Am I alone? Or do others find themselves trying to actively disengage from the news?

[imoldernu]

Guess I'm an outlier. Time on my hands and have a concern for the world our kids and grandkids will be living in. Can't do much about it, but am encouraged by the direction that they're headed. All of them are balancing their "today" with a look to where our country is headed. They are many times more aware of the world around them than I ever was at their "college" age.

Not worried about ourselves, 'cuz we won't be around, but we reserve the time to try and understand what the future will hold for them.

 

[braumeister]

Moms in (your town) are using this one weird trick to be completely informed with accurate news about everything in less than a minute per day. Click here for details:


ETA: Oops, the link doesn't seem to be working now.

 

[audreyh1]

I agree, finding the organizations that matter to you and engaging is important. I meant "eyes and ears shut" by going about life without concern above and beyond the bubble I live in. No concern of local activity which can lead to larger negative issues.

For instance, a local coal company is lobbying to dump coal ash into one of our most beautiful, natural rivers. Investigating where our electricity is produced...I found it is 100% wind powered which is encouraging. Our local community is engaging in a solar push to bring down prices on solar installation. Getting involved and paying attention locally leads to better decisions nationwide.

Was anybody talking about no concern for local activity?

 

[Rianne]

Was anybody talking about no concern for local activity?

Oops, meant to quote Michael B.

News is local as well as national. OP did not distinguish between the two. I only provided examples of being locally involved. This forum provides individual financial choices and larger financial issues facing all of us. The thread allows us to voice individual opinions as well or the thread should be porky.

All the same to taxes and expenses we experience locally as well as the big picture. I hate my property taxes and share the individual cost to my budget. We all talk about how ACA affects us individually as well as nationally. Sorry, I don't see how this is different.

 

[MichaelB]

Oops, meant to quote Michael B.

News is local as well as national. OP did not distinguish between the two. I only provided examples of being locally involved. This forum provides individual financial choices and larger financial issues facing all of us. The thread allows us to voice individual opinions as well or the thread should be porky.

All the same to taxes and expenses we experience locally as well as the big picture. I hate my property taxes and share the individual cost to my budget. We all talk about how ACA affects us individually as well as nationally. Sorry, I don't see how this is different.

Plenty of opportunity to discuss ACA or any other issue that affects early retirement. Those issues deserve their own threads, though. My suggestion was to keep it out of this thread to avoid hijacking it.

 

[Rianne]

Plenty of opportunity to discuss ACA or any other issue that affects early retirement. Those issues deserve their own threads, though. My suggestion was to keep it out of this thread to avoid hijacking it.

Got it, I guess you're a moderator for a reason. The glue on my soapbox can be superglue sometimes. )

 

[ERD50]

.... For instance, a local coal company is lobbying to dump coal ash into one of our most beautiful, natural rivers. Investigating where our electricity is produced...I found it is 100% wind powered which is encouraging. Our local community is engaging in a solar push to bring down prices on solar installation. Getting involved and paying attention locally leads to better decisions nationwide.

As MichaelB says, this topic could/should be in its own thread, but there is something relevant to "the news", so let me try that angle briefly.

If your comment "Investigating where our electricity is produced..." refers to reading this from news/media sources, it goes to show how careful one must be. Your electricity is not 100% wind powered, no way. On a calm day, do you still have power? How's that work? ANSWER: It doesn't.

" a solar push to bring down prices on solar installation. " ?? A "solar push" would be increased demand. Economics 101 says increased demand raises prices. And why do they need solar if they are already getting all their power from wind

Any further comment should be in its own thread, I just wanted to point out that if you are getting this info from your news sources, you need new news sources (say that 10x fast!)!

-ERD50

 

[RobbieB]

The more semiconductors they make the cheaper they get. Cost decreases.

 

[ERD50]

The more semiconductors they make the cheaper they get. Cost decreases.

I'll start a thread on that, or find one of my old discussions later, don't want to derail this thread. But not to leave you hanging, it's the other way around.

-ERD50

 

[MichaelB]

So, let's agree to not hijack this discussion, let's all take it to to a new thread, but first make sure to express my view - in a thread critical of how information is presented. Is there some small degree of irony here?

 

[Just_Steve]

Nah, and I’m well aware of the latest “news.” Haters are still hating, and supporters are still supporters, entirely predictable - nothing new to see. Life goes on...

