course you're (the royal you, not anyone here specifically) going to be pissed off, upset at the world, and convinced the end is near if you have that crap on a continuous loop.  Get a different hobby....volunteer and actually get off your ass to make the world a better place instead of being spoon fed a particular view point that ties in to your existing prejudices - right or left leaning. 

Can you tell non-stop news consumption without actually using any critical thinking skills is one of my pet peeves? 

[Anne_in_VA]

I have a friend who does not have any interests other than watching the news and/or shows about politics.  That's all she ever talks about and I've had to institute a "no politics" policy when we are together.  I have talked to her about getting into something else, but she says she isn't interested in doing anything else.

Part of it is she struggles financially but makes no effort to improve her skills so she can get a better job, so she can't afford to go out and do anything which costs money.  Of course, she's becoming the "cat" lady in her neighborhood.  There are a feral cats she's befriended and feeds, but she won't trap and spay or neuter them.  She spends over $100 a month on cat food - the good kind 'cause she says they have to have it.

[Blonde Granny]

I didn't watch the national news for the past 8 years and the world events went on without me. Today, I have too many worthwhile activities that fill my days and just like the past 8 years, I'm not going to spend my free time watching the news now. There is nothing I can do to change things, and I don't believe the world as we know it is going to end because we have a new President. Well it might have if the other one was elected, but she lost, so let's move on.

[saveinla]

I watch BBC news on Public Television and try to also watch local and world news on CBS between 6-7. I don't have cable and am not home enough to watch, so that's solves the problem for me. 

My DH used to have the news as background noise when he worked from home and used to be all up in arms about everything in the country when I came home. After he stopped watching the news constantly, he has been feeling much better.

I get the paper on Sunday and it's enough for me to read until the next Sunday - and we always have this website if I wanted additional information.

[alabamagal]

I am a firm believer in being informed on what's going on in the world.

But I also think you can watch too much news and it can make you lose perspective.

My MIL is one person that I think needs to watch less TV news programs.  She is 79, lives by herself and a very modest income, mostly only leaves the house to go to church a couple of times a week.  She lives in a far suburb of Atlanta, and gets the Atlanta local news.  When DH talks to her it is always "The world is so terrible now, people are killing others all the time, there are car wrecks on the interstate every day, lots of people are dying, there are a lot more terrible diseases, this never happened in the good old days."  And this was before the recent election news  .

She tells my husband to not let my son drive through Atlanta on his way back to college because it is too dangerous.  Rapes, child abductions never happened in the good old days.  My DH will argue with her that they did, and give her specific examples.  People were always nice to each other (ok lets just totally forget about the civil rights unrest in her part of the world).

I do not normally speak to my MIL, all of this has to go through my poor DH.  She will be at our house for 3 days for the holidays, I will require several 6=packs of beer (hidden from her of course since drinking is evil)

[Tiny]

I think you need to determine what kind of "news" you want to consume. I prefer to not know which celebrities are sleeping together or what they wore out and about. I also avoid the news on regular TV (I don't have cable) - because it's not really news - it's 20 second sound bytes interspersed between commericials and playful banter between the newscasters.

I don't think you can be "informed" about much of anything by this kind of news.

I would like to be informed - and I'm fully aware that any news outlet will be biased (nothing wrong with that). I consume national/international news generally in print (newspapers), I find NPR (radio) to be entertaining and to provide another view of the news.


Judging from an "anonymous" video that puts forth basic Econ 101 material as some sort of "well kept secret" that the "haves" want to keep from the "have nots" that popped up on my FB feed (and got a lot of attention) I have to assume that many people barely have a basic level of knowledge at their disposal and THAT is what makes the world seem so treacherous and dangerous.   They have little basic information.     It is a Demon Haunted world

(I had 3, yes 3 basic Econ 101 courses - first in the horrible primitive HS I went to, then again at the Jr. College (because I needed to fill a business 'course' requirement) and then a bunch of years later I had to take another 'business' course as a requirement to get my BA at night school).  

[Tiny]

I'm not really sure that Network TV news - counts as news...

[sesfw]

for the next couple of years watching news will be strictly limited to local and international news with my remote at the ready.

Wow .......... I've been doing this for the last 8 years.  bho and hc are automatically muted.

[Deleted]

I'm not a big news watcher.  My son is supposed to watch the National news every night for 5 nights in a row for a merit badte.  I don't even know where to find the National news!  The 10:00 news is mostly local and we don't have cable.  The last couple nights I've just had him go through the US site on the BBC news page. 

[Waffle]

Nov 18, 2016 23:16:29 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I'm not a big news watcher.  My son is supposed to watch the National news every night for 5 nights in a row for a merit badte.  I don't even know where to find the National news!  The 10:00 news is mostly local and we don't have cable.  The last couple nights I've just had him go through the US site on the BBC news page. 

try 6:30 p.m eastern on ABC CBS or NBC.

[Gardening Grandma]

Nov 18, 2016 17:16:19 GMT -5 saveinla said:

I watch BBC news on Public Television and try to also watch local and world news on CBS between 6-7. I don't have cable and am not home enough to watch, so that's solves the problem for me. 

My DH used to have the news as background noise when he worked from home and used to be all up in arms about everything in the country when I came home. After he stopped watching the news constantly, he has been feeling much better.

I get the paper on Sunday and it's enough for me to read until the next Sunday - and we always have this website if I wanted additional information.

I watch BBC news on Public Television and try to also watch local and world news on CBS between 6-7.

I follow BBC online and prefer CBS for world news.   i think tryimg to see things from the international view is useful.  When we were in Europe in Sep, it was refreshing to read and watch the news.

[Gardening Grandma]

I have pretty much stopped watching cable news. I mute it when the facist, sexist, racist one appears.

