It's time for a news diet! Maybe.
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No no, this is not yet another attempt at me Dieting outside the lounge --- I'm talking about a news diet.
Like most people, I used to read the news every day, often multiple times a day, on a variety of platforms. Not a lot, just scroll through the headlines and read the tidbits. That seemed normal, like what normal people do.
But in my journey to be even more minimalistic, I've come to believe that current events not only have no real impact on impact on my daily life, but I have no control over them. They just happen, I learn about then, I have an emotional reaction to them, then I go on about my day/life as per normal. If current events were to effect me somehow, then I'm certain I'd learn about them one way or another without having to watch/read/listen to the news.
If nothing else, it makes for interesting conversation. I'll just always bet to be the one guy in the group who didn't hear about that one thing. Maybe I even be the last guy to learn something.
That's not to say I intend to be ignorant about the world , but it's already impossible to know detail. Is there really any value to getting filtered values now? Why not just read the important details in a history book, or one of those "highlights of the year" articles or something?
In theory, all the bandwidth I've been wasting on news, I can invest in better things, like books. Or staring at the wall.
My news diet started Sunday, and I've consumed nothing since. I did buy Dune, and made it to page 35 of 864 or something. I feel like I have no idea what's going on in the world now (it's been 4 whole days!!), but I'm sure I will enter ignorant bliss any time now.
Please share your relationship to news and current events, and maybe... what I'm doing isn't all that unusual, and I should have done a news diet a while ago.
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Maybe consider a local (Japanese) economics newspaper in dead-tree format? If you can find one in English, that is. Newspapers aimed at businessmen tend to report the essentials that affect your business. And that's usually all you need. Then you won't feel like you're completely in the dark.
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@apapadimoulis The more I think about it, the more it looks like you only really need the following news:
- Wars and recessions.
- Local hazards (you'd want to know if there's a leopard on the loose in your neighborhood).
- Notice of approaching elections.
- Business closures and warnings.
Just about everything else you can kinda see happening around you if you keep your eyes open (and not glued to the smartphone).
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I am blissfully unaware of any world proceedings unless it is mentioned here, and I don't follow the Garage. Am I winning the diet?
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@acrow for sake of argument, I'll challenge the necessity...
Wars and recessions.
Assuming the war wasn't literally happening in my city (I think I would hear this), how do either of these effect me? I still would go to the grocery store, ride my bike, watch tv, bars, etc. Work isn't that much changed... we still will develop software, make payroll, go to the bank, etc.
Local hazards (you'd want to know if there's a leopard on the loose in your neighborhood).
Hmm. And if there was a leopard on the loose, what would I do differently? Certainly, I'd be careful, and be on the lookout for leopards around the corner. But... but... there could always be a leopard around the corner, let's call it the unreported leopard. The takeaway here is that, with all the new bandwidth I'll have from ignoring current events, I can learn to be more vigilant and observant.
Notice of approaching elections.
For what, to vote or something? If I'm going all anti-news here, then the leaders make no difference. And besides, voting in elections is like voting for the weather. The only difference is , in an election, my vote has a microscopic chance of picking the weather I like. Better just learn to like rain and shine.
Some might say that this is selfish. And yes, yes it is. But think about all the "caring about elections" bandwith I would be gaining back.
Business closures and warnings.
I haven't figured out a counter point to this. I don't want to waste my time going to a closed store. Maybe I check on google first if it's still open before going?
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@Tsaukpaetra said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I am blissfully unaware of any world proceedings unless it is mentioned here, and I don't follow the Garage. Am I winning the diet?
This is fantastic. I will try to learn from your blissful ignorance!
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@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@acrow for sake of argument, I'll challenge the necessity...
Wars and recessions.
Assuming the war wasn't literally happening in my city (I think I would hear this), how do either of these effect me? I still would go to the grocery store, ride my bike, watch tv, bars, etc. Work isn't that much changed... we still will develop software, make payroll, go to the bank, etc.
It will affect future business.
