The importance of engaging with the world in the era of online distraction.

The news media has a problem, and it’s nothing new: How do we decide what is newsworthy? What do we report about? How do we balance what’s interesting with what’s important? Best case scenario, those things coincide, but too often the third piece gets left out: what’s representative of the real world. Losing focus on that has long led newspapers across the globe to report mainly on bad things like natural disasters, contentious politics, and the deaths of people who used to be famous. 

Especially in the realm of political reporting, there isn’t nearly as much good news as bad news. This is only exacerbated by the fact that we live in times of unprecedented political polarization, where a politician and their policies are almost never unanimously supported. Earthquakes get reported on much quicker than endangered populations bouncing back. Corrupt politicians are almost always focused on over model ones. This is an issue we’ve had since the beginning of people reporting for, creating, and consuming news.

 It’s easy to look at the news and say that it’s too depressing, or that it takes too much of your mental energy, or that it doesn’t affect you; that you can’t change it, so why bother reading about it? Well, reading the news is important, even if you’re just reading it. The press is widely considered the unspoken fourth branch of the American government because of the role it plays in checking the other branches, informing the populace, and holding public figures accountable.

Yes, that’s all very idealistic. In real life, sometimes it can be tough to open the news knowing that you probably won’t like what you see. There’s nothing wrong with feeling that way, but reading the news is, again, important. So what do we do?

The first thing that you need to keep in mind is this: It does matter. Even if it’s in a different country or state. Even if it’s on the other side of the world. Staying informed is a gift you give to yourself. Once you convince yourself that it doesn’t matter, it’s that much easier to justify not reading or watching the news at all. Now, you should still curate what you read to an extent to focus on what matters to you. None of this is to say that you need to keep updated on every single modern issue—the important thing is to keep paying attention. Don’t close your eyes.

The second thing is to not take the news personally, especially when you care a lot about an issue. It can be painful to find out that other people are acting against your stance. It can feel like a personal attack, or like the press is almost taking advantage of you by reporting on something that makes you sad or angry. Yes, the press has an incentive to report on inflammatory topics, but you have to be a little more selfish in this case. What can you get out of reading these stories? Letting the news upset you, while sometimes difficult to avoid, doesn’t solve much. Keep an eye on current events without getting too emotionally invested — just allow yourself to think about it and absorb the facts of the situation. That’ll help you decide what, if anything, you want to do about it.

The third and perhaps most important thing to remember is that good stories still exist. Maybe one day you’ll pick up your phone or turn on your television and find out that we have a new pope, or that a baby rhino was born, or that a new trade deal has been brokered. If you shut out the rest of the world and focus entirely on yourself, you won’t even give yourself the chance to see these stories, which is doing yourself a great disservice. You deserve to read good news alongside the bad — all of it is information that allows us to cultivate the good and thwart the bad. 

Hopefully this is helpful, although I realize the irony of publishing this story in a newspaper. For those of you who are feeling cynical about the world on account of the news media, it’s understandable. Just remember that it serves a purpose, you can benefit from it, and that there’s still good news out there – all you have to do is look.

Article by William Reynolds