Beyond Breaking News

There is a peculiar habit that modern people share. They wake up, reach for a device, and immediately ask the world a question: What happened? Not what matters! Not what will shape the next decade! Simply what happened. That’s where the ‘news’ steps in. A scandal here. A conflict there. A stock market tremor. A political quarrel. Heated outbursts. An alarm. Another alarm. Tomorrow a new set of alarms replaces the old ones. The cycle repeats. In my opinion, following the news is one of the least effective ways to understand reality.

Over the past few years I have developed a strong aversion to the latest news and the so called breaking stories that flash across television networks and social media. The entire machinery appears designed to stimulate emotions and pump up the viewership (TRPs). Modern news organisations seem to survive on attention. Everything is blown out of proportion because outrage and fear travels faster than facts. A military action somewhere in the world becomes a dramatic spectacle. A careless remark by a politician becomes a national crisis. Worst kinds of crimes against humans that lead to loss of lives are easily forgotten, and the opinions of some people start to matter more. The goal of news is not balance but engagement.

Gone are the days of the well-balanced and poised news readers of Doordarshan of some decades back, who mostly provided a well edited and proper summary of the events.

Consuming daily news is futile. The news actually has had very little relevance to my life. None of my financial decisions were ever shaped by breaking headlines because I am not into trading fast moving stocks or derivatives. My daily work to live and support my family continues almost entirely unaffected by who wins an election in a distant country. The things that matter to me are far simpler and far closer to home. Ensuring that I can grow fruits and vegetables. Ensuring that my family is safe and well fed. Ensuring that people around me remain healthy and content. This may appear like a narrow view of the world to anyone who is ‘up to date’, but it is perhaps the most practical one.

Politics offers another example. Governments change and parties rotate through power, yet many everyday realities remain stubbornly unchanged. The broken village road here has always remains broken regardless of the ruling party. I have had to arrange for basics like water supply and power on my own, even when the vegetables or basic commodities become expensive – I have no option but to either pay or learn to live without them. Latest news doesn’t change my life in anyway. The actual happenings do influence like the commodities becoming expensive, but the latest news doesn’t. The news may loudly discuss economic trends, but the real impact is felt at the marketplace and in the daily life after many many days.

News also creates an illusion of urgency. The human mind evolved to react quickly to danger and when something is labelled breaking, the brain behaves as if immediate action is required. Yet almost nothing in the news requires action. Wars will proceed without our involvement or our feeling. Markets will move without our intervention. Political scandals will resolve themselves without our participation.

Another curious feature of the news is the confident prediction of complex events. Analysts forecast economic shifts, political outcomes, or geopolitical consequences with remarkable certainty. But societies and economies behave like complex ecosystems. Small and unpredictable events often shape history far more than carefully crafted forecasts. Years later most predictions fade into irrelevance while the daily ritual of confident commentary continues on all news channels.

I do read the news from time to time, but usually after the complete story has unfolded and the facts are out to get a proper account of what’s going on. I prefer to read to opposite points to view even though I might be aligned to one. This gives me an insight which incidently pleases me, but is also actually entirely useless.

Consider the endless discussions around global conflicts. A war broke out in the middle east (or middle west depending on where you see it from), there may or may not be a crisis when it comes to fuels like petrol, diesel, or the cooking gas. The war may or may not end in a few days. US may be supporting Israel against Iran or maybe supporting Russia and in turn helping Iran. It’s all a very complicated world and there are more opinions and speculations than one can imagine. How does it affect me? It doesn’t. If I have cooking gas, I will cook. If not, I will crib and cry, and then find some alternatives. For most ordinary people the effect is far simpler. If petrol becomes expensive, we pay more, or try to reduce travel. Some even hoard as a short-term stop-gap arrangement. If cooking gas becomes scarce, we find alternatives. Human beings have always adapted this way, especially in places like India where daily life itself is an ongoing negotiation with scarcity and uncertainty.

This reveals an important distinction. Events do shape the world, but the news about those events rarely improves our understanding of them. News is mostly noise. It is a clouded, dramatic version of reality designed to capture attention and influence large audiences. It runs on keeping our adrenaline levels high, and also with a constant dose of dopamine to make one feel well-informed and on top of the things. The news deals in interruptions while reality unfolds through continuity.

To ignore the news today requires a small act of discipline because the society insists that one must stay constantly updated and connected. Yet I feel that the wisdom often lies in selective ignorance. Ignore what is random. Ignore what you cannot influence. Ignore what will be forgotten next week. Invest attention where it compounds slowly over time through learning, observation, and meaningful work.

News doesn’t change anything. The happenings around the world may, to some extent. There is a difference between the two. News is noise. It is just a clouded version of what’s happening around and tries to make masses aware and to influence them. The actual happenings do change things but knowing them through news is not of any use. The world will continue to turn without our daily consumption of headlines. And strangely, by stepping away from the noise, one often begins to understand it far more clearly. In the end most news stories share the same destiny. They disappear.

After such a long rant, the summary is simple. I have largely stopped following the news. Not that I live in complete ignorance like a hermit in a cave. I remain aware of events around the world, but I no longer feel the need to consume the endless stream of breaking headlines. I choose not to feed that system. Life feels better this way. Some may say that this is a form of blindness. Perhaps it is. But if stepping away from the noise brings clarity, then it is a blindness I am comfortable with.

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