How to Stop Living Inside the News
It’s not my fault, it’s theirs. Is having an excuse part of your purpose for consuming excessive amounts of news?
During our studies of The Road to Serfdom, Oliver Burkeman’s evocative metaphor of “living inside the news” came up. In this essay, we consider how to extradite ourselves.
Burkeman captured a phenomenon that most of us are all too familiar with. Burkeman was alarmed that his friends and himself increasingly prioritized the news over their real-world relationships and experiences.
Burkeman explained he was not just talking about “spending too much time online" or being "addicted to social media." What aroused his concern was that “the realm of presidencies, referendums and humanitarian crises had become the main drama of [our] daily lives, with [our] actual daily lives relegated to the status of a sideshow.”
Since COVID, and perhaps earlier, it's felt nearly impossible, even reckless, to ignore the news. Perhaps you have been haunted by the question how can I be a good and effective citizen if I am not informed?
I have no advice on the optimal balance between being informed and seeking distractions by constantly refreshing one’s browser or checking the phone. Each person finds that balance for themselves. But balance we must. And I have advice on how to find that optimal balance for yourself.