How do you get news in the first place?
Do you filter a lot and only read small amount?
Do you care at all to get news asap or do you feel like if something is important to you then you’ll hear about it later anyway?
Late last year, I signed up for a daily delivery of a physical copy of The Financial Times. I rarely read news websites, other than HN and Reddit. Why? Because I wanted to be informed about world events but dislike the always-on nature of online news, and because I have a certain romantic ideal of reading the morning newspaper with a cup of coffee. Unfortunately it doesn't arrive in the morning and usually comes around noon.
How has it been? Both good and bad. I do like having a physical paper put in the mailbox, as it's fun to look forward to a "delivery" every day that is more real than just looking at my phone.
On the other hand, I find the FT to be worth reading only about every other issue, largely because there simply isn't enough news to report in 24 hours. The opinion and editorial sections make up a decent portion of the paper and largely aren't worth reading. But, every other issue or so, there are a few excellent articles absolutely worth the price of admission. And even then, the quality of the "boring" articles is leaps and bounds above what I used to read in the NYT or the Guardian.
I'm not sure if I'll be renewing it later this year, as it does feel like I'm wasting a lot of paper – but only on the days when I don't enjoy the articles. I wish they had a twice weekly edition, which would be the perfect interval IMO.
I used to read The Economist but the viewpoint irked me too much after awhile. I suppose The Financial Times is nominally somewhat similar, but I've found the FT to be a little more grounded, probably because they're primarily a paper for people in finance first and the general public second.
I can't think of a news story in the past two decades where a personal response in two hours would have been more beneficial than one in two weeks, based on better info. I'd like a latency knob on my news that I can set at around 500 hours. But it'd be nice if there's a loophole for hurricane warnings, etc.
Well, now I can think of some: weather and traffic reports.
I have the same feeling, so I don't really regularly check news anymore, but do sign up for various emergency alerts (from Google, my city & county, etc.) They'll usually text you (or at least try to) when shit goes down.
Some smaller agencies use Twitter, though, unfortunatley.
I just don't get news at all. Never watch TV. Never read newspapers. Never listen to the radio. Never read news website. Never use social media. I _did_ do all of that, but it has never been useful or actionable in any way so I stopped, for the better. I am confident that the important stuff will eventually reach me.
Basically, all I care about is trafic conditions, extreme weather warnings (rare around here), the date of the next bulky trash collection, and information related to my trade.
I try to ignore as much as possible. Almost nothing in the news directly affects me. I'll hear about anything important -- people love to talk about news. I have a weather app on my phone, that's usually all I need to look at to go about my business.
Social media is the fastest today. Probably even TikTok. It matters for some things - floods, wars. There's enough paranoia that advance warning helps; it was useful when we had waves of on and off COVID lockdowns. I like to have a month's groceries at home but it's bad when every damn person in town is buying months of groceries at once.
HN is quite fast too, almost too fast. It'll probably be off the front page by the time I'm awake. But not for political news.
This is exactly why I made this post here. I suspect that the audience on HN doesn’t or stopped overconsuming news, now I want to ask people elsewhere and I think the answers will be quite different.
Otherwise I used to check the news mostly for the dopamine hit or out of boredom but rarely benefit from that. I still do, but I limit it much more and have to say, less is better. I don't believe I've missed out on any news that would have made my life better and if it's ever something really really important, someone will probably tell me anyway
Readit News
How has it been? Both good and bad. I do like having a physical paper put in the mailbox, as it's fun to look forward to a "delivery" every day that is more real than just looking at my phone.
On the other hand, I find the FT to be worth reading only about every other issue, largely because there simply isn't enough news to report in 24 hours. The opinion and editorial sections make up a decent portion of the paper and largely aren't worth reading. But, every other issue or so, there are a few excellent articles absolutely worth the price of admission. And even then, the quality of the "boring" articles is leaps and bounds above what I used to read in the NYT or the Guardian.
I'm not sure if I'll be renewing it later this year, as it does feel like I'm wasting a lot of paper – but only on the days when I don't enjoy the articles. I wish they had a twice weekly edition, which would be the perfect interval IMO.
Well, now I can think of some: weather and traffic reports.
Some smaller agencies use Twitter, though, unfortunatley.
Basically, all I care about is trafic conditions, extreme weather warnings (rare around here), the date of the next bulky trash collection, and information related to my trade.
HN is quite fast too, almost too fast. It'll probably be off the front page by the time I'm awake. But not for political news.
It's only when I'm about to get on a plane that I need to double-check that I'm not flying somewhere suddenly volatile.
Otherwise I used to check the news mostly for the dopamine hit or out of boredom but rarely benefit from that. I still do, but I limit it much more and have to say, less is better. I don't believe I've missed out on any news that would have made my life better and if it's ever something really really important, someone will probably tell me anyway
https://sumi.news/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events
Just for a quick sweep.
Then I open Twitter/X and browse to my local news site.
This takes at most 5 minutes to skim world (and local) events and catch up.