Why I Stopped Reading National News
A 200-year-old newspaper helped me figure out why modern news is stoking irrational fear and anxiety
Last week I was hunting in Utah with people who work in media, entertainment, and business. Half the fun of hunting is camp, where people come together in the afternoon and at night to sit around and shoot the shit. Cell phones don’t have service. There’s no TV or computers. Just conversation.
We all got talking about the state of the world and someone started rambling on about some perceived injustice in Washington DC. People began piping in and getting worked up. Neck veins began bulging.
I said nothing. Neither did another guy, a brilliant businessman who founded a gear company that’s completely changing the face of hunting.
He and I exchanged that knowing glance. We both had zero clue what the hell these people were talking about. Turns out we’d both stopped watching national news within the last few months.
Your Brain On News
The human brain is wired to crave information that offers a survival benefit. Think: Information that hints at danger or centers on wrongdoings. This is because humans evolved in an unsafe and uncomfortable world — focusing on potential dangers helped us…
