Day 8 : Staying Informed
Today I bought a newspaper. It’s day 8 of my digital declutter and I want to talk about keeping up with the news.
The 24/7 News Cycle
Also known as the 24-hour news cycle, this fast paced information saturated environment has been linked to stress, anxiety, and depression but also potentially more worrying a decline in journalistic standards due to the hyper-competitive nature of being the first to “break” a story.
On a more personal note, keeping up with all the alerts, notifications, and opinions can be mentally and emotionally exhausting, not to mention a productivity killer. Fortunately there is an alternative.
Slow Journalism
The origin of the slow journalism movement got its start somewhere around a decade ago and seeks to propose an antidote to “reprinted press releases, kneejerk punditry, advertorial nonsense and churnalism.”
Core principles of the movement include prioritizing knowledge over speed, providing the context needed for in-depth analysis, and relying on trusted sources and authors.
Don’t Change That Dial
So far during my digital declutter my primary method of keeping up with world/national/local news has been NPR. Not the website, stream, or podcast, but actually tuning my analog FM radio to the 93.9 WNYC broadcast station.
Today I bought an actual newspaper for the first time in I don’t know how long. Even if wet newsprint can make the bathwater look dirty, we should be careful not to throw out the baby too. It’s important that the type of in-depth analysis that comes from professional journalists taking the time to research, reflect, digest, and formulate well-written articles does not get tossed aside along with moveable type.
Even if wet newsprint can make the bathwater look dirty, we should be careful not to throw out the baby too.
Regarding domain-specific news, for example keeping up on the latest news related to my job as a software engineer, I check a handful of blogs and content aggregators once or twice a week in order to keep apprised of the latest announcements and trends.
Since I unsubscribed from most email lists at the beginning of my declutter, this is a “pull” and not a “push” model that requires me to seek out relevant content rather than waiting for it to land in my inbox.
Humans, not Algorithms
Many startups have popped up in and around this space of the past few years, mostly focusing on producing or delivering quality slow journalism content.
One that I’m particularly excited about is Listory. According to their manifesto, they focus on curation and refinement by humans, rather than aggregation and personalization by computers, to deliver higher quality content that is more relevant to the consumer so you can “spend your time wisely while reading content that makes you smarter.”
Conclusion
I am excited about the perspective my digital declutter exercise is already helping me achieve on many fronts, and for allowing me to create the time and space needed to learn about and explore new ideas like slow journalism.
I’m still not sure if I’ll be signing up for newspaper home delivery anytime soon but you never know! One thing I am sure about however is that this experience is undoubtably going to influence my relationship with media both during the declutter process and for a long time to come.
