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Want to Really Make America Great Again? Stop Reading the News
Stop watching cable news, it’s bad for you.
Stop filtering the world through social media, it’s a cesspool.
Turn off those breaking news alerts on your phone — none of them are as important as you think.
But isn’t it my responsibility to be an informed citizen?
Absolutely.
The problem is, we’ve fooled ourselves into thinking that endless news consumption is how you stay “informed”.
About 15 years ago, I made an abrupt turn in my life. Souring on the marketing world, I wrote Trust Me, I’m Lying, a book about media manipulation. Although a lot has changed since it came out in 2012 (and a lot has changed since the updated edition in 2017), it’s alarming how relevant the book continues to be. It was, if anything, ahead of its time. Today, we are awash not just with fake news but with too much news, period. Too much information. Too much noise.
I had a few aims with that book but one of my hopes was that when people saw how the sausage was made, they would eat a lot less sausage (and certainly less factory-farmed sausage).
Yet here we are — across the political spectrum — consuming way too much of it. No wonder we’re miserable! No wonder we’re overwhelmed. No wonder we’re easier to manipulate than ever.
In some countries, like Finland, they teach kids media literacy and how to spot propaganda (largely due to their border with Russia). But the rest of the world? We’re just not equipped for the environment we are in.
And that’s my argument today: If you want to make a positive difference in the world — or simply maintain your sanity — you need to step back. You need to learn how to be more philosophical — which means being more discerning about what you let into your mind and learning how to see the big picture, calmly and with perspective.
As I said, being informed is essential. The problem is that breaking news isn’t about informing you. It’s about grabbing and holding your attention — news that is, by definition, not the complete story. It is almost certainly going to be changed as events unfold. George S. Trow observed this decades ago: “Notice that the news is…
Written by Ryan Holiday
Bestselling author of ‘Conspiracy,’ ‘Ego is the Enemy’ & ‘The Obstacle Is The Way’ http://amzn.to/24qKRWR
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