Scale of the impact depends on the location and size of the war. The current one in Ukraine never affected much outside the immediate area, as far as I could see. But a China-v-Taiwan war would likely cause a major electronics availability issues, and a resulting price hike.
Local hazards (you'd want to know if there's a leopard on the loose in your neighborhood).
Hmm. And if there was a leopard on the loose, what would I do differently? Certainly, I'd be careful, and be on the lookout for leopards around the corner. But... but... there could always be a leopard around the corner, let's call it the unreported leopard. The takeaway here is that, with all the new bandwidth I'll have from ignoring current events, I can learn to be more vigilant and observant.
Milling leopards that escape from circuses rarely go un-missed for long. And it's nice to know what to look out for.
Also, unless you didn't figure it out yet, this isn't a purely hypothetical example. I can remember like 3 circus escapes, and several more from farms.
Notice of approaching elections.
For what, to vote or something? If I'm going all anti-news here, then the leaders make no difference. And besides, voting in elections is like voting for the weather. The only difference is , in an election, my vote has a microscopic chance of picking the weather I like. Better just learn to like rain and shine.
Some might say that this is selfish. And yes, yes it is. But think about all the "caring about elections" bandwith I would be gaining back.
If you really don't have any wish to steer your parent country...
But sure, I can understand that.Business closures and warnings.
I haven't figured out a counter point to this. I don't want to waste my time going to a closed store. Maybe I check on google first if it's still open before going?
A polled model instead of push-notified? Hmm...
@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@Tsaukpaetra said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I am blissfully unaware of any world proceedings unless it is mentioned here, and I don't follow the Garage. Am I winning the diet?
This is fantastic. I will try to learn from your blissful ignorance!
You do realize that he reads every post on the forum, right?
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@acrow said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@Tsaukpaetra said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I am blissfully unaware of any world proceedings unless it is mentioned here, and I don't follow the Garage. Am I winning the diet?
This is fantastic. I will try to learn from your blissful ignorance!
You do realize that he reads every post on the forum, right?
Not true! I have only read 12.86 percent of non-garage posts made since joining, and have no intent on backtracking topics unless necro'd. 😜
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@acrow said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I can remember like 3 circus escapes, and several more from farms.
And they caught you and forced you to back to work every time?
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@acrow said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
Scale of the impact depends on the location and size of the war. The current one in Ukraine never affected much outside the immediate area, as far as I could see. But a China-v-Taiwan war would likely cause a major electronics availability issues, and a resulting price hike.
There's... a war in Ukraine? Did this happen in the last 4 days, or was it when I was basically paying attention to the news??
So my theory on the China-v-Taiwan war is this. By the time the news reported on this war, the companies with a "world affairs that impact our business" research departments would have already compiled a report on this prospective war, given it to an executive, and the executive would have acted speculatively to hedge incase the war happened, which would have caused a price hike. The news is too old in this case?
Milling leopards that escape from circuses rarely go un-missed for long. And it's nice to know what to look out for.
Also, unless you didn't figure it out yet, this isn't a purely hypothetical example. I can remember like 3 circus escapes, and several more from farms.
Hmm, yes yes. Fair point. So a non-hypothetical would be... water quality alert? Like, don't drink the water? I feel I've seen that at least once on TV, and have a vague recollection of needing to boil water or something. Would I have died if I drank the water? Probably just a stomach ache.
Counter point: have there been any real neighborhood hazards that we learned about on the news that we might have not avoided otherwise? I don't remember.... oh, and I don't consider the weather news. So sunburn, I'd already know about.
If you really don't have any wish to steer your parent country...
Say that I did. Isn't "donating" to politicians so they enact policies I want, or donate to Political Action Committees aligned with my interests... a much more effective steering means than just my measly vote, cast in a general election?
A polled model instead of push-notified? Hmm...
I think that's the model I need to develop. From a bandwidth perspective, it's much more performant. With this system, I can simply seek relevant information on demand, without requiring a constant connection.
