Stop Reading the News

In Taming the Molecule of More, I describe my 2017-18 achievement: I read no news.

You think that means that I read less news. Nope. I read no news, no opinions, nothing.

If you want to know how I did it and what it was like, order the book. But in this post I'll tell you why you should do it, too, and feel better in the here and now.

I was a news obsessive from early on. I savored the battle. Bonus: I thought my obsession was noble. In comment-section debates, I thought I was opening minds and changing them to my obviously more informed perspective. Turns out I wasn't.

Most of my motivation was the excitement of argument and tribalism--and attention, and clicks, and the thrill of conflict-without-consequence.

How do I know? Reading the news and raging at strangers online does nothing to fix suffering. In fact, it prolongs the pain: you're fighting keyboard wars when you could be out there doing something in the real world to help. Life is filled with cruel injustice, crushing loneliness, joyful villains, and suffering neighbors. Following the news 24/7 won't change that.

So do this: Help those immediately around you. If it hurts other people, don't do it. If someone else is being injured, stand in harm's way for them. And don't force your opinions on anyone. Make an offer and honor their acceptance or decline. You may be certain that you know better than someone else, but it's hardly noble to demand they replace their choice with your own. We all have a right to be wrong.

If we each showed more compassion to those around us, the world would change on a dime, though it's a helluva lot less demanding to read the op-ed page and fight on Facebook.

Stop reading the news. Go do something.