I avoid reading news since a couple of years. The Economist is the only publication I read on a somehow regular basis. Nevertheless, I find myself more and more reading news due to Twitter and LinkedIn. This article is brilliantly showcasing why news are bad.
This is one reason that mathematicians, novelists, composers and entrepreneurs often produce their most creative works at a young age. Their brains enjoy a wide, uninhabited space that emboldens them to come up with and pursue novel ideas.
This is something I've never really considered.
I don't know a single truly creative mind who is a news junkie – not a writer, not a composer, mathematician, physician, scientist, musician, designer, architect or painter.
So, obviously this all depends on who Rolf considers "creative."
But I am always amazed by the creatives I see on twitter, consistently interacting with the news of the day. First, I just don't get how they find the time to maintain a following and do actual creative work. With this article, I'm also realizing how many will latch onto a specific narrative, and how that may influence their work.
News is to the mind what sugar is to the body. News is easy to digest. The media feeds us small bites of trivial matter, tidbits that don't really concern our lives and don't require thinking. That's why we experience almost no saturation. Unlike reading books and long magazine articles (which require thinking), we can swallow limitless quantities of news flashes, which are bright-coloured candies for the mind. Today, we have reached the same point in relation to information that we faced 20 years ago in regard to food. We are beginning to recognise how toxic news can be.
Society needs journalism – but in a different way. Investigative journalism is always relevant. We need reporting that polices our institutions and uncovers truth. But important findings don't have to arrive in the form of news. Long journal articles and in-depth books are good, too.
I avoid reading news since a couple of years. The Economist is the only publication I read on a somehow regular basis. Nevertheless, I find myself more and more reading news due to Twitter and LinkedIn. This article is brilliantly showcasing why news are bad.
This is something I've never really considered.
So, obviously this all depends on who Rolf considers "creative."
But I am always amazed by the creatives I see on twitter, consistently interacting with the news of the day. First, I just don't get how they find the time to maintain a following and do actual creative work. With this article, I'm also realizing how many will latch onto a specific narrative, and how that may influence their work.
This comment was deleted on 8/6/2020
Wow, I want to make my case for every example the author brought up. Instead I will let this information saturate my brain.
A classic. (Great find, deephdave.)
Written in 2013, lots to chew on here. We should all keep chewing on all of this.