To not know what's going on in the world. No news!

[OdinFlower]

I began to stop watching the news in 2020. It was an awful time. My elderly mum had a mental breakdown because of the lockdown loneliness. I so regret sticking to the guidance and not seeing her more. She died recently. She never recovered from the mental torment.

I was so sick of the news...COVID, Brexit, Trump, Putin etc. It was affecting my wellbeing. Endless political crap, useless celebrity rubbish. So I've not watched or read about the news for several years. Of course, I can't fully escape it. Other people discuss it but I can honestly say I feel so much better not knowing about world politics, the latest celebrity nonsense etc.

Now I know a lot of people will find my attitude rather uncaring. But this is how our ancestors would have lived. I know what's going on in my local neighbourhood but that's it. If there is a nuclear war or comet about to hit, I don't need to know about it. I'm living my life and the peace is lovely. Selfish? Maybe....but I don't care.

Agree. So much predictable awfulness going on. To stop watching is completely understandable. I don't watch the news now much and a member of my friends feel likewise. We just feel so helpless in the face of atrocity.

I'm not sure that the Guardian could be described as balanced.
It is explicitly "Left".

Well I hear new on radio and see some on the tablet and tbh most of it doesn't affect me in my day to day life. Far too much bloody trump and zelensky for my liking.

And politics is generally one party slagging off another

@FedupofArsenalgame But the “too much Trump and Zelenskyy” is the thing that does impact us on a day to day basis, in the supermarket and petrol station, in people’s jobs and businesses. Aren’t you curious as to “why” things happen?

I take that point - I was trying to reference free sources of information that are vaguely serious; I don’t count any of the tabloids under that definition, and other newspapers are behind the paywall. It’s very difficult to find a truly objective news source, as the output will inevitable reflect the world view if its journalists and owners. The BBC tries best in this regard (although not perfect). I advocate reading / watching a variety of sources in order to come to a view. But I’m a news junkie so perhaps not typical!

I don't think it's particularly selfish to avoid the news, and for some people it's definitely healthier to do so. My only caveat is to do with voting. If you're going to vote, you should inform yourself beforehand, not just of what the candidates say but of what they've done in the past, but on a day-to-day basis, I do what pleases me. Sometimes I follow news closely, but if it's bringing me down or making me anxious, I practice self-preservation and take a break from it, as far as is possible.

Well Latest Celebrity Nonsense isn't news.
Famous people do make the news though.

Like a PP asks - I'm wondering whether you vote in elections.
Do you have children?

I don't watch the news as its bloody depressing. Plus anything to reduce seeing the orange, bloated, lying, tyrant wannabe, creep, Trump, the better.

Yet my parents watch it and its the same stuff at 1pm and 10pm.

Most likely, yes. The non-troublesome powerful people probably vary more psychologically than the troublesome ones do. The interactions between the two can be interesting though and the outcomes sometimes shocking. It's potentially the most interesting from an analytic point of view when it isn't quite so black and white and you can see valid points of each side even though they want totally different things.

@Mauro711 Yes, very true.

This is how we end up with people claiming they had no idea the pension age had gone up (a major story 30 years ago). You need to have some idea what's going on in the world even if it's only so you know about stuff that's going to affect you. Glance at the BBC news website for three minutes once a day and you'll get all you need.

That was the only news? I read lots of news sources, haven’t seen anything about Diddy for a few days etc…

How do you determine who to vote for in elections if you don’t keep up to date with local and national politics?
Does the war in Ukraine not concern you, the impact of tariffs on the uk economy and price increases or what is happening to the population in Gaza?

By doing your own research?

News does affect your everyday lives regardless of whether you’d prefer not to hear about Trump and Zelenskyy.

Completely agree. I don't know why the OP has had a couple of snarky comments when all she did was start a thread in the hope of starting a discussion? On a forum? Bizarre!

I do have a little bit of a 🙄 to those who avoid the news. It feels a bit juvenile to me, particularly when it precedes a whole explanation of what they’re a lot happier now they are ignorant etc etc.

I like to know what’s going on but it doesn’t mean I listen to the news or watch it online. I choose my news sources and dip in a few times a day so I’m up to date but not overburdened. It also means I can have current event conversations with my kids who hear about stuff through News round at school or friends and I can give further information or add historical context to something they find puzzling. Recently that was about Isreal and Gaza and we were able to have a conversation about it on the drive home and my son exited the car feeling a little bit clearer.

But she didn’t start a discussion. She told us how she no longer watches news sources. And said if that was selfish she didn’t care. Fine. I don’t feel that way, neither do other PPs.

This is a bit of an odd statement, and seems completely at odds with the history of humanity. Our curiosity is what has led to the spread of humanity across the entire planet, the development of technology and civilization, and our ongoing need to know what is beyond the bounds of our current knowledge of our environment, and why we've sent probes everywhere in our solar system and beyond.

If we weren't "designed" to do this, we'd all still be huddled in a cave in Africa somewhere, if we'd even survived this long.

Not particularly. Always some shit having gone on over the last 50 odd years.

And I read up on policies ( lies) when elections due. And make my own mind up

Am with you OP and better for it, have idea of what’s going on as have radio on when driving but no interest in the relentless 24 hour media, there’s nothing I can do about global events, just focus on making my immediate sphere of focus as safe and calm as possible

A number of my friends...... Autocorrect. Love it.

Trump is always been talked about and then the news on Sundays is always hours upon hours of politics

Some of the older folk believe in every word that the DM prints. We are in this mess due to them

Very true, but I think we need to focus on better quality news sources - BBC news (particularly under the Tories) was far too obsequious towards the government of the day to reveal candidly the extent to which rights were under threat, for example. All TV news tends towards the sensational, the trivial, and reduces politics to a Punch and Judy show of warring personalities and shouting "talking heads". That leaves radio news, which has similar drawbacks to TV news but is less invasive, and news sites.

I think the best option is to review a couple of the better news sites each day, which means you can home in on the articles that might be relevant, without having to sit through twenty minutes of someone droning on about the Royal family, the latest gory murder case, Kanye Diddy, WW2 commemorations, outraged reactions to some parliamentary gaffe or other, etc etc. The biggest problem with news sites is the rise of paywalls.