For years my friend Sue has limited her exposure to the daily news. Frequently people ask her how she responds when someone asks her what she thinks about the latest current event.
She tells them she tries not to think about current events. It has taken her many years to get to the point where she could admit publicly that the latest news is simply not a major interest of hers. She’s also learned not to let other people make her feel guilty because they choose to spend their time tracking some hot news story.
If what’s happening in the news is your passion, then you’ll obviously want to stay informed. But if you’re keeping up with the news just so you can appear to be in the know when someone who’s doing the same thing asks you about it, perhaps you need to do a priority check (#13). Do you really want to spend your time and energy immersing yourself in bad news so you can seem knowledgeable to someone you probably don’t even care about?
If you do want to keep in touch with what’s happening in the world, it’s not necessary to spend hours with the newspaper or in front of the television to do so. Gibbs is a travel writer, and we frequently find ourselves in remote parts of the world for extended periods of time without any connection to the outside world. We’ve found spending a few minutes perusing a news magazine often provides more information than we want about what has happened in the world in our absence.
Rather than spending hours with a newspaper, you can keep up with world events by scanning the headlines. If you come across a subject that interests you, you can easily explore it further. Often, news reports are packed with misinformation or noninformation anyway, so while we think we might be learning something by spending time reading or watching the news, often we’re simply absorbing empty filler.
It’s a matter of how you want to spend your time. Once you’ve begun to explore new possibilities on the inner levels, there’s a good chance you’ll find these much more satisfying and productive than keeping up with what passes for news.