This is "Live, Laugh, Love" levels of pseudo-enlightenment.
It is important to know what's happening in the world. It is important to know about decisions being made that affect the country you live in, and it is astonishingly ignorant to assume that politics and media are as bad where I live as you seem to think they are where you live.
As for the news, I can understand the notion of a diet. I try and catch at least some of the PBS Newshour each day. It’s the closest thing I’ve found to unsensational, non-editorialized, old-fashioned reporting. If I’m pressed for time, I catch the news summary.
Truthfully, I consume a bit more reporting than just that, but when I start feeling overwhelmed, the PBS Newshour is my diet.
The hardware hacker community (think Hackaday types) on Twitter is pretty awesome and a lot of fun to follow.
Stuff like the below comes through all the time, and the discussions with people making things are great.
https://twitter.com/MrRobotBadge/status/1212038632246251520 https://twitter.com/johndmcmaster/status/1211923709910376449 https://twitter.com/mifune/status/1168604582748073986
I’m skeptical that the news industry has such significant deviation in outcomes globally, especially while having similar business models.
I’m genuinely curious: is there a particular news source you’ve found that delivers on evaluating global events/decisions, selecting the most relevant/important ones, and explaining them in an educational/useful manner?
The news is in the business of calling attention to things. Whether that attention is informative or useful is not something they take responsibility for.
Watch journalists when they are interviewed, they have a familiar line: they are calling attention to an issue - that’s their job - whether or not it is important is up to the reader.
When I get caught up in the drama of news I use Journalism 101 to remind myself I’m not actually gaining information in exchange for my attention:
A. Is this story about an event that has occurred (or is it speculation or reporting the speculations of others)?
B. Is the coverage establishing what occurred with independently verifiable facts? (Extra points if you can then find those verifications easily).
C. Does it bring context from people who have been directly effected by that event?
D. What did you learn about the nature of that event that you didn’t already know?
When I applied basic journalistic standards to my news consumption, it went down precipitously.
One can arguably be better informed about what is going on in the world and the decisions that are being made by focusing on building.
Builders share what is going on in the world with each other - such as discoveries that can help solve common challenges.
They share decisions that can effect their ability to solve problems - like new regulations and laws.
Chasing some global perspective that we must constantly keep up-to-date on, that’s the fantasy.
Building, as grandparent suggests, is how we engage with the world around us.
RTE, The Irish Times, The Guardian, The Economist, The Financial Times have fairly good, fairly trustworthy reporting on a wide range of topics.
All have their strengths and weaknesses, to be sure, and the selection in an of itself shows my own biases and worldview to an extent.
I generally don't want to read through a newspaper and agree with everything in it, because then either the content has been dull to the point of tedium, or I've just created an echo chamber for myself where I learn nothing new and I'm not challenged enough about the downsides of whatever opinion I hold.
The Economist has some of the best reporting I've seen on Central Asia, for example, but I often disagree with the more libertarian editorial lines they take on many issues. I'm not nearly as left wing as the Guardian, but they do great work highlighting social injustices that I might otherwise ignore if I'm mainly reading business news.
Their client is bad and they mostly killed off good third party clients. I build my own client to solve this, most people can't or wont.
I want a client that prioritizes the things I follow and read the most (i.e. everyday), @newsyc50 or @newycombinator, @zerohedge, @arstechnica, @techmeme, @pkedrosky. @kdnuggets, @reuters, @variety, @politico. @zerohedge is the controversial one of the bunch. My client shows counters on unread messages for each so I know when new tweets are available and they are one click away.
Next I surface trends from the larger body of follows I'm interested in but don't have time to read. I process everything through spaCy and use its increasingly very good entity recognition to find the trending topics in my feed, much better than Twitter's BS trending. When something is tweeted from 5 or 6 places its a trend I may be interested in. I can adjust this threshold up and down.
I lookup each entity in a local Wikipedia database so if its someone or something famous its one click to read about them in depth. If there is no match its probably someone or something new to the Internet which is also interesting to know.
You need a critical mass of follows for this to work, like several thousand. It is a chore to find several thousand interesting people and organizations to follow. Most people aren't going to do this work which is why most people hate Twitter. Following that many is also noisy so you need a client that prioritizes for signal.
Don't read replies to a tweet unless its really interesting, there are a few interesting replies but they are usually pointless, noisy and/or toxic.
Filter out replies by people you follow most of the time. Most of the time. though not always, these replies are noisy and uninteresting.
I have a smooth scrolling feed I just look at to see what everyone is talking about. It was a bit of of a pain to implement when they killed off the stream API, though I replaced it by polling the feed just below rate limit.
I poll everyone I follow if the client has been off for a while to fill the holes in my timeline.
What made you think so?
Don't get me wrong, I don't disagree per sé. But I find it harder and harder to find reasons.
It's mostly not. The vast majority of daily political yammering and scandals has no effect.
People mostly use politics as a way to dodge real problems in their life that they could be solving. You see this most clearly with the way people bat about words like "capitalism" into nonsense definitions. Their criticisms are almost always manifestations of personal issues.
