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Ask HN: How best to stay informed whilst not following 24 hour news cycle?

3 points by mcjiggerlog ↗ HN
I normally read online news several times every day, however I am starting to realise that a lot of what I read does not really add any value to my life. I do not gain much by following the latest outrage on social media that has been converted into a news story, for example.

What can I do to keep up-to-date with national (UK) and world affairs without wasting so much time reading inconsequential "news"? Something like a short weekly digest would be ideal. Even via email is fine.

4 comments

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dba7dba
I disagree one can stay informed while following the 24hr "news" cycle. In fact, I would recommend staying away from so called "news" to stay informed.

This 'old' book from last century (that is year 1999) sums it up well.

Edit: link to the book > https://www.amazon.com/How-News-Makes-Dumb-Information/dp/08...

Excerpt from desc of the book:

Sommerville argues that news began to make us dumber when we insisted on having it daily. Now millions of column inches and airtime hours must be filled with information--every day, every hour, every minute. The news, Sommerville says, becomes the driving force for much of our public culture. News schedules turn politics into a perpetual campaign. News packaging influences the timing, content and perception of government initiatives. News frenzies make a superstition out of scientific and medical research. News polls and statistics create opinion as much as they gauge it. Lost in the tidal wave of information is our ability to discern truly significant news--and our ability to recognize and participate in true community.

noir-york
I came to the same realisation that most daily news is just ephemeral content and not worth my time a few months ago. Now my daily routine is to log in once or twice a day to a select few news (bbc/nytimes/guardian mostly) and just skim the headlines.

Reporting is commoditised, but analysis is worth paying for in terms of money/attention. For that I read the weeklies: Economist, Private Eye, NewYorker, Foreign Affairs, etc.

brudgers
When I cared about staying up on current events, I subscribed to The Economist and read it cover to cover each week [a non-trivial commitment]. Though I'm American, my typical mainstream news source is the BBC website on my phone. Mostly for I'm there for football though.

I've discovered that just about everything important makes it into my bubble through other channels. Except local news and my beloved follows that.

TechHawk
In my experience, you will hear the most important things from your friends, family or coworkers, so you could just try to not read any news at all. If you feel like you are missing important things, than I would try to go with a short daily or weekly digest of the news you care about the most.