We are convinced that knowing the daily news is making us smart. But when we think about the benefits of it, we are surprised why there are no benefits. First, the news is never delivering us facts and its sources. Most of the headlines are just statements without any data or information. Secondly, the news is making the world worse than it is. I do not read the news and I give you reasons why no news is good news.
Three reasons why no news are good news
They are lacking core information
I hate researching within a news article. The reason? It is really hard to identify trustable sources. I tried to understand the Coronavirus by searching for scientific statistics on the website of the World Health Organization. My goal is to identify the general health condition and age of the casualties of the Coronavirus. When the majority of the casualties are at old age or with chronic diseases, then most of us do not have to fear anymore. Because at this point, the common flu is more dangerous than the Coronavirus. But, I am missing core information from the news and the WHO about this. So, I cannot give a statement and a reason more to pay less attention to it.
That brings me to my point, I read some news articles and many of them just pointed me back to the WHO website. To spare time, you should go directly to trustable sources and try to find statistics and scientific papers about the issue. The Coronavirus is new which is why it takes time to publish scientific papers. If you research and your only sources are news articles, prepare to waste your time and be confusing.
In addition, do not trust absolute numbers. In this case, you have to question who died. If they had a weak body because of a malfunction of an organ, chronic disease, or old age, then it is not surprising at all. Do not read the news, they add no value and just give naked statistics numbers with no information.
Most of them are irrelevant to us
I may get yelled at this. But, the death of Kobe Bryant is irrelevant to most of us. My condolences to his family and friends who knew him, or people who are playing basketball because of him. But, for people like me who never heard of him before. Spare your comment about how important he is to you. Do not ride on the mainstream train because the majority is doing it. The reason for my cynical words is because he will be unimportant to most of us. And, many people are pretending to give a fuck about this. They just pretend to care because a) the majority is doing it and b) to be seen as caring and a human who knows what is going on in this world. Everything is fake.
News is in a sense of irrelevant because it does not make us advance at all. Most of the news organizations assert they will have an advance. But, really we do not. Being up to date about the news does not make us better in life or our decision-making.
They are a waste of time
To keep updated on the current Australian Bushfire is another waste of time. It is tragic, of course. But do you even help? Some yes, but the most no. It is just another reason to chit-chat. You make yourself feel miserable about an event irrelevant to us. In other words, if this Bushfire in Australia exists or not, it does not affect our lives in the slightest, except for Australians themselves. So, why invest your precious time in it? Did you know that we are responsible for this? The Australian landscape was created by humans thousands of years ago. As a result, this bushfire is just a seasonal event.
A Racist Consequence
All in all, the news is irrelevant to us, is a waste of time, and can lead to dangerous thoughts due to the lack of information. Many people are easily affected by the title. Newspaper is sold easier with a title like “Refugee commit crimes” than “Middle-aged man commit crimes”. You can see the dangerous outcome if you keep reading newspapers or other news. Recently, a satire article about Coronavirus written by a German Reporter was published. For the non-german speakers, he makes jokes about the ridiculous panic in Germany. However, among my Asian friends, there is an uproar. Even though he intends to make fun of the panic, he attacks the Asians here in Germany harshly. I can see the joke behind it. Nevertheless, this material is a solid source for every radical group out there.
As a result, some are facing discrimination. For example, changing seats when they see Asians or covering their mouth with a scarf. It is hopefully a single case, in Berlin, an Asian girl was beaten down by others because of fear of the Coronavirus.
Summary – No news is good news
Consuming news without a filter is a good ground for extremists. And I do not need to tell you that they make the world worse than it is. Why? Because bad news is sold easier. Furthermore, knowing what is going on around the world does not make you smarter. It is just an illusion of knowledge.
Instead, read a book. If you are truly interested in some of the events around the world, read a book about them. In books, you can discover the reasons which lead to these events. Furthermore, you can understand the opposite opinion as well. All of it is based on logical arguments. The more I finish reading books, the more I feel dumb. Because I realize how little I know about this world.
There is no reason to read them. Either it does not affect you or it makes you feel bad. For the Asians who are in rage right now. Believe that many people do not trust articles. Do not be worried about what may come. Act when you face directly racism.
I think you seem to have overlooked some important advantages of journalism: the ability to disseminate timely, efficiently, and widely. Compared to journalism, the book is a more comprehensive collection of information plus the author’s analysis and evaluation. However, a book can only be published after a long time of copying, editing, and proofreading. Also using coronavirus as an example: My mother is a professor of health management and she is currently working with colleagues to compile a comprehensive college defense coronavirus manual. It took her two weeks to complete her first edition. If people wait until her book is… Read more »
The advantage you described is good to spread information. That’s true. And if they can give you good information, this post would not exist. All that news does is spread superficial information. Not even deep enough to give important information for you. All the information you need is from trusted sources like the WHO website. In the case of Coronavirus, scientific papers would be enough. Scientific statistics with meaningful data does not need editing and proofreading. And books are good to inform yourself to understand the meaning of the world. Books beat every information source. Furthermore, you are effected so… Read more »