You do realize that he reads every post on the forum, right?
Dammit. I already feel betrayed by the Guru.
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There's a happy medium here. You can get addicted to refreshing news sites, but staying in touch with current affairs in your country is a good idea. It means you are more informed when it comes to election time or if there are campaign issues, it means you can engage in politics directly if you want to make a difference - and at the moment if lets you know what might be safe and/or legal to do now and in the next few months.
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@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
Please share your relationship to news and current events, and maybe... what I'm doing isn't all that unusual, and I should have done a news diet a while ago.
I am doing something somewhat similar. Not as extreme as you, but I'm half-consciously trying to maintain a distance from news.
As an aside (which is rather relevant, I feel), I strongly believe that 24/7 news channels (and the internet) have been a bad thing for our societies. There are very few, if any, events where being informed right now!!1! truly makes any difference, so they're not really needed. On the flip side, their existence naturally attracts attention (it's natural to want to watch what's on the telly), and the 24/7 aspect means they have, well, 24h per day of program to fill, which naturally attracts a lot of low-quality content.
So my own routine is that I wake up listening to some talk radio, which means I'll get the most salient news (or news topics) of the day, but it's not just raw news (i.e. there's always some editorial, sometimes an in-depth piece, plus some lighter material) and I definitely pay it little attention as I'm going around my morning routine. During the day, I maybe look once at the front page of a couple of news sites, but often not even that. I then read a couple of indirect news sources (e.g. a weekly satirical newspaper, or even TDWTF!) which gives me some idea of what people talk about (and if it's stuff I care about, I'll go and look for more).
I find that there is a strong positive feedback: the more I look at news the more I want to look at more news, and the less I look at news the less I want to look at them. So the "hard" part is just to start the feedback loop, after that it works by itself. This is particularly true for all "news" based on one sentence from one person (basically all the garage
), the less I care about it the easier it becomes to just see it as random noise (and mock people who seem to care about it, which is what makes reading the garage enjoyable).(as an aside, part of starting that feedback loop happened when more and more of the French newspapers (those I was reading to get French news I wouldn't get in international medias!) started to put almost all their content behind paywalls. I tried looking at the national broadcaster (no paywall since it's taxpayer-funded) to at least get the talked-about topics but their website is so poor (not talking about political bias, just about technical quality and writing level) that I don't feel attracted to it... that helps not spending too much time there!)
@acrow said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@apapadimoulis The more I think about it, the more it looks like you only really need the following news:
- Wars and recessions.
- Local hazards (you'd want to know if there's a leopard on the loose in your neighborhood).
- Notice of approaching elections.
- Business closures and warnings.
For all of those (except maybe the 2nd one), you definitely don't need instant news (i.e. in the hour, or even day). Recessions don't happen in less than a day, and even if a war does, it's unlikely to directly affect you in such a short notice. Business closures might happen that quickly, but even then you don't really need to know immediately unless going to shop there but then you can always check times (and a store can always be closed for any random accidental reason that wouldn't necessarily make the news anyway). Also most events that evolve that quickly have some slower forerunners so if I heard about those I might keep a closer lookout (e.g. COVID lockdowns might be announced with less than a day notice but there are always rumours or other warnings a few days before so I'd know I need to look out for them).
So a once-a-day check is more than enough to get a feel of what's happening. My current routine is closer to a once-a-week check, and I still have to find a drawback. As you say, at worst I get to be the person to whom others explain what they're talking about, or to spend a couple of minutes searching for what's that thing other people talk about.
On the other side of the scale, I would still feel uncomfortable about not having any exposure to news. I still live in a society and I like knowing what is the mood of that society. So I'm glad to have the whole internet at my fingertips so I can search more about any news story I might hear about from various channels. But I'm quite happy keeping it at a distance most of the time.
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@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
There's... a war in Ukraine? Did this happen in the last 4 days, or was it when I was basically paying attention to the news??
There's been one for a couple of years now. Active hostilities are on hold, but AFAIK they never really ended the war.