+1

 

[Rianne]

So, let's agree to not hijack this discussion, let's all take it to to a new thread, but first make sure to express my view - in a thread critical of how information is presented. Is there some small degree of irony here?

New thread started!

 

[kcowan]

Once in a while we spend the whole day in "radio silence". It seems like we have no effect on it so we can continue to do it responsibly. It is always a relief. This includes the internet. Sadly we still learn about the cave kids and the world cup because our friends talk about it.

 

[marko]

Just today I read where one should write down the "outrage of the week" in one's calendar 6 six weeks ahead and then revisit that outrage in 6 six weeks to see if it's still relevant.

 

[MichaelB]

Just today I read where one should write down the "outrage of the week" in one's calendar 6 six weeks ahead and then revisit that outrage in 6 six weeks to see if it's still relevant.

6 weeks? More like 6 days. At times, even hours

There is more and better information and analysis available to the average person than at any time in human history. It is empowering like never before.

There's also more slag. We just need to choose carefully and filter effectively.

 

[audreyh1]

Just today I read where one should write down the "outrage of the week" in one's calendar 6 six weeks ahead and then revisit that outrage in 6 six weeks to see if it's still relevant.

Right - a big part of what I am avoiding is the immediacy of it. Eventually I get around to catching up with what happened - the condensed version with most of the hype filtered out.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I find it very depressing, I wish they would all change the narrative. Report some proper news other than political stuff 24/7. Every year seems to be an election year nowadays. I agree that the Thai rescue was a refreshing break. As are other distractions.

 

[MichaelB]

A very short essay this past weekend in “The Guardian” https://www.theguardian.com/lifeand...re-informed-you-are-the-more-confused-you-are The middle paragraph, which I am sure many will identify with

This struggle isn’t over. In fact, it seems to me more difficult today than in the past to try to understand how the world is going, in order not to have to discover, in the end, that in our distraction we have been complicit with the dregs of the human race. The uninterrupted rain of news doesn’t help, books don’t help, the constantly new sociological terms that brilliantly simplify reality don’t help. Rather, I have the impression that today’s network of information, in both its print and digital manifestations, forces citizens into a sort of chaos, a condition in which the more informed you are, the more confused you are. For me, the problem is not, therefore, to stay well informed but to track within the mass of pointlessly amplified news that which will help me to distinguish, over time, the true and the false, the best and the worst: this is an extremely difficult task.

 

[kcowan]

and then there is the inevitable correction cycle caused by news sources rush to coverage before all the facts are known. Too bad for you if you saw the original and missed the correction.

 

[ERD50]

New thread started!

And here's a link to that thread...

http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/solar-wind-renewable-energy-92910.html

-ERD50

 

[audreyh1]

and then there is the inevitable correction cycle caused by news sources rush to coverage before all the facts are known. Too bad for you if you saw the original and missed the correction.

Right - that's why I know that I can pick the story up later which is likely to be far more accurate and usually with far less hype. Useless while it's "breaking" IMO.

I'm really not aware of a story that I need to know immediately, except for local disasters that threaten my safety - local weather, flooding, imminent hurricane, something bad blew up creating pollution, need to boil my water, etc.

OK - so we were out in the boonies camping when the Challenger disaster occurred. Tragic - I even knew at least one of the astronauts and I was very familiar with concerns about the tiles. So we leave the park and see flags at half mast and investigate. You find out the really bad news soon enough!

 

[Marita40]

That's a very apt quote MichaelB. Ironic that here we are in the "information" age and it is harder than ever to interpret news.

 

[ERD50]

A Question...

A question related to this. Does anyone have a source that breaks out the news for the week, based on minutes/hours dedicated to each story on the major networks?

I've heard talking heads reference these figures, saying things like 'the major networks spent x hours to story A, but only 10 minutes on story B'. But I have been unable to find a source for this.

And I mean specific stories, not just categories, like "weather", "local news", "economy", etc.

-ERD50

 

[GravitySucks]

I like to listen to the news on the radio maybe twice a week. I'll watch local news a couple times a week. Network news once a week. Have given up on the local paper, it's just awful now. Wish it was a good as it used to be.
I spent 16 days camping on a mountain this summer, no tv, no radio, no paper, very limited internet; full news black out. Came down the mountain and the world was still there. Same sources saying the same stuff.
Even the news I trust the most i find i need to guard against stories that are mostly agenda biased.
It really is just the filler between the commercials.

 

[ls99]

What is this "news" thing?


By the time the public gets the info, to the "in" crowd it is ancient history.