Eggs cost a lot and it's someone's fault. Democracy is ending. The totalitarians are taking over. Crime! Hurricanes!
Fear. Anger. Distress.
But, some people say, the ever-faster, more abundant news is just noise, not information. That noise costs time, emotion, productivity, and detracts from your life.
So a new movement rejects it all.
Success journal Farnon Street argues that news is mood-altering and temporary.
"Most news expires in 24 hours. If you know your attention is valuable, why would you invest it consuming something that expires tomorrow?"
A 2017 American Psychological Association report found that 95 percent of adults follow news regularly and half of them say it causes them stress.
Futurist Richard Watson is not focused on current news. Instead he takes a longer view and reviews the news weekly, seeing what remains relevant.
Calvin Rosser, an advisor on life quality, has unplugged from the news for years. "The news detracted from my life. Most of what I heard and read was fear-driven, myopic, and outside of my control." He says he now lives with less anxiety, more peace, and has more time.
Author Mark Manson said that in four months after he stopped following the day-to-day news, he became more productive and, amazingly, optimistic. Instead of feeling out of the loop, he began to feel in the real loop. All the details about what someone said to whom weren't relevant. He started seeing trends, not bullet points.
Canadian writer David Cain points out that being concerned with bad news makes us think we are doing something when we aren't.
