Would life be better without news? Maybe it’s all just distracting trivia

By David McElroy · August 16, 2012

What would happen if everybody quit watching news? What would happen if people quit reading newspapers? Would the resulting world be more ignorant? Or would the resulting world be more interesting and insightful — as people started thinking about important things in their own lives instead of trivia in other people’s worlds?

I didn’t pay attention to a bit of news Wednesday. It was a very stressful day for me, so I just didn’t have time. I had some work deadlines that were pretty much impossible to meet, and I was worrying about a cat whose leg was being amputated. (Bessie came through surgery just fine, by the way. I might get to see her today, but she’ll be staying at the vet’s office at least through Friday.)

So I was busy enough — and preoccupied enough — that I didn’t read a news story or see any bit of news online or overhear any TV news story. Did it matter? Would it matter if I did the same thing every single day from now on?

I spent more than 10 years working in news, so I used to think I knew what news was. What’s more, I thought news was important. I’ve written before about the fact that I’ve become unclear about what news is, because it’s become entertainment. Now I’m becoming more and more convinced that news is worse than unnecessary. I’m starting to think it’s something that gets in the way of things we ought to be thinking about instead.

I just pulled the first 10 headlines off of CNN’s website. Is there a single story among these that you really need to know about?

Check your tickets: Numbers drawn for $320M lottery prize
Seattle ace throws perfect game
Conservative group’s guard shot
Britain’s Prince Philip hospitalized
Test of mach 6 aircraft fails
Court halts Hasan case over beard
Police: Moviegoer shoots self in rear
Salt creeping up the Mississippi River
N.Y. subpoenas banks over Libor
Travel spending could cost general

A few of them have some mild attraction because they’re just weird trivia. (How did the guy at the movies shoot himself in the rear, for instance?) But are you better off paying attention to this stuff? Or are you better off giving your attention to the people who matter in your life?

When you spend such a larger percentage of your time absorbing this information, are you really thinking thoughts worth thinking? Are you being constructive? Are you engaging yourself with new ideas? Or are you almost exclusively filling your head with trivia — which makes you end up feeling “informed”?

I was talking about this subject with someone the other day who reminded me of a passage from Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” which speaks to this. A character who represents the Establishment of the book’s world is explaining why it had been a good thing to shift people’s thinking from ideas to trivia.

If you don’t want a man unhappy politically, don’t give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war. If the government is inefficient, topheavy, and tax-mad, better it be all those than that people worry over it. Peace, Montag. Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs or the names of state capitals or how much corn Iowa grew last year. Cram them full of noncombustible data, chock them so damned full of “facts” that they feel stuffed, but absolutely “brilliant” with information. Then they’ll feel they’re thinking, they’ll get a sense of motion without moving. And they’ll be happy, because facts of that sort don’t change. Don’t give them any slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy.

Isn’t that what news has become? Aren’t we becoming stuffed full of useless bits and pieces of information that do us absolutely no good to know? What difference does it make to you to know that the test of a new aircraft has failed? Or that New York (is that the whole state or what?) has subpoenaed banks about something called Libor? Or that Prince Phillip is in the hospital, for heaven’s sake? Does it matter? Does any of it matter?

Why do we still believe this stuff is important? Why do we pretend that educated and informed people pour this trivia into their brains instead of thinking about real ideas or interacting with their family and friends?

I spent more than 10 years doing something that I thought was important. I eventually realized it wasn’t important, but I still thought that it at least could be important. Or, at worst, useless. Now I suspect something far worse — that it’s dangerous to our intellectual, emotional and social lives.

I grew up in love with the idea of news. I was a newspaper reader from the days when I was so young I could barely figure out the comics. I still miss that world, but it’s just nostalgia. I’ve come to believe that the trivia that it taught me to value was a danger to me.

I’m still considering what the implications of this are. I’ll let you know when I’ve decided. In the meantime, I’m going to try some more “news free” days. You might want to consider trying it. too.