Subscribe to the NY Times and the Atlantic. Will probably subscribe to. the Wa Post.

I'm torn between the desire to be an informed person and the desire to maintain my sanity

[NoNamePerson]

I get all my news from TMZ. 

[Deleted]

Nov 18, 2016 23:36:06 GMT -5 Waffle said:

Nov 18, 2016 23:16:29 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I'm not a big news watcher.  My son is supposed to watch the National news every night for 5 nights in a row for a merit badte.  I don't even know where to find the National news!  The 10:00 news is mostly local and we don't have cable.  The last couple nights I've just had him go through the US site on the BBC news page. 

try 6:30 p.m eastern on ABC CBS or NBC.

Well, we tried the early news and it was still all local stuff.  There was a minute or two of Trump making nice with Romney and that was it. 

[Phoenix84]

While I think it is important to stay abreast of what's going on in the world, I do think it's healthy to step back from it and keep it at arm's length.  

[Phoenix84]

Nov 19, 2016 17:46:53 GMT -5 Gardening Grandma said:

I have pretty much stopped watching cable news. I mute it when the facist, sexist, racist one appears.

Subscribe to the NY Times and the Atlantic. Will probably subscribe to. the Wa Post.

I'm torn between the desire to be an informed person and the desire to maintain my sanity

That's pretty much what I did all throughout the Obama Administration, did everything I could to not hear him speak.  I knew it would upset me and why put yourself through that?

Though to be honest, I don't think I'll do much more listening to Trump than I did Obama, the whole mess with politics is too depressing either way.

[Waffle]

tvlistings.zap2it.com/tvlistings/ZBLocalize.do?aid=zap2it


minnesotapaintlady, it really shouldn't be this hard.  Sometimes the "national"  news doesn't come on on weekends.   I want you to go to the website in the link above.   Enter your zip code.  It will probably give you some choices - if you have to pick the local cable company - you'll get a bunch of info that doesn't apply, but that is ok.   Then I want you to enter in the search World news tonight.   "World news tonight" is the name of ABC's national news.   It should tell you when it next comes on and on what channel.   Good luck!



If all else fails ask somebody at work Monday,  you've got to know somebody who watches the national news on network TV.

[Deleted]

I looked up World News Tonight on that website with my zip code and an antenna, and it just lists Sunday nights from 5:30-6:00.  He's supposed to watch the national news for 5 nights in a row. 

I think most people just read it on the internet or watch news channels like CNN or Fox News.

[Waffle]

Nov 19, 2016 20:20:55 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

I looked up World News Tonight on that website with my zip code and an antenna, and it just lists Sunday nights from 5:30-6:00.  He's supposed to watch the national news for 5 nights in a row. 

I think most people just read it on the internet or watch news channels like CNN or Fox News.

Maybe you had some sort of date filter on.(like next 24 hours)

[Deleted]

Nov 19, 2016 20:30:54 GMT -5 Waffle said:

Maybe you had some sort of date filter on.(like next 24 hours)

[Virgil Showlion]

Doesn't this whole thread constitute a personal attack on the Politics/CE forum?

[Waffle]

Nov 19, 2016 20:38:03 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Nov 19, 2016 20:30:54 GMT -5 Waffle said:

Maybe you had some sort of date filter on.(like next 24 hours)

Ok, trying clicking on both options (with and without David Muir) and see if you get more times.

[Waffle]

Nov 19, 2016 21:58:04 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Doesn't this whole thread constitute a personal attack on the Politics/CE forum?

I've been fairly active over there lately. As the person who started this thread, I must be attacking myself.

[Deleted]

Nov 19, 2016 22:12:46 GMT -5 Waffle said:

Nov 19, 2016 20:38:03 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Ok, trying clicking on both options (with and without David Muir) and see if you get more times.

Ah!  The WITH David Muir one has every night and they have the old episodes online, so he can get caught up and have his 5 nights in before his meeting tomorrow.  Thank you!

eta:  crap.  No, he can't watch them online without paying.  Oh well.  He can watch live starting Monday and get that requirement done later.

[Waffle]

Yeah! Success. Too bad you have to pay for the old episodes, but at least he can get the requirement done eventually.

[Virgil Showlion]

Nov 19, 2016 22:15:01 GMT -5 Waffle said:

Nov 19, 2016 21:58:04 GMT -5 Virgil Showlion said:

Doesn't this whole thread constitute a personal attack on the Politics/CE forum?

I've been fairly active over there lately. As the person who started this thread, I must be attacking myself.

Self loathing.

[Tennesseer]

Nov 19, 2016 22:47:24 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Nov 19, 2016 22:12:46 GMT -5 Waffle said:

Ok, trying clicking on both options (with and without David Muir) and see if you get more times.

Ah!  The WITH David Muir one has every night and they have the old episodes online, so he can get caught up and have his 5 nights in before his meeting tomorrow.  Thank you!

eta:  crap.  No, he can't watch them online without paying.  Oh well.  He can watch live starting Monday and get that requirement done later.

The reason why Saturday (today) news on ABC at 5:30 p.m. was not showing up was because of a football game. Same with CBS and NBC weekend news at 5:30 p.m. .

[tallguy]

Nov 18, 2016 18:06:18 GMT -5 sesfw said:

for the next couple of years watching news will be strictly limited to local and international news with my remote at the ready.

Wow .......... I've been doing this for the last 8 years.  bho and hc are automatically muted.

Interesting.  You automatically mute Obama and Clinton yet you presumably listen to Trump, by far the biggest liar and one of the most immature and mean-spirited of all.    

[sesfw]

I've muted bho for 8 years ... and during the 2008 campaign I muted both of them.

I'll mute trump IF AND WHEN it is warranted.  So far I'm willing to wait and see.