Consuming Media in an Age of Junk
How do you Filter Your Media Content When Everyone Wants Your Attention?
Our Poor News Diet
Social media is like fast food. This isn’t a new idea, but the comparison is apt. Jim Gaffigan might have been the first with this idea. It’s cheap to get, it tastes good at first, but it isn’t healthy as a staple of our diet. This is the same with social media; how many times in the last year have you thought about deleting those apps because they make you angry? I know I wanted to.
Over the last two years, I have become convinced that the most important thing we can do to maintain our sanity online is manage our news intake. I can’t count the number of times my little group of news sources has been a refuge from all of the attention-grabbing headlines.
This group of media I mentioned includes podcasts, email newsletters, and a bit of social media. In a future newsletter I will include my specific recommendations. For now, I want to start a short series on the principles of healthy (i.e. helpful and enjoyable) news intake.
Look for Long Form Content
Long form content is crucial for healthy news intake. Whether it’s reading an article, watching TV, or listening to a podcast, try to find extended news coverage. This can certainly vary, but my suggestion is to find articles that are over 800 words, podcasts longer than 40 minutes, and TV programs with 10-15 minute segments.
Extended media forces the author or host or interviewer to fill that time with nuanced explanations and information. Nuance requires time and 30 second sound-bites don’t allow for nuance.
It is still possible to write 800 words of fluff or to vamp for 45 minutes, but it is significantly harder than with shorter media. Regardless of what you think about him, lengthy podcasts are one of the main reasons Joe Rogan is so popular. The depth of detail and amount of nuance his podcasts cover is often astounding.
Where to Start
I will be writing more on this topic, but if you are interested in finding long form news before then, here are a couple suggestions: 1) Ask your friends (maybe even FaceBook friends) what their favorite news sources are. 2) If you find an interesting news clip or headline, try to research a bit more to find a longer clip or article.
Although it can take more time to read or listen to news this way, we will feel much better for doing so. We will understand topics and events better, and our emotions won’t be as volatile when only consuming fast food media.