Comment by boyter
3 days ago
All of the above.
Stop reading the news. It makes you depressed or angry. Go hiking. Walk on the beach. Play with a dog or your children. Climb a tree.
Leave the slave slab phone at home, or delete every news and social app. Do not browse the web. Take a book and read.
It will be hard at first. Then it gets easier. Best thing I ever did.
Reminder. What passes for news today wouldn’t have registered for most people 100 years ago.
Seconding this. I only heard about Iran bombing 23 hours after it happened. I was playing SimCity 2013 with my 7yo. I’m reading older books, playing older games, exercising, and keeping a loose eye on AI so I don’t fall too far behind, but I always wait about two months before adopting anything new (like Claude Code, new tools, etc.). I know that’s pretty superficial, but the goal is staying sane, right?
Other people did the same as you and are now stranded halfway around the world waiting for flights.
I get the gist of it but I think being informed is useful. The best way is having access to quality news with a balance. It does not need to be constant outrage.
If I knew I was traveling to a region, with a potential conflict, I would do my due diligence and read the news. For the vast majority of people, reading news is a net negative.
1 reply →
> Reminder. What passes for news today wouldn’t have registered for most people 100 years ago.
This is a great point.
> Reminder. What passes for news today wouldn’t have registered for most people 100 years ago.
Up to a point. There are some things that should not be ignored, e.g., "Trump says he's not mulling a draft executive order to seize control over elections":
* https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-says-hes-not-mul...
"Trump, seeking executive power over elections, is urged to declare emergency":
* https://archive.is/https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2...
> should not be ignored, e.g., "Trump says he's not mulling ...
The prior news that "sources close to people who say they hear from a guy who went to school with someone who said ... that trump said he was mulling thinking about drafting an executive order ..." should be ignored, the follow up should be ignored and the inevitable follow to the follow up should also be ignored.
These are attention seeking outbursts at best, clickbait, lies and propaganda at worst.