SORRY I missed blogging last week. My laptop display died. I had to spend many hours at the Genius Bar and over three hours migrating my life from my external backup drive to the NEW MacAir. It was either $749 to get a new display OR $999 for new laptop.
Editing My News Diet
The moment that pushed me over the edge was the headline involving Trump and Venezuela — the kind of headline that makes you blink, reread it, and then stare into the middle distance wondering how this is now part of the global conversation again. I wasn’t confused because it was complicated. I was confused because it existed at all.
That’s when I noticed my shoulders were somewhere near my ears. Again.
For years, I told myself that staying on top of the news was a responsibility. Being informed meant being engaged. Being engaged meant reading everything, all the time, preferably with my cold brew coffee. I skim the NYT, The Oregonian, WSJ, The Economist and a local weekly.
But lately, staying “informed” has felt less like learning and more like being repeatedly splashed with cold water for no discernible reason. Every headline urgent. Every development framed as unprecedented. Every story demanding my immediate emotional response.
And yet … nothing in my actual life had changed. I wasn’t gaining clarity. I was collecting agitation.
That Trump-Venezuela headline didn’t make me smarter. It didn’t help me understand the world better. It just irritated me. My news diet wasn’t nourishing me. It was just loud.
Editing isn’t opting out. It’s curating. I still care about the world. I still read. I still pay attention. I’ve just stopped believing that constant exposure equals civic virtue. I don’t need to be alerted to every development in real time to remain a thoughtful, engaged adult.
So I made a small but meaningful shift. I started choosing sources that focus on what’s working, what’s improving, and how people are solving problems without turning everything into a five-alarm fire. Stories that remind me that kindness, ingenuity, and quiet progress still exist — even if they don’t scream for attention.
It turns out there’s plenty of good happening that doesn’t require outrage to be interesting. Positive News. The Daily Good. I unsubscribed to all hourly/daily new headline news.
Here’s what I hope happens. Nothing dramatic. No digital detox announcement. No cleanse. Just a few intentional choices.
Maybe:
- My mornings will be calmer.
- My shoulders drop faster.
- I’m less reactive in conversation.
- I have more patience for actual humans in front of me.
- My cold brew remains COLD
I won’t become less informed. I will become less rattled.
And maybe I will notice things again. Small things. Ordinary things. The kind of things that actually make up a real life.
Aging Awkwardly, as it turns out, isn’t about disengaging. It’s about refining.
We edit our calendars.
We edit our relationships.
We edit our closets.
Editing what I allow into my head feels like the natural response …for me.
I know the feeling of being overwhelmed by what is going on. I've always felt the same way about it being our civic duty to keep up with what our government is doing and what is happening in the world. I used to have the news on from the minute I get up until I go to bed---back before 47/49 came on the scene. Politics was more like a hobby back in those days. Now I only watch 2 hours a day of news and read another hour. Now more than ever we have do our diligence to support the groups that are fighting him in the courts. If we don't do it NOW we're going to loss our democracy. It's the courts that is making him pull the military out of your state and two others.
ReplyDeleteI usually just read the news. I unsubscribed to most "alerts" yesterday. Feeling pretty good about it. Thanks for reading. And I have never been more politically active (email) in my life.
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