Believe it or not, I graduated from a degree. Yes, this was a very long time ago.
I will not name the discipline in which I completed a degree. It’s kind of embarrassing that I was so bad at life and choices that I chose to study what I did. But I remember one tutorial, in which my <REDACTED> professor asked the class if we watch the news. I replied that I didn’t, because I didn’t believe much of it. He was not impressed. In fact, he seemed displeased.
I wish I could remember his reply, but I can’t. I remember that I very much wanted it to be something appreciative of my independent thought. All I remember is that it was not.
I didn’t really ignore the news back then. I was just trying to sound smart in a tutorial full of people smarter than me. It took me another decade and a half to really, actively avoid consuming news. My wife would see me wasting time, writing replies on news articles and online discussions. I’d get really heated about it! I spent actual time, and real intellectual energy, on trying to support my position and destroying those with whom I disagreed.
Now, seeing all of this written down is even more embarrassing than acknowledging my bachelor’s degree. But it’s true. It took having the eyes of my wife on me, and listening to her, for me to realize that I was pouring my time down the toilet. This is the purpose of all media though. They want you to engage – get involved, get interested, and hopefully get some sort of emotional reaction.
Your engagement means you spend longer interacting with the spaces in which they advertise. Everyone knows this. But ask yourself, and be real.
How much time do you spend every day reading news?
How could your time be better spent?
Most importantly – how do you benefit by knowing all that stuff?
Don’t rush through those questions. Chew them a little while to really savor the bitterness of this waste of your life. After quitting news, I would still find myself wandering the wastes of the internet reading things that I have no business knowing. I’m getting better at it. I can catch myself now – I stop myself with the question “Do I need to know this?” The answer in 99.9% of cases is “no”.
Don’t cheat yourself out of life. Don’t get tricked into the feeding pen – once you’re in, the exit gets smaller and smaller. The fatter you get on empty information, the harder it is to squeeze yourself back out.
Outside of the news media feeding pen is where you find life, and find time. Time to build yourself up and set yourself free. Freedom is expensive. It takes planning, forethought, guts, and most of all, clear execution. You’ll never even start these if you’re addicted to news.
Want to know what I do with my the time that I save by never reading the news? Find me and community of other money makers in The City of Gold. For a limited time, citizenship is only $10 per month.