Why you should stop being a passive news consumer

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Are you a mindless news consumer or an active creator? Decide by reading this article.

Modern man, by definition, lives in a mode of information overload. In the 21st century, it is not a person who is looking for information, but information is looking for a person. And not everyone is able to cope with this permanent news noise: most people completely mindlessly absorb any information, never doubting its reliability and necessity.

Today we'll talk about why you should stop being a passive news consumer.

I am convinced that there is nothing more useless than reading the news. There is no evidence that doing this makes us wiser, better, or that it makes us make better decisions and become good citizens - it’s just the opposite.

If you are like me, then you are no longer a passive news consumer. Maybe you did it because you felt like joy and positive emotions were literally pumped out of you, or you just found yourself a more interesting activity. Or maybe you are a person who has never been interested in news. Or maybe everything is quite the opposite: you completely mindlessly consume everything that is shown on TV, written in newspapers and released to wander the World Wide Web.

Many of us have realized the dangers that food overdose entails, and have learned to limit ourselves to food. But most of us still don't realize that news is to the mind what sugar is to the body.

Rolf Dobelly

I am upset by what I see around me: a guy who considers himself smart and well-read just because he reads the newspapers and knows what is happening in the world. Or a girl who knows absolutely all the gossip about every celebrity and is very surprised when I tell her that I have not heard the news that the attackers have posted nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence on the network.

After I stopped reading / listening / watching the news, I became more attentive, I learned to better control my thoughts, I became more critical of information, I had more time to implement my ideas, and, of course, I became more optimistic.

Rolf Dobelly, founder of the society ZURICH. MINDS, notes that instead of just reading the news that is presented to us ready-made on a silver platter, we should spend more effort searching for information, we should force ourselves to THINK, develop critical thinking. This is very difficult, because our brain initially follows the path of least resistance: first of all, it pays attention to the available information, to bright headlines and pictures, that is, to chewing gum for the brain. Therefore, we can absolutely mindlessly swallow everything that is presented to us.

And it's not just the media - these attention-grabbing techniques are used everywhere, from government propaganda to corporate marketing. We see it everywhere: on Facebook and Twitter, bright headlines literally scream, trying to lure us. And we succumb to it, because all we have to do is one click, and it's that simple.

Today, the scarce commodity is not information, but attention. Why are we giving it away so easily?

Rolf Dobelly

We live in an era when a bright and promising headline becomes more important than the content of the article. The user clicks, the counter has replenished, and the creators of such "content" do not dream of more. Therefore, we must be careful to filter the information we consume. This is a task that we have to carry out on our own. And we must be warned of all the negative consequences that await us if we continue to be thoughtless consumers.

You may have heard something about neuroplasticity - the ability of the brain to change behavior based on experience. Now remember what "experience" we get every day: we watch / read / view news, videos, pictures, click on headlines, scroll back and forth through posts.

Remember how we usually consume information. That's right, in multitasking mode: we read the newspaper at breakfast; listening to the radio while driving and thinking about what we have to do today; we watch the news in fits and starts, while we switch channels in search of something interesting; we check Twitter while we work.

But we forget that because of this we are constantly distracted, our productivity decreases. News steals time from our lives, we begin to live as if by half, and the more news we consume, the more we contribute to this half-heartedness.

I'm fed up with this cheap way of "explaining" the world. It doesn't suit me. This is irrational. This is falsification. And I won't let my brain be clouded.

Rolf Dobelly

Hunger, poverty, murder, war, terrorism, accidents, celebrity rumors. I don't need to know these things, and neither do you. I know you think news helps you stay on top of what's going on in the world, but ask yourself if news will make your life happier and better? How do the events described in the news relate to you personally? To your family and your job? Does what you've heard / read / seen make you think? Does it inspire action? And most importantly, are you sure the news is telling you about the real state of affairs?

Think about it. Remember the past year: at least one piece of news that you learned then somehow changed your life? In other words, if you hadn't watched or read the news, would your personal or professional life have turned out differently?

Have you ever thought that if there is something really important in the news for you, then even if you do not watch the news, you will still find out about it - from a colleague, friend or family member?

Information matters only when it helps us to create, to create something grand, something that can be useful. This information is worth looking for and sharing.

The world does not need passive consumers of information. He lacks smart and active people who are able to be creators. Think about it, maybe instead of wasting your energy and time to clog your brain with unnecessary information, you should delve into what you are really interested in?

Think about the solution, not the problem.

If your mind is overwhelmed with thoughts that you can die at any moment, or that everything can go to hell in an instant, then you do not leave yourself the time and opportunity to think about how to live and how you can change everything to the best.

If you want to know about a problem, then set yourself a condition: you do it only in order to find a solution to this problem. Almost all problems are complex, and the only way to find information to solve them is to delve into books and serious articles.

Look for knowledge, not useless information.

Read those books and articles that make you think and solve problems, not those that you glance over with nothing to do. Watch inspirational videos. Remember to take the information you receive critically. Don't chase the latest "hot" news. In most cases, they are only needed to maintain a conversation with the interlocutor. Don't take an easy path, be brave enough to talk about important things that will give you and those around you food for thought.

Let your every click, every minute, your attention be spent on what really matters.