No News Is Good News

Written by William Urbanski.

For many years, an integral part of my morning routine involved checking the various new sites in Korea, Canada, and internationally. In no particular order, I checked CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), the Guardian, the Toronto Star and at least two different Korean news sites. Having been abroad for so many years, I felt that I had a personal responsibility to “keep informed” about what was going on around me in Asia, and checking the multiple news sites in Canada made me feel like I was maintaining a connection to home. But about eight months ago, when all the news agencies in the world collectively agreed that the only thing worth reporting about was the coronavirus, I quit my internet news habit cold turkey and in disgust. I mean, seriously, how many times can I hear about the same thing before losing interest in it completely? Somewhere among the myriad doom-and-gloom headlines and the 20-plus “URGENT”(!) corona-related emergency notifications I was receiving on my phone, it was clear that old Willy Boy needed to make a conscious effort to tune out this monsoon of media. This was not about reducing my exposure to “fake news” or anything like that, but it was definitely time to re-evaluate my relationship with the high-octane, up-to-the-minute, maximum-impact style of news that has unfortunately become the accepted norm.

The Urge to Be Informed
There is all sorts of pressure to “stay informed,” which presumably means to follow developments that go on around the world. The question is: How much of this actually affects you? For example, is there really a point in knowing exactly what measures Timbuktu is taking to contain the spread of COVID-19 or how many people in Papua New Guinea cannot get masks? Here is another example that I only know about because a former teacher of mine has been posting about it on Facebook (a medium which, by the way, should not be anyone’s primary source of information about the world): The government of my home province of Ontario, Canada, decided that in September, schools and classes will open as normal with about 35 kids to a class. Naturally, teachers, students, and health professionals are up in arms about this and are all predicting catastrophe. As a grown-up who lives in Korea, all this does is make my blood boil, and for what? It does not affect me, and I do not actually give a hoot about the trials, tribulations, and woes of the education system in Ontario. Furthermore, having unevaluated information about why school teachers are cryin’ the blues does not mean I am actually informed about the issue.

Mugabe in the Mornings
Do you know who Robert Mugabe was? He was the president of Zimbabwe and was basically the worst person ever. My brother told me about how he developed a bit of a morning routine of browsing the news sites to catch up on Mugabe’s wild and unfortunate antics. This so-called “Mugabe in the Mornings” habit clearly exemplifies how knowing about something so removed from our daily reality can end up having basically nothing but comedic value. Furthermore, while knowing how much money some far-away bureaucrat stole may make us seethe with righteous indignation, it basically serves no purpose.

Doomscrolling
“Doomscrolling” is the sweet new word to describe the tendency to keep reading and clicking on internet articles even though they contain nothing but bad or worrying news. The way it works could be best illustrated through an imaginary, but I feel accurate, monologue by a man we shall call Johnny McJohnson. The scene takes place in the morning while Johnny is checking the news headlines on his phone and drinking a coffee:

“What do we have here? Looks like corona cases went up. Hmmm, there’s a link below this article. Oh my! It says Trump pulled funding for scientific research to companies with links to China! A-ha! Wait a minute, there’s another link. It says that China is responsible for all this! I’m outraged! 2020 is the worst year ever!”
The end result of all this doomscrolling is, inevitably, watching an Instagram video of a bearded man in a dark room explaining that COVID-19 is a pretense for AI facial recognition systems’ beta testing. The video will explain that forcing people to wear masks is a way to better improve the capabilities of such systems that at the present time, have trouble identifying covered or partially concealed faces. A dubious theory, of course, and one that lacks any sort of proof, but one that kinda-sorta makes sense if you do not think too deeply and allow yourself to get carried away through the doomscrolling wormhole.

The reason why doomscrolling has become so commonplace is actually pretty understandable. It makes a person feel like a modern-day Sherlock Holmes, a supersleuth of the internet and rogue genius who has the unique ability to sift through the deluge of online information, uncovering hidden truths, and figuring out what is “really going on.”

Things with No Benefit
“Quitting” or “being a quitter” sometimes and unfairly gets a bad rap. We think it is good to stick with something when the going gets tough, and this is certainly true in many respects, but there are some cases where quitting something or just walking away is in your best interests. The classic example is smoking, which is pretty much the most terrible thing to do to your body. Most reasonable people would congratulate someone who quits that dag-nasty habit. So, what do smoking and compulsively checking the internet headline news have in common? They are both things with no benefit.

Alright, stop. I can hear you already: “But William, there are a lot of benefits to reading the online news: I am more informed about the world around me.” However, this represents a misunderstanding of what the word “benefit” means. It refers to an activity in which there is a net gain after all the losses are considered. When you read about coronavirus spreading in some far-off country because some corrupt official sold medical supplies, there is the perceived benefit of acquiring information, but this has to be weighed against the negative emotions it evokes (particularly the feelings of helplessness and anger this creates), plus the time spent reading that could have been put to better use. In the end, you are worse off, not better, for hearing about this gossip.

Newsmakers’ Agendas and the Limitations of Media
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but news sources are rarely objective. The most basic classification would be to lump them into “left-wing” or “right-wing” (whatever those words mean). Whatever their agendas, most newsmakers have to write attention-grabbing headlines with provocative content if for no other reason than to justify their existence.

Instead of spending time doomscrolling, here is an idea: Choose something you would like to know more about; then read a book about it. Even the most well-written and objective news sources are limited by space and time, and the truth about many matters is much more subtle and nuanced than can be effectively communicated in fifteen hundred words. The news, especially online news, at the end of the day is a median: It is a way to summarize ideas and not the “be-all end-all” on matters.

Slow News
I am not rallying against all news, of course. After all, this article is appearing in the Gwangju News. Vis-à-vis other news agencies, the Gwangju News has several distinguishing characteristics: It is a volunteer magazine that is not for profit. As well, it has a mandate to report on matters that interest and directly affect the people of Gwangju and Jeollanam-do. In addition, it is a printed magazine, and although we have a demanding production schedule, we are not under the same time pressure to be constantly producing content at the expense of fact-checking and objectivity.

Final Thoughts
Doomscrolling, or just straight-up compulsively checking the online news, is actually a pretty logical thing to do for most people, as it satisfies a certain intellectual curiosity. It is possible to have too much of anything though, and consuming high-intensity, up-to-the-minute content could be compared to gorging yourself at an all-you-can-eat buffet just because you can. So, there has to be a balance between satisfying the urge to be up-to-the-minute and being comfortable with ambiguity.

Not checking the internet news all the time does not mean that Facebook or the Joe Rogan Podcast should become your sole sources of information about the world. It means reevaluating your relationship with information and coming to terms with the fact that sometimes, just sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

The Author
William Urbanski is the managing editor of the Gwangju News and has an MA in international relations and cultural diplomacy. He is married to a wonderful Korean woman, always pays cash, and keeps all his receipts. Instagram: @will_il_gatto