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A state legislator in Maine has been stripped of the ability to speak in the state Legislature — and her votes are not being counted on legislative issues — all because she made a truthful social media post. Rep. Laurel Libby (R-Auburn, Maine) opposes allowing boys to compete against girls’ teams in school athletics and she’s become known for making an issue of it. On Feb. 17, she posted on Facebook about a recent example that she found outrageous. She posted side-by-side photos of a boy named John who competed last year in a state track event and won fifth place against other boys two years ago — and a photo of the same boy (now called Katie) who won first place in the same event this year against girls. Whether you find this outrageous or not, Libby is clearly being honest and truthful about the objective facts of an issue of public importance. But the state Legislature censured her. Democrats decreed that she could not speak in the House and that her votes would not count on legislation — until she apologized for the outrage of telling the truth. She refused and her constituents have been unrepresented in the state House since then. The people who promote this ideology are out of touch with reality and won’t rest until they force the rest of us to join them in this delusion. But even if you agree with “trans” ideology, you should be appalled at this heavy-handed attack on political speech.

The late Steve Jobs was at the center of our culture’s transition from analog to digital. He co-founded Apple Computer. He led the team that revolutionized personal computing with the first Macintosh. As CEO of Apple, he led the development of the iPhone and later the iPad. You would think the children of such a man would be surrounded by technology. But Jobs and his wife Laureen didn’t let their children use iPads. Their home had few screens of any kind. Even though Jobs spent most of his time developing and selling Macs and iPhones and iPads, he was home with his wife and children for dinner when he was in town. The family ate together at a simple wooden table in their kitchen — and there were no digital devices or focus on popular culture. Instead, he’s said to have guided his family toward deep discussions of art, philosophy and education — with no iPads to be found. If the man who guided the development of such products chose a different path for his own children, does that suggest that his digital experience taught him that children need human connection, not screens? And does it suggest the possibility that we might be better off if we made the same choice for our families?

For four years, Donald Trump’s supporters screamed that everything that went wrong was the fault of Joe Biden. They were sometimes right and they were sometimes delusional. (Anybody who knows me understands that I can’t stand Biden any more than I can stand Trump, just for different reasons.) But for two months, Trump has rampaged through U.S. political life — vandalizing pretty much everything in sight — and the vast majority of his supporters are silent at best. Many watch as he blows up the world economy and they make excuses for him. They’re in absolute denial, even about things that Trump is doing very intentionally. Anybody who understands economics and history knows that tariffs are a terrible idea from a pragmatic point of view. Anybody who values individual freedom knows that tariffs are massive taxes on individuals — and they’re a tool of political control over the ability of people to trade freely. Trump is the antithesis of everything which political conservatives stood for just a few years ago. It’s far past time for people who claim to be conservatives to reclaim the principles and values which they used to claim — and stop this mad man before he can accelerate the day when we experience economic and social collapse. Open your eyes to reality and reject this lying narcissist.

On a live awards show Sunday night, one man made a joke about a female celebrity. The husband of the celebrity was offended and hit the man who made the joke. Or maybe it was staged for entertainment. Who knows? Who cares? Social media is full of discussion — and even arguments — about this idiocy today. This baffles me. Let’s assume for a moment that the event happened as reported. People have been having such idiotic fights ever since there have been humans. Half the bars in the world see such brief dustups regularly. It simply doesn’t matter. The fact that so many people believe they need to talk about this — or even need to have opinions about it — is more evidence of the bizarre media brainwashing that convinces many to care passionately about brain-dead trivia. Your life will be happier and saner if you focus on yourself, your family and your friends, not on whatever scripted (or spontaneous) bilge that the media wants to pipe into your home.

I’m in the middle of migrating this website to new servers this week. This means you might encounter some unexpected behavior until I get all the bugs worked out. Clicking on my links (including this one) might cause your browser to give you the message that it’s a site without a current security certificate. It’s not actually unsafe, but there’s something which isn’t yet set up for the security certificate. I apologize for any such errors you might encounter while the process is going on. If you notice any problems with content which didn’t migrate properly, I would appreciate you letting me know the details at davidmcelroy@mac.com. Thanks for your patience.

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