Towards a Healthy News Diet
News is to the mind what sugar is to the body.
We are so well informed and yet we know so little. Why?
We are in this sad condition because 200 years ago we invented a toxic form of knowledge called “news.” The time has come to recognize the detrimental effects that news has on individuals and societies, and to take the necessary steps to shield yourself from its dangers.
At core, human beings are cavemen in suits and dresses. Our brains are optimized for our original hunter-gatherer environment where we lived in small bands of 25 to 100 individuals with limited sources of food and information. Our brains (and our bodies) now live in a world that is the opposite
of what we are designed to handle. This leads to great risk and to inappropriate, outright dangerous behavior.
In the past few decades, the fortunate among us have recognized the hazards of living with an overabundance of food (obesity, diabetes) and have started to shift our diets. But most of us do not yet understand that news is to the mind what sugar is to the body. News is easy to digest. The media feeds us small bites of trivial matter, tidbits that don’t really concern our lives and don’t require thinking. That’s why we experience almost no saturation. Unlike reading books and long, deep magazine articles (which requires thinking), we can swallow limitless quantities of news flashes, like bright-colored candies for the mind.
Today, we have reached the same point in relation to information overload that we faced 20 years ago in regard to food intake. We are beginning to recognize how toxic news can be and we are learning to take the first steps toward an information diet.
This is my attempt to clarify the toxic dangers of news – and to recommend some ways to deal with it. I have now gone without news for a year, so I can see, feel and report the effects of this freedom first hand: less disruption, more time, less anxiety, deeper thinking, more insights. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.
Rolf Dobelli: “Avoid News”.
The News Diet Solution Program Free Download PDF! “Go 30 days without news. After 30 days, you will have a more relaxed attitude toward the news. You will find that you have more time, more concentration and a better understanding of the world.”
Sublime.
Wikipedia: “Rolf Dobelli”.
Maxime
Et un livre en Français.
C’est marrant, depuis que j’ai lu ce livre il y a quelques mois, j’essaye de m’éloigner des ‘news’. Comme je l’ai déjà fait pour la télévision.
Et bien, c’est marrant, mais ces derniers jours quand je vois les journaux en ligne (parce que difficile d’échapper à tout, d’ailleurs ce n’est pas souhaitable), en particulier les journaux français, j’ai un peu l’impression de regarder Loft Story (désolé, je n’ai pas de référence télé-poubelle plus récente, j’ai complètement arrêté la télé peu de temps après).
Bon, on pourra toujours me faire remarquer que puisque le gouvernement fourni une belle quantité de bullshit aux journaux, tout n’est peut-être pas de leur faute.
mat
Bon. Admettons. Mais si on bosse dans un journal, on fait quoi, on prend un mois de congé ?
Maxime
Pour les journalistes (hors revues sérieuses) et personnes liés au monde de l’information, disons que suivre l’actualité, fait partie du métier. Je vais donc citer Coluche : « Les journalistes ne croient pas les mensonges des hommes politiques, mais ils les répètent, c’est pire ! ». Les personnes concernés peuvent donc gagner en moralité en envisageant une reconversion en vendeur de voitures d’occasion ou en péripathétipute.
Blah ? Touitter !