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The original was posted on /r/newzealand by /u/Xandax_ on 2024-10-03 04:09:05+00:00.
There's been a lot of discussion recently, in this subreddit in particular, about people's general emotions while consuming new stories, usually negative. A piece of advice that gets parroted a lot is "You can't control it, so ignoring it is the best course of action"
I don't inherently disagree with this sentiment, but people regurgitate this advice so often, it has lost it's nuance. Not being informed about current events has it's own problems and consequences, albeit different from being stressed out about reading the news, but it does have them, and almost no one parroting this advice acknowledges these downsides.
What are these downsides? If you can't think of any downsides of being purposely ignorant of current events, for whatever reason, let me help you out.
- There are some topics that news covers can and will impact you directly, and being purposefully unaware might make dealing with these issues harder than it should be, because you're unaware of their of their presence in the first place. Public health emergencies, potential natural disasters, changes in law/policies, just for example.
- Being informed is an essential part of participating in a democracy. Civil engagement thrives on awareness and discussion, and depends on the public understanding the issues at stake. The main way this happens is by informing people through the news. If you choose to purposefully ignore the news, you weaken your ability to participate in this way.
- Ignorance makes people more vulnerable to misinformation. You're more likely to believe false or exaggerated information without questioning it's validity, as you don't have anything to reference or a baseline. If you're informed, you're less likely to notice changes and understand their implications, both small and far-reaching.
Not all of these downsides are guaranteed to happen, but being aware of them being a possibility is important. Are they better than being stressed out? That's not my place to say, we're all different people, and I'm not living your life. But, ironically, to ignore their existence could make the effects of these and other downsides much greater, rather than if you were aware of them.
Personally, one reason I keep up with the news is that it helps me foster a sense of social responsibility. Nothing has caused greater motivation for me to advocate for justice and equality by understanding the struggles people face and the consequences of political action. I understand not everyone might feel that way though, hence why there are so many posts about stressing out while reading the news.
And to quickly dismiss the common comments I've seen about this topic, here's a quick rundown.
"The news is entertainment, and I don't enjoy it"
This is so disingenuous, it infuriates me, the news is NOT entertainment. A mod of this subreddit said this to me, which is even more disheartening. The purpose of entertainment is to bring fun and joy to it's consumers. The purpose of the news is providing up-to-date information about current events. The news can be entertaining, and there can be news about entertainment media (movies, TV, e.t.c), but the purpose of the news is to spread information, not to entertain.
Sure, you can find your job entertaining, but your job's purpose is whatever you're employed for. You can make chores entertaining, but their purpose isn't to entertain you, it's to perform house maintenance.
"Oh, but they only report on negativity"
It's a shame that we live in a world where these negative things are happening, but they aren't the only things happening. There are absolutely positive news stories about there, it's a shame they are greatly outnumbered by the negative ones, though. They often require digging slightly deeper into things.
This may come as a shock to some people, but there are many many different places you can find news online. Different outlets will cater to different audiences with different topics. If you find yourself checking the same news outlet over and over again, maybe try searching for other news outlets, or different topics. Don't let the algorithm dictate your news feed for you, curate it yourself.
"Oh, those events on the other side of the world, they don't effect me"
I understand you don't live in the US/Europe/wherever, you have no control over those actions in those countries, but in today's world, some events that are happening on the other side of the world have ripple effects that impact us locally. If you don't want to accept that, that's on you, but it's a consequence of globalisation. We may be some tiny islands at the bottom of the world, but we're still a part of it.
TL,DR; If keeping up with the news stresses you out too much, you can actively ignore it. But acknowledge that you're becoming purposely ignorant of current events, which has it's own consequences, different from being stressed out about the news.
