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I have stopped watching the news a few years ago. Occasionally i'll check it if something major happens, otherwise i'll hear the important things through others.
I must admit i am much happier since. So i rather know little :)
I’m doing my best to do exactly what you do. For over a decade I’ve been glued to the news and it leaves me anxious and bitter and wanting to retreat from society. It’s hard. Feels like there’s some sort of dopamine addiction, but for anxiety? I can’t stop looking away from the trainwreck.
Mind you, i still want to retreat from society :)
But also, my father died 4 years ago, my mother just two months ago. One learns to "not give a shit". They where 62 and 61 respectively. I'm 43.
Life's too short to worry about things you can't control. And since i can't control anything on the news, i stopped watching, and stopped caring.
I CAN control how i handle those around me. So i try to be as respectful and as friendly as i can be to those close by.
I’d rather know nothing. Ignorance is bliss. A lot of people here will disagree and that’s okay.
Learning more has only ever brought me anxiety. I’m not enlightened by knowing how lots of things work. It stresses me out. The big picture it paints isn’t a happy one or one that makes me feel safe or comfortable.
I was happiest when I was a toddler/ young child. I was a miserable teenager and horrific adult. I want to be dumb very dumb.
If we don't learn, then WTF are we doing with ourselves. The human existence is the pursuit of knowledge. The only depressing thing here, IMO, is the idea that living out a life as grazing cattle, concerned with nothing more than gorging oneself with the next meal is the only reason to live.
Comfortable? Sure. Self-actualized? Not a chance. There's more to life than living out only the most basic biological needs.
To you, learning is obviously a major drive in your life. To others, it’s the exact opposite.
And its not like you can only learn by watching the news 🙈
I learn plenty of things all day long. Just not from the news.
I was just talking to people about how those who didn't know Biden dropped out of the 2024 Presidential election must have either the hardest life where they have bigger problems, or the easiest life where they tune everything out.
The worlds a magical place when things just work and stuff just happens. Never study engineering lol.
Tfw I spent 2 years struggling through mechanical engineering before they kicked me out of the faculty
Knowledge is important. Wilful ignorance is a bad trait.
It's definitely a bad trait. However, I'm envious of how peaceful and happy the ignorant are.
Zappa said: stupidity has a certain charm, ignorance does not.
Know a lot. My main philosophy towards life is discovery and knowledge.
So you don't know enough to navigate the news therefore you'd rather know a little?
Isn't it better to know a lot so you can navigate news and everything else properly?
Or you stop navigating. Might mean you will end up living in an environment you do not like, but maybe at that point you don't even know it could be better.
You would probably just start disliking what they manipulate you into disliking, instead of what you actively discover as wrong.
Unless you cut all social contact, that is.
At birth.
Such a weird question. It's like asking if we prefer cake or kidney punches.
Know a lot. With so much misinformation these days, knowledge is incredibly important.
good propaganda makes you skeptical of all sources of information and one of the ultimate goals is you make you distrust the information from the people who are genuinely trying to help make this world a better place just as much information from known enemies.
I'd rather know a lot, because nowdays that's all I can have.
I'd like to have a deep understanding of a few things, a pretty good understanding of more things, a passing knowledge of a lot of things, and think it's impossible to know a whole lot about a whole lot of things.
I think it's fine to say you have not the means to evaluate the sources of "information" available to you, if it's not something immediately necessary to you. As I said to someone else, your time and attention are not unlimited resources. Better to use them on things that matter to you.
I don't watch the news, because it's not like you get unbiased facts - it's the entire behavior of the news anchors and the people, and the editing, that creates a form of programming of people's minds.
It's also almost 100% negative. And you can't affect anything.
I guess people watch it because they are scared of not knowing what's going on? I don't need to know what's going on. If I lived in Thailand, I would miss all western news and it wouldn't matter at all. So why not act like I live in Thailand.
Let me know if the news ever help someone feel better about themselves, or how to get better relationships, how to love people more. Because that's what my life is about. And how to have fun. :)
I'd like to know a lot assuming what I know is facts
The conflicting information is either someone's opinion or just straight up false, if you knew everything you'd know what was real and what was propaganda
It sort of depends on the topic. Some things I can do nothing about and I find them infuriating, perhaps to know nothing about. But generally speaking, I agree with the OP, not easy to find a reliable source of information despite the amount (or precisely because of the amount).
I would rather be misinformed than disinformed. Either way you have a chance to learn and grow, but at least with misinformation you can come by it honestly. Disinformation is far more grave of an issue
They say ignorance is bliss, so I'd probably be happier to know a little. Unfortunately, I already know more than a little and it's not easy to unlearn, so I guess I'm cursed with awareness now
However, if you only know a little then you're more susceptible to (dis/mis)information. That can have a tremendously negative impact on your quality of life - although I suppose you might not be aware of it
The world would be a better place if we all knew more about it. The only reason why knowledge is cursed is because with knowledge we see how unfairly a few humans treat each other
I wish I was a gas cloud with a dim awareness beyond mortal comprehension or a little bug that lives on a cactus flower. Something allowed to be ignorant and still fulfil its role in the universe. Unfortunately that wish is evil because we have to climb the chain of being forever.
If it makes you feel any better, on a universal scale we're as insignificant as bugs and I'm sure quite nearly as ignorant.
In the late 1800's someone said that we nearly know all that there is to know, look at what's happened since and I wouldn't be surprised at all if knowledge continued to increase a such a rate.
I completely diagree, the conscious part of the universe is the most important. We also have a terrible responsibility to guard it. We can't give ourselves up to personal satisfaction or serenity while most of humanity suffers. It's gleaming light completely overshadowed by pain.
You make a very good point.
However, some people would say despite the great suffering that some of us go through that ultimately, nothing matters. No matter the triumphs of humanity, a meteor could wipe it all out tomorrow and there would be but a trace that we ever even existed.
Your point also implies that we have freewill, whereas others would suggest that we only have what appears to be freewill. Whether you help those in need or you don't, your path is set.
this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2024
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