this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2024
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submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 
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[–] [email protected] 79 points 2 months ago (3 children)

I used to think following the news would help me be prepared. It mostly has not.

[–] [email protected] 64 points 2 months ago (2 children)

The problem with the news is that generally it’s not actionable information.

[–] [email protected] 41 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Don't forget that framing things in ways that maximizes emotional response (fear, anger) increases views, which increases ad views, and directly contributes to their bottom line. They have direct incentive to increase anxiety and worry, so everything is couched in scary hypotheticals of varying often undisclosed amounts of credibility.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Use publicly-funded news-sources

dw.com (germany) swissinfo.ch (switzerland) and bbc.com (you already know that one)

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

This is the primary reason I stopped consumimg news that doesn't directly relate to my interests. Eliminating news and advertisement from my life is the most liberating thing I've evr done.

[–] JadenSmith 13 points 2 months ago

Occasionally I check the news, maybe once per month or two, just to see if the world is still on fire.

Most of the time it is. Fair enough I guess.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I used to think following the news would help me be prepared. It mostly has not.

Yeah. Once the CDC helped me prepare for Zombies, I realized I could relax about the news.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

May 16th 2011... Pretty sure this is an April fools joke, and like everything in government it was a month and a half late.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Yeah. It's a joke publicity stunt.

But it's also useful - the preparations given for zombie apocalypse are actually pragmatic preparations that can help during severe weather, supply chain disruption, pandemic, etc.

I like to share the zombie article, in particular, because, while it's silly, the advice in it is reasonable and useful to almost anyone.