It’s Time for the “news Diet”
How often do you check the news? One time when you wake up, probably – and again before you start work, and again when you need a break from work, and another quick glance at lunch, and … well, you get the idea.
The problem is, most of the time, the news isn’t all that new . We are still in a pandemic. We are still in an economic crisis. We still don’t know when and how things will change.
Which means it might be time to change our own habits. In particular, our habit of circling the news and social media every hour in the hopes that we’ll see something that might help us feel better about all this uncertainty.
Because – as you probably already know – we are just as likely to see something that makes us worse. A speculative article about how bad the economy can get. A Twitter thread about whether it is safe to visit a public park, with multiple arguments in response. Review article on how poorly coped with the pandemic.
So it’s time to consider the news diet. For example, if you check your sites every hour, try checking them once or twice a day. Perhaps you read the news before work and after lunch (because you don’t want to strain yourself right before the break), and then impose a moratorium on news and social media until the next morning.
I know it will be difficult to stop reading the news, especially if this is your default method of relaxing your mind between work tasks, but since the news isn’t very relaxing right now, you don’t even give yourself a mental break. need. (This is just one of the many reasons it is so difficult to be productive these days.) Try to find something else to read and scroll when you need a break to read and scroll. I have found that when reading normal, comfortable e-books on my laptop or smartphone, scratches “I have to look and click on some non-work-related words” are itchy without exposing me to news and social media. cycles of conjectures and alarms.
If you listen to podcasts, look for a few non-news podcasts, or consider finding something else to listen to. (At this point, I unsubscribed from most of my previously favorite podcasts, replacing them with classic albums from Broadway artists and bands that I listened to as a teenager.) If you like to turn on the TV as background noise, watch Game Show instead of CNN. If social media is a way to stay in touch with friends and family, tweak your subscription lists until they only contain people you really care about, and consider blocking certain worrisome words so they don’t appear in your feeds.
Because when there is news worth knowing, whether it’s an active vaccine or another round of stimulus money, trust us, you will find out.