So my theory on the China-v-Taiwan war is this. By the time the news reported on this war, the companies with a "world affairs that impact our business" research departments would have already compiled a report on this prospective war, given it to an executive, and the executive would have acted speculatively to hedge incase the war happened, which would have caused a price hike. The news is too old in this case?
This is relying on the company's ability to foresee the war. Whereas the most successful offensives have typically been surprise attacks. Sometimes even so surprising that the reporters on the scene didn't get their home-office superiors to believe their story, and missed the print deadline.
Hmm, yes yes. Fair point. So a non-hypothetical would be... water quality alert? Like, don't drink the water? I feel I've seen that at least once on TV, and have a vague recollection of needing to boil water or something. Would I have died if I drank the water? Probably just a stomach ache.
Bacterial contamination is no laughing matter. E-Coli can still kill you, and will likely take you to a hospital at a minimum.
Counter point: have there been any real neighborhood hazards that we learned about on the news that we might have not avoided otherwise? I don't remember.... oh, and I don't consider the weather news. So sunburn, I'd already know about.
In Japan... typhoon alert? Those strike kinda suddenly, right?
Tsunami alert?
Flood alert? Landslide warning? Volcano eruption warning?
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@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@acrow said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
You do realize that he reads every post on the forum, right?
Dammit. I already feel betrayed by the Guru.
Don't be. My personal time allocation has decreased by a substantial amount in the past year... 😇
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@acrow said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
Counter point: have there been any real neighborhood hazards that we learned about on the news that we might have not avoided otherwise? I don't remember.... oh, and I don't consider the weather news. So sunburn, I'd already know about.
In Japan... typhoon alert? Those strike kinda suddenly, right?
Tsunami alert?
Flood alert? Landslide warning? Volcano eruption warning?Personally I'd rather not discover urgent immediate life endangerment through happenstance chance I was looking at a news site or tuned to the right channel at the right time.
Come to think of it, it's been years since I've heard the emergency public broadcast sequences... 🤔
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@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
My news diet started Sunday, and I've consumed nothing since. I did buy Dune, and made it to page 35 of 864 or something.
This bothers me. How can you read only 35 pages in 4 days?
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@nerd4sale said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
My news diet started Sunday, and I've consumed nothing since. I did buy Dune, and made it to page 35 of 864 or something.
This bothers me. How can you read only 35 pages in 4 days?
Let's see, thirty five divided by four...
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@Tsaukpaetra said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
backtracking topics
that's @obeselymorbid 's job
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I've come to the conclusion quite some time ago that "instant" "news" (and especially global news) is not only pointless but very unhealthy both for society as a whole and for my individual well-being. As has already been pointed out, it's extremely rare that anything "newsworthy" would directly affect me in any way, so it's mostly pointless. What's more, I see several reasons why it's actively harmful:
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It affects me emotionally, usually in a negative way. In fact most news items (especially of the "instant news" variety) are specifically crafted to affect me emotionally, because that's what's what attracts those precious "eyeballs" and "click-throughs".
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Because there's so much of it, I can only spend a minimum of time on any specific issue, which leaves me with a very shallow understanding of it at best, or a completely wrong impression at worst (especially if all I read is the click-baity headline, which as a general rule greatly exaggerates or even totally misrepresents the issue).
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Things often aren't what they appear to be at the beginning. It may take some time and investigation for relevant facts to be uncovered, which can relativise or completely invalidate the first impression. If I don't actively (and continuously) follow up on the story, there's a good chance that I'll be left with entirely the wrong conclusions.
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It leads me to think I'm informed about what's going on in the world, but actually I'm not. In addition to the reasons above, the "newsworthy" things are exceptional pretty much by definition (cf. "sky is still blue" meme), so what I learn about is actually the exceptions to the general state of the world.
