It's no secret that keeping up to date with news and current affairs can be a huge drain on personal productivity. Especially nowadays where we are subjected the 24-hour news cycle where good journalism, analysis and nuanced, considered opinions are exchanged for rapid publication of content. You've probably seen it before: most 'breaking news' just tends to repeat the same things you've heard before but with interviews with people who are only vaguely connected to the story, or a lazy regurgitation of some human interest story from Reddit, or a bare bones article stuck together with grabs from opinionated Twits. As an aside: seriously, what is with this newfound reliance on the general public to provide 'newsworthy' content? If you want proof of this, just check a few random articles on news.com.au.
It's not just traditional news media that is culpable for lost time either. As I touched on, while social media is becoming increasingly used to provide content for publication, social media in itself is also guilty. With the almost innumerable social media platforms that exist, I can't help but think of the hours wasted idly looking at Internet memes or writing far too many goddamn hashtags.
To paraphrase Sideshow Bob, I'm aware of the irony of appearing on social media only to denounce social media. This post is not to say that all news and all social media is a useless waste of time. There are clearly benefits to both: staying in touch with people, finding out the big problems in the world and looking at ways to fix them, speaking truth to power etc. I want to stress that I'm not making a value judgement on reading the news or checking Facebook. My point is that, for me, the signal-to-noise ratio has become a bit too high, that there is too much clutter, that there is too much rough and not enough diamonds.
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Why form my own perspective like an idiot when the media tells me what to think?
Image Credit: http://www.avclub.com/ |
My observation of my own behaviour is that I don't consume these information sources responsibly and with restraint; in some respects, I think I'm rather addicted. Which is why I've decided to take a month off from news media - both traditional and social channels. For the entire month of May, I plan not to read any paper, check any news website or scan any social media platform. I plan to use the newly created free time to pursue personal endeavours, better process my own thoughts, and create my own content, rather than consuming it. I will still be updating this blog, but I will only be checking and/or responding to comments that are made to posts here.
For me personally, I don't see the benefits of voluminous consumption of news media outweighing the costs, but I'll make a full report in June.