More generally, people mature when they stop believing politics will solve their problems. It is very sad to see people who spend years hoping their candidate will get into office to reorder the world for them (spoiler, they won't), when they could change how they live today to actually reflect their own values.
As for breaking news, etc. If its actually important, it will get to you anyway, I promise.
You don't have to spend time on Twitter, but if you're looking for internet places to go like the OP is, you can find things there that you will never find elsewhere. I'm answering his question sincerely. You can make new friends and start new collab projects through places like Twitter and Hacker News. I've done it! You're not gonna get that reading CNN or BBC or whatever. You're probably not going to get any actionable, meaningful information from news sources like those, especially day to day.
Twitter is 100% amazing, hugely underrated, and a return to the mode of being that we had pre-1500's, where most knowledge was obtained through dialogue instead of one-way broadcasts, and I will die on that hill.
In pre-modern times one talked to more people, sometimes in a single day, than one would ever read in one's lifetime. Today it's the opposite: we will always read/see/hear from more sources that we cannot converse with than we will ever speak to. Twitter allows you great opportunity for dialogue again. It's the first social network that's gotten good at this way of interacting.
Declining to read news sites and ignoring capital P Politics is not hiding in a hole. Perhaps its having priorities that are too different than the ones you're used to, but if that's the case I hope it gives you pause.
For instance, it’s been argued that the “low-information” Twitter bubble is partly culpable for Hillary’s loss.
Having read your assertions here and your link, it seems your premise is based on a misunderstanding of historical and modern sociology of both conversation and information propagation.
You’re focusing on mass media as though it replaced conversation. It’s not at all clear that it did.
People still converse verbally as much as they used to, but with today’s mobility patterns the interlocutors they encounter in person both among acquaintances and at random today are more diverse than those they rubbed shoulders with 500 years ago. And each of those can converse with a more diverse group in turn.
By sifting through and following a subset of Twitter, you’re (however unintentionally) narrowing your aperture, and you tend to end up consuming bon mots like bonbons rather than engaging in deeper dialog opportunistically or spontaneously.
Before Twitter, its mode of communication was called micro-casting:
https://study.com/academy/lesson/microcasting-definition-exa...
You’ve drawn a line between TV or radio and Twitter as though it’s conversational, but once you account for the ratio of pub to sub, from followed to followers, you see it’s not the same mode as conversation. On the contrary, you’ve just self-selected your own personalized micro-channel, and are recommending others do the same to the exclusion of thoughtfully curated information from a long evolving school of journalistic practice.
At the same time, despite Netflix, Twitter, or Facebook, the art of serious and coherent conversation endures, ideally informed by both individual interests and shared news of significance:
https://www.economist.com/special-report/2006/12/19/chatteri...
From the town crier to the newsprint to today’s subscriptions to Reuters, ProPublica, economist, guardian, wapo, nyt, etc. (see link for independent sources), curated and contextualized news has informed local conversation, national debate, and societal outcomes.
https://soapboxie.com/social-issues/A-Real-Need-for-the-Real...
That value is being challenged by advertising driven content mills, which degrades the quality of news, but selecting vetted journalistic sources is not particularly different from selecting which Twitter quipsters to follow.
Some sources are tilting at the ad supported windmill, trying to find alternative economic models for journalism:
https://blog.joincivil.com/the-value-of-journalism-1c0e6905f...
To quote from that link, “... at the end of the day, we live in the real world. It’s what makes journalism so essential and durable: a free society’s demand to know what’s happening will never cease.“
It's silly to act like tabloid press and opinion pieces by vested interests are the same as dry fact-based reporting on the passage of bills through a parliament.
My country has had coalition or minority governments since my parents were children, and we don't have first past the post voting. People here don't have "their candidate" as such either, because we have multi seat constituencies. People increasingly don't even have a political party (of which there are several) that they reliably vote for.
I disagree very strongly with the notion that people mature when they effectively give up on politics. That's a dangerous message. People mature (for good or ill) when they put time and effort into making changes to their communities that affect others, whether that's getting a new bus stop, rezoning land, or changing laws or tax rates in some direction. That stuff is always and inevitably political.
Not day to day perhaps, but I did once learn from the news that a certain French airline company had just gone bankrupt. This was about a month before I intended to fly with them, so I had enough time to rebook the tickets, avoiding the stress and additional expenses. Learning about this bankruptcy in time was very helpful, as the company did not care enough to send a warning email to its customers, so if it were not for the breaking news headline, I would have to buy the replacement tickets on a much shorter notice.
Skimming through the headlines can pay off in some unexpected ways, and does not take too much time/effort.
No thanks.
It's worse than that. What they are advocating is surrounding yourself with a comforting bubble that feeds you a steady dose of pablum that confirms your existing biases. Twitter has been an extraordinary source of ignorance bubbles and has been an extremely negative force on the conveyance of accurate information.