Personally I've generally been staying away from internet "news bites", with the primary exception being the "in other news today" thread of this forum (the non-garage one as of now). In addition, when the pandemic-shenanigans began I subscribed to our national news service's newsletter to make sure I'm up-to-date with the latest rule changes (one of these rare cases where the news do potentially have a direct impact on my life). I also have a subscription for the Economist (a weekly newspaper), which I get in paper form and which I usually read relatively thoroughly. As far as I can tell it hasn't yet completely abandoned standards of decent journalism, and it has in-depth articles on a broad range of topics to keep me reasonably informed about general affairs.
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I am utterly uninterested in current affairs. My knowledge of them is limited to what seeps through to my relatively few Facebook friends' posts. Like @remi said of his native France, it helps that Italian newspapers are utter shite, have implemented paywalls, or both. (Actually, both). I used to read foreign newspapers but it got old very fast. There are also very few publications I tolerate, and almost none that I like. Every now and then I will find myself woefully outdated with the local news (so I get some "where have you been living all this time?!" looks) but I don't really care.
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@Tsaukpaetra said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I am blissfully unaware of any world proceedings unless it is mentioned here, and I don't follow the Garage. Am I winning the diet?
Since I stopped my dead tree news, this is pretty much me too. I watched the news on TV before bed for a while, but it always seemed the same. Movies, home repair, Alaska Living, books. That's before bed now. And the occasional drivel from Farcebook.
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@Tsaukpaetra said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
Come to think of it, it's been years since I've heard the emergency public broadcast sequences...
I hear them. But then I have my classical radio station playing all the time while I'm up and about (except when the TV is on - I can't remember the last time I heard one of those on TV.)
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@Tsaukpaetra said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
Come to think of it, it's been years since I've heard the emergency public broadcast sequences... 🤔
In France, we have alarm sirens on all municipalities town halls (even in the tiniest of communes, and for larger settlements you'll have several on e.g. schools or other public buildings). They always sound at midday of the first Wednesday of each month, for testing and so that we know what they sound like.
Those sirens are supposed to sound for emergencies, but 1) I have never heard them doing so (well maybe I just was lucky to never be close to an emergency that required them!), 2) I have never heard anyone saying they did so, 3) I don't have the slightest idea what the different codes they're might sound mean, and 4) I don't have the slightest idea either as to what I should do if I heard them.
I guess that if I did hear them, I would probably try to find a news source as soon as possible. But they're also supposed to sound in true immediate emergencies (e.g. poisonous gas leak... and probably nuclear attack initially but that one I'm not too worried about it -- not because it's unlikely (though it hopefully is!), but because if it happens, it will probably be too late to do anything by the time I notice it (if I even have time to notice it)!) so I think I would maybe first get to a sheltered (indoor) place and then look for news? But really, I have no idea what I'd do...
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@remi In NL we have such a system, which is tested at noon on the first Monday of the month (except holidays or 4 May). A cell broadcast is also used, though it isn't tested as frequently. I've never heard the sirens 'for real'. I did receive a cell broadcast once; If I remember correctly it was a national warning against going to overcrowded beaches and the decision to send it was later ridiculed in the press.
The actions to be done when the alarm sounds are:
- Go inside.
- Close doors and windows.
- Tune the radio to the emergency frequency.
I am unsure what the emergency frequency is.
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@bobjanova said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
There's a happy medium here. You can get addicted to refreshing news sites, but staying in touch with current affairs in your country is a good idea. It means you are more informed when it comes to election time or if there are campaign issues, it means you can engage in politics directly if you want to make a difference - and at the moment if lets you know what might be safe and/or legal to do now and in the next few months.
One handy way to do this would be to get a subscription to a (good quality, not tabloid or overly political) newspaper — not the online edition, a news paper. Another is to watch the evening news on TV. In either case, you get the important news in one dose per day without finding that you spend every other moment looking news sites or being sent updates that get you to look at those sites.
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@Gurth said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
one dose per day
Except sundays, holidays, and days with more than 10cm of snow.
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@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
there could always be a leopard around the corner, let's call it the unreported leopard.
