Sean always impresses me with his helpful content, original cartoons, and amazing photography. It seems I consistently learn something new when I connect with Sean. In our WhatsApp chat last month we discussed how we’re both dealing with the pandemic.
I shared that my life hasn’t changed much because I work from home and was already a bit of a hermit. I added that my wife and I watch TV in the evenings, but we’re running out of interesting programs to view. And then Sean said, “I don’t have a TV.”
Who doesn’t have a TV? Seems all my friends have televisions and often mention the latest programs they’re watching. In particular, nearly all of them watch cable news and like to compare notes on the latest updates and issues.
Sean told me he hasn’t had a TV for some time, which probably explains why he’s so prolific with his work, cartoons, journals, reading, and photography. I always felt I managed my time pretty well. I get up early, avoid social media rabbit holes, and have a productive schedule. But I am a news junkie and like to be informed. I often left cable news turned on, even as background while cooking or painting.
Then I asked myself, what would happen if I quit cable news programs? So, for the last month, that’s what I did.
An endless string of disasters
If you think about it, cable news is designed to suck you in with news alerts and urgent updates. The news sets are glitzy, the anchors hyperventilate about politics, and the talking heads play an endless game of interruption and one-upmanship.
Whatever your political orientation, there’s a cable news network for you. People like programming that appeals to their confirmation bias at the expense of a broader perspective. And let’s not forget cable news’s prolific focus on disasters, scandals, and the dirty laundry of life.
“But by showing us live coverage of every bad thing happening everywhere in the world, cable news makes life seem like it’s just an endless string of disasters — when, for most people in most places today, life is fairly good.” -Gregg Easterbrook
The author and blogger Mark Manson wrote a great post about why you should quit the news. Here’s an excerpt:
“Let me ask you this: when was the last time you made a major life decision based on a news story? Or: when was the last time information from a news story directly impacted your life? And I don’t mean, ‘It made me really, really upset,’ impacted. I mean, like, actually impacted you.”
More than likely, you can’t remember. That’s because, as Manson points out, “…the vast majority of news is irrelevant.” Car chases, the President’s latest tweet, who plead guilty in the college admissions scandal. None of this stuff is going to help you figure out what to do with your life, or how to solve real problems affecting your work and relationships.
Information that feels important
Mark Manson argues that the most important personal challenge we face as individuals today is to learn how to manage and care for our own attention. Why do we give ourselves over to catastrophizing news anchors?
So much of cable news is repetitive nonsense packaged to appear urgent and important. The reality is that most of it matters very little in our daily lives. As Mark Manson notes:
“The most succinct way to sum up the issue today is that news media optimizes for information that feels important with little regard to its actual importance.”
Some people, including me for a while, feel that cable news keeps us informed and knowledgeable, which is helpful in talking with others. But really, it’s often just people of like minds using cable news to have something to talk about.
Further, if you think cable news helps you decide who to vote for, most of your views are already made up. And they’re more greatly influenced by family and friends.
The old adage “If it bleeds it leads” is still true today. Cable news networks know that they can hold your attention with close-ups of the plane crash, or the people buried in some third world earthquake. Mark Manson notes that “the most important information is usually long-term, slow-moving, impersonal, abstract and invisible, and not necessarily negative.”
To support this, Manson writes:
“Car accidents kill more people than terrorism, mass shootings, and natural disasters combined. How much reporting do you see on car accidents or driver safety?
The sequencing of the human genome was arguably more important than any other scientific development in the 1990s, opening a path to predicting disease and conditions before they occur, altering and improving the health of millions, if not billions, of people over the coming generations. How many weekly updates did you hear about it?”
As an alternative to cable news, Mark Manson recommends the following:
“Seek out the highest-value content you can find, and then pay for it. Limit your consumption to a few pieces of content per week. Go for quality over quantity.”
Instead of clickbait and sensationalized cable news, find reputable publications that employ solid journalists and editors reporting serious, useful information.
Publications like The Economist and Foreign Affairs aren’t cheap but are likely to produce a more in-depth analysis of today’s events. These publications are written for professionals and don’t trifle with clickbait and sensationalism.
Another excellent source of information is books. Unlike twenty-second cable news blurbs, books are deeply edited and can provide much broader analysis, context, and history to help you understand events.
Yes, you still have to be aware of political bias. Look for authors who are serious historians, respected academics, and content experts over media journalists, politicians, celebrities, and cable personalities.
The slower cadence of a quiet evening
Everyone is competing for our attention today. The key is to take a proactive role in deciding what you want to digest. This requires asking yourself what’s important to you.
What happened this last month when I quit cable news? I started reading more books, like “The Golden Flea,” by Michael Rips. Rips tells the true story of the legendary Chelsea flea market in New York.
Rips recounts his obsession with the flea market, the fascinating people he met, and the fascinating things he collected. Along the way are lessons about why curated pieces of the past matter.
“I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.” -Groucho Marx
Another book I devoured was Abbot Christopher Jamison’s “Finding Sanctuary: Monastic Steps for Everyday Life,” which seems fitting in these days of COVID-19 sheltering in place.
Jamison is a Benedictine monk who writes eloquently about the importance of meditation, prayer, silence, community, and much more.
I wrote extensively about this book in my article This Is What Monks Know About Better Living.
The other thing that happened when I quit watching cable news was that I did more creative work. I completed more writing, painting, and cartooning. In short, my productivity increased. Additionally, I took online courses in charcoal drawing, anatomy, and expressive painting.
It’s amazing how much more fulfilling and enriching books and creative work are over the empty noise of cable news. It’s satisfying to walk into my studio/office and see fresh paintings I’m working on, as well as the bones of new articles I’m writing on my computer.
My wife and dogs are happier, too. Instead of getting sucked into the evening cable news, I take my dogs for an after-dinner walk. Other nights, my wife and I sit out by the pool in our backyard. We watch the birds, talk, and settle into the slower cadence of a quiet evening.
I really don’t miss it
Much has been written these days about the evils of television and social media. My father used to advise “all things in moderation.” I still enjoy television for movies and interesting programs. Sometimes you just want a relaxing escape.
The same goes for social media. Occasionally I’ll set aside an hour to visit my favorite artists on Instagram or watch music videos I enjoy. But since dumping cable news shows, I’ve become more discerning with my attention diet. I weigh the value of distractions against things that matter to me, like my relationships, creative work, and exercise.
“I haven’t had a TV in 10 years, and I really don’t miss it, ’cause it’s always so much more fun to be with people than it ever was to be with a television.” — Chuck Palahniuk
How about you? Are you addicted to cable news shows? Do they make your life better? Imagine if the next time you got together with fellow cable news junkies, you regaled them with stories from the latest book you read.
What would your life look like if you swapped cable news programs for more quality time with your family? How much further along would you be in your creative work if you dumped cable news for more studio time?
How would your body change if you eliminated cable news shows to work out instead? In the end, it always comes down to choices.
Unlike my friend Sean, I still have a TV, but I’m using it more wisely now. By dumping cable news shows, I’m reading more, creating more, exercising more, and hanging out with my wife more.
Seems to me that’s an improvement I should have made a long time ago.
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Before you go
I’m John P. Weiss. I draw cartoons, paint, read, and write about life. Get on my free, weekly email list here.
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This post was previously published on Medium.
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Illustrations by John P. Weiss
