Why It’s More Important Than Ever to Ignore the News
From the moment I clicked “Publish” two years ago, I’ve been uncomfortable with my post about ignoring the news.
Not because it’s wrong, or because it’s bad advice. On the contrary, I think ignoring the news is more important than ever. (I even made it a part of my new book Make Time, as tactic #25, “Ignore the News”.) If you follow the news because you’re an active, engaged citizen—a force for good in a world of bad news—you can’t afford to squander your time and energy in a reactive loop of breaking news. You need to be in charge.
No… That old post makes me uncomfortable because telling people to ignore the news feels wrong in today’s chaotic world. An incredible amount of bad news is published every day, and ignoring it — even if just for 24 hours, or for a week at a time, as I do — seems irresponsible.
During the 20th Century, reading the news (and later watching it, with the advent of broadcast television and then cable news) became the “right thing to do” for grown-up, informed citizens and savvy, growth-oriented professionals… or that’s how the narrative goes, anyway.
Indeed, the breaking news runs on a very potent myth: You need to know what’s going on around the world, and you need to know now.
