I Stopped Letting the News Consume Me

An article came across Hacker News that caught my attention titled “In 2017, I’m going to stop watching the news”. I was intrigued because I too resolved to change the amount of “news” that was blasted at me on a daily basis. That’s why on December 31st, I permanently deleted my Facebook account, slimmed down the number of accounts I follow on Twitter, and started adding filters to tweets in my timeline.

I have friends who enjoy voicing their opinions about political and social issues. More power to them, but I am choosing happiness over news. Mattias points out that a single individual cannot do anything about major events that the news covers. I take it a step further and say that worrying about these events will not change anything. So why waste my precious time with family and friends worrying things I cannot affect directly?

It’s worth mentioning that I read the comments on this post. Many are trying to say that ignoring the news will make you ignorant of the world around you, but this simply is not true. The title of this post is not “I’m blocking all news, ever”, it’s “I Stopped Letting the News Consume Me”. Unless you live a completely disconnected life and do not socialize with others, you will hear about the news one way or another.

I realize I’m creating a bubble around myself filled with what I care about (technologies like JavaScript and Swift). But this bubble makes me a happier person which, in turn, helps me be a more empathetic and caring individual. It also allows me to focus on my family, carrier, and things I enjoy doing more.