A couple of weeks ago the GP had the top post to a story about the oceans warming, which is remarkably telling given this post. In it they casually dismissed the report of the world's scientists, paraded an ignorant counter-conclusion, and called it a day. This is straight from the AGW-denier playbook and you can see in the GP exactly how such people are made -- "Ignore what your eyes and ears are telling you. Listen to what the tiny subsection of ignorant people are pitching".
Their philosophy is how the world got "pizzagate". Where people like Jordan Peterson have cults.
The dose makes the poison. If it's important, you'll hear about it. 99% of what you think of as important you will have forgotten in ten years. Look at old newspapers, old news magazines and it will give you a healthy dose of perspective.
I disagree with the Twitter part but the rest is great advice. You can fill your life with consuming (even if it feels important, like today's news) or you can fill your life with creating. The choice is yours.
Plenty of despots sent plenty of soldiers over cobblestones carefully set into the ground.
Though I do agree that following news reports over every gaff and tweet are pointless, even if they are entertaining. Understanding the pros and cons of something like the Trans Pacific Partnership is valuable though. Some people in our society need to be informed and there is a dearth of computer literate people in our political parties, at least here in Canada.
(full disclosure: I'm active in local politics, I was appointed to the bicycle-pedestrian committee for failure to keep my mouth shut)
Note that on the big scale, for 99% of people, their political options mostly consist of voting, and even the most careful reading of daily news isn't going to change their voting patterns. They've already decided what they think is best for the world. You can still vote without participation in the looney bin machine, if that's your preference. If you want to change people's minds, even politically, the best way to do it is probably not repeating political (news) stuff, but actually living a certain way.
> push for issues that you care about to make the world better for everyone.
Yes. Or make it worse, if you get it wrong :) (cue Seeing Like a State, etc)
Who ever said that? Assuming that you are an adult, the you're completely capable of participating in both local and non-local government. For whatever that's worth to you
It's impossible to make the world better for everyone, just those you care about (and that's only if you're fortunate enough to not trigger counterproductive secondary effects).
That said, I think GP is suggesting that you take your antenna out of the waveguide of impotent turmoil and bickering and focus your attention and energy on intentional, concrete objectives. Actually meeting with a representative to drive an objective forward is exactly in line with what is being suggested.
I agree 100 %.
Your comment reminds me of these two comics : [1] & [2] which I love and revisit from time to time.
1: https://zenpencils.com/comic/50-neil-gaiman-make-good-art/
2: https://zenpencils.com/comic/119-john-green-make-gifts-for-p...
The tech that we create is starting to reveal the nefarious side of its uses and that is unfortunately real. The standards and rules put in place to keep them safe involve those involved in politics and legislation. If we as just tech creators ignore the implications, then we will be later held to account for this, despite the license saying other wise. It isn't as simple as that to ignore the importance of such things in this industry with possible regulation on the way.
> Twitter is the most intellectual, and underrated, social network, because people follow too many political accounts and celebrities instead of other people...
That's debatable. Perhaps for other things, but not for general communication. But that debate is for another HN thread.
The fact is, any tech that has a direct impact on the world would be hard for politicians, bad actors, activists and news corps to ignore and will most certainly question or exploit it to their agenda and those in power will ultimately hold us accountable.
Also disagree with the full disconnection of the news. I think a weekly summary is fine, you can skim and see if there’s anything relevant. Most of the time, there is nothing worth spending your time. Bias and clickbait in journalism is really low-level and boring nowadays, and you don’t need to follow it all. But you still may want to know something about the society you live in besides the people you end talking to.
I mostly agreed up until this. These days it feels like on Twitter, everyone is political at least some of the time. Even a lot of otherwise interesting people who talk about technology 95% of the time, politics just HAS to slip in the other 5%. I don't even really blame them, certain groups treat you like a political enemy if you aren't constantly kowtowing their politics, it's like paying protection money to the mob. Most of these types have personal blogs where you can get their high effort technical posts without the low effort political trash, I'd say go to that instead of Twitter. Fuck Twitter.
Twitter is the nonstop first date where everybody is working hard to look like somebody who is "in the know" and has their life together. Yes, there are "real people" there but they are few compared to the a sea of bots, narcissists and PR-talk.
Its complete surrender to absolute power without any hint of necessity.
Politics matter, if you like it, or not. They lay the groundwork and build the frameworkfor anything in technology, art and your family.
Any attempt in these fields are completely depended on politics. They will all turn to ashes (literally) at the snap of a finger, if politics wants to. All attempts there are futile if you are apolitical.
OP asked for "X"
This reply says, "dont X, X is bad"
It is the same as every off topic top comment.
Telling people not to care about politics is itself a political endorsement of the status quo.
If you want to do good in this world, work on technology, or art, or building something beautiful or durable, like a family. Good comes through these things, not from the political churn, not from quests for power.
If you want to keep up with things, keep up with technology (hi HN), keep up with real people who are doing stuff. It doesn't have to be hyper impressive stuff, just living and making things. Twitter is the most intellectual, and underrated, social network, because people follow too many political accounts and celebrities instead of other people, so if you're looking for an action item that's a good start.
Follow real people. Do real things. Try to inspire and be inspired. Leave the news behind.