The threat has been largely exaggerated.
I only visited Tokyo once, and didn't bite anyone.
And by the way, I'm a jaguar, not a leopard.
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@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
Say that I did. Isn't "donating" to politicians so they enact policies I want, or donate to Political Action Committees aligned with my interests... a much more effective steering means than just my measly vote, cast in a general election?
This is basically the problem with our system of government.
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Good points, all!
@remi's morning routine sounds a lot like what I used to do; I wasn't a news junkie, just a daily consumer I suppose? 15 minutes, 30 minutes? I don't even know, even if it was in the background, it occupied some mental bandwidth perhaps. Though maybe I was a junkie -- the lack of news in the morning has been strange.
I reflected a little more @acrow's point about "local hazards", and realized... if I happened to see that "local water alert" (or leopard on the loose) story on the news (but somehow didn't get notified about it through a more direct, emergency response system), I'd share it with concerned people... and they'd do the same. So that's no longer a worry.
The comments on French, Italian news are interesting to me. I'm in a foreign land with news I don't care about and have a hard time understanding, and American news happens in my overnight. I'd wake up and it feels like there's "the whole day" to take in. So it felt like a big serving.
As for "not knowing about changing rules and regulations", until we starting living in a dystopian world, where tyrannical emperors arbitrarily order his enforcers to seize citizens for staying out past curfew, or arresting them for not wearing the proper Tribute or Emblem, then consequences of being uninformed of rule changes are relatively minor. Like when they make a rule about plastic bags, I'll hear about it plenty of time in advance from the stores, or have to pay a few extra pennies for a paper bag, or whatever.
@ixvedeusi "It leads me to think I'm informed about what's going on in the world, but actually I'm not."
@remi "I would still feel uncomfortable about not having any exposure to news. I still live in a society and I like knowing what is the mood of that society"I think these juxtapose nicely. It feels uncomfortable already (I'm just 5-days in, and I feel out of touch), but I doubt I was ever really "in touch" with what was going on, or the mood of the society. It was an illusion of knowing what was going on, and being willfully ignorant just means I know I don't know. Better than not knowing I don't know?
@nerd4sale "This bothers me. How can you read only 35 pages in 4 days?
"Then I won't tell you how many pages of a book I read in 4 years.
It's the same number, which makes my reading streak look *amaaaaazing*.
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To be honest, I get the majority of my news from this forum's news threads (both garage and non). And maybe a dash of news from my Facebook feed, which I'm not terribly active on, and maybe a little from Reddit (but I'm not on any news-related subreddits, so if I see it, it's at least slightly relevant to my interests). I used to get some economic news from a 10-minute-a-day podcast, but I haven't been driving in all this Covid, so I haven't been listening to podcasts, either.
I'm not terribly informed, but I'm slightly informed, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on much. Every breaking story these days has some false starts before it gets around to the useful parts, anyway: "Someone died due to terrible things!!!!" "...wait, no, someone died do to moderately-bad things!!!" "...wait, no, someone died because they actively did something monumentally stupid (possibly involving drugs)". And every political pole is exaggerating the story in whatever direction is most useful to them, because, after all, you should never let a good crisis go to waste.
The only thing I regret is that it's hard to find a good news summary. Most articles assume you're already somewhat informed about CURRENT_THING, and so the article just has the latest update, or a hot take about something specific about CURRENT_THING, so it's a little tricky to get caught up sometimes. But that's what having friends around is for: so you can get their biased views, adopt them as your own, and carry on with whatever else is more important than the news (almost everything).
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@PleegWat said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I am unsure what the emergency frequency is.
I think the official instructions in France are the same (go inside, close doors/windows, listen to radio) and I have the same issue that I don't know what that emergency frequency is. In doubt, I would probably tune in to the government-funded 24h news station, as I assume that even if that is not the emergency frequency, it would carry information about it (but that's only true if a local emergency where I am is newsworthy-enough to become a breaking-news on a national channel... then again since I've never heard of those sirens being used, I guess if they were used, even for a local emergency, it would be national news?).
