News-free Trial
I've just completed a two week news-free trial period. That means I didn't read or otherwise learn about any news stories during that time.
The only things I missed that I consider worth knowing about were an earthquake and a typhoon. The rest was not important, as far as I can see (I may have missed someting vital though!) and would mostly have been depressing anyway. After all, nobody's going to report about positive things - they aren't considered serious enough.
What is the point of the news anyway? To keep you informed of the news? Or to keep you worried about things you can't change?
The news that applies to you is the news worth knowing - if this does include any international events then fine, you should know about them.
The news that applies to you is the news that you can change. Maybe you can't stop a war but you can stop all the people you meet from having a war. It might not change the whole world but it changes the part of the world that you touch.
If some people tried this then something might improve. It only needs some, not all - that's the good thing about it. If all are willing to help then that's the way to go, but as each person touches a lot of lives, there is an area of influence that can be quite effective (depending on the interference to the signal).
So that's what I recommend. Do what you can. If you want to do more, learn how. Keep your eye on real events. Live now.
It's worth knowing about international events, but we can only read stories about them, and that is not always the same as knowing about the thing itself. News sources are not there to tell us news, they are there to take our money and keep us entertained so they can continue to take our money. Is that the sort of information you can trust?
There is a limited commitment in certain parts of the media to distributing the truth - that's the only part worth following in my opinion. But I found over the last two weeks that there's no real need to check the news 30 times per day. It feels important or useful but it's not really contributing anything to your effectiveness. If you are one of these people then I would say just check occasionally and concentrate on making news yourself. Good news, by the way!
Think about what would be an important story to you. Bank robbed in Ontario? Mars shows traces of water? Elusive gecko variety photographed? Your daughter gets another tooth? The tax people have made a mistake and you are getting some money back?
Just think about it.
If you care about what's happening to other people and the world, you have to make this information contribute to your effectiveness. It has to be information, not just a noise of facts.
Be safe, peoples!!
The only things I missed that I consider worth knowing about were an earthquake and a typhoon. The rest was not important, as far as I can see (I may have missed someting vital though!) and would mostly have been depressing anyway. After all, nobody's going to report about positive things - they aren't considered serious enough.
What is the point of the news anyway? To keep you informed of the news? Or to keep you worried about things you can't change?
The news that applies to you is the news worth knowing - if this does include any international events then fine, you should know about them.
The news that applies to you is the news that you can change. Maybe you can't stop a war but you can stop all the people you meet from having a war. It might not change the whole world but it changes the part of the world that you touch.
If some people tried this then something might improve. It only needs some, not all - that's the good thing about it. If all are willing to help then that's the way to go, but as each person touches a lot of lives, there is an area of influence that can be quite effective (depending on the interference to the signal).
So that's what I recommend. Do what you can. If you want to do more, learn how. Keep your eye on real events. Live now.
It's worth knowing about international events, but we can only read stories about them, and that is not always the same as knowing about the thing itself. News sources are not there to tell us news, they are there to take our money and keep us entertained so they can continue to take our money. Is that the sort of information you can trust?
There is a limited commitment in certain parts of the media to distributing the truth - that's the only part worth following in my opinion. But I found over the last two weeks that there's no real need to check the news 30 times per day. It feels important or useful but it's not really contributing anything to your effectiveness. If you are one of these people then I would say just check occasionally and concentrate on making news yourself. Good news, by the way!
Think about what would be an important story to you. Bank robbed in Ontario? Mars shows traces of water? Elusive gecko variety photographed? Your daughter gets another tooth? The tax people have made a mistake and you are getting some money back?
Just think about it.
If you care about what's happening to other people and the world, you have to make this information contribute to your effectiveness. It has to be information, not just a noise of facts.
Be safe, peoples!!
posted by Philip Howard at 4:28 PM
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