This raises another question, which is can I trust my connection to the outside world to still exist? These days, "tune in" to a radio station means (to me) connecting to it through the internet, which itself requires power (in theory, not necessarily, in practice... I need at least my router to work!) and phone lines to work. In the old days you were advised to keep a radio with fresh batteries somewhere in your basement, for this exact reason (it wouldn't work for a nuclear attack but then again it probably doesn't matter as you're already dead by the time you hear the siren!). In the past I also knew by heart the frequency of a couple of stations (and would quickly learn the new frequency when moving to a new area) because it was needed to retune radios from time to time, but that's no longer the case (though I do remember one frequency, which by luck happens to be that of the station I mentioned above!).
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@PleegWat said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I am unsure what the emergency frequency is.
It's varies per region.
You are supposed to tune in to the (public) regional radio station. In my region that would be RTV West.
But although I still have an FM radio lying around somewhere, I wouldn't know the frequency because I never listen to that station. And it doesn't run on batteries, so if the power goes down, no radio for me.I could probably listen to it in my car, but that is parked outside and you're supposed to go inside your home.
Maybe a radio app would be an option, at least until 3/4/5G stops working.
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First, let's get the
out of the way:@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
As for "not knowing about changing rules and regulations", until we starting living in a dystopian world, where tyrannical emperors arbitrarily order his enforcers to seize citizens for staying out past curfew, or arresting them for not wearing the proper Tribute or Emblem, then consequences of being uninformed of rule changes are relatively minor.
The relevant
threads are 
.Right, that's done, let's move on.
(it's actually a good example as even with those restrictions they never come out of the blue with immediate (<24h) notice, there are always talks and rumours and public discourse about them for at least a few days before -- which means if you get a weekly-to-daily fix of news you should be aware of those talks, and may therefore keep a slightly closer look for possible daily changes to the rules, in the same way as if you knew a storm was on its way you'd keep a closer look on weather.)
The next bits go together, I think:
The comments on French, Italian news are interesting to me. I'm in a foreign land with news I don't care about and have a hard time understanding, and American news happens in my overnight. I'd wake up and it feels like there's "the whole day" to take in. So it felt like a big serving.
I think these juxtapose nicely. It feels uncomfortable already (I'm just 5-days in, and I feel out of touch), but I doubt I was ever really "in touch" with what was going on, or the mood of the society. It was an illusion of knowing what was going on, and being willfully ignorant just means I know I don't know. Better than not knowing I don't know?
I wonder how much of your views is not linked to you being an expat (been there, done that...). Local news are hard to follow because you don't really understand them (and with Japan it's probably hugely more true than when moving between western countries!), and your country of origin's news feel too distant (with the time difference added, in your case) to truly be relevant. For me this kind of solved itself with time as I got to feel I was "at home" and no longer in a foreign country, but I can imagine that this might be different for you in Japan.
If that's the case, then, well, you do you. If you're happy with no news, and don't feel more disconnected from society (either where you live, or wherever you think is "home") without news than with, then good for you. But I think it's then fair to admit that this might have more to do with your personal situation (stuck between two countries) than anything else. And if you're unhappy with that whole state of thing... well I'm sad for you and you can discuss it in another thread if you want but I'm afraid that's not uncommon with expats and there isn't a simple/single solution...
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@remi said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
then again since I've never heard of those sirens being used, I guess if they were used, even for a local emergency, it would be national news?
I recall a couple of cases here where local use of the emergency system was mentioned on national news, usually after high-profile industrial accidents.
@remi said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
In the old days you were advised to keep a radio with fresh batteries somewhere in your basement, for this exact reason
I'm pretty sure that's still part of the recommended emergency kit. I've also heard relatively recently that certain radio towers are required to have an emergency power supply.
@nerd4sale said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
Maybe a radio app would be an option, at least until 3/4/5G stops working.
Some smartphones have an FM radio builtin, using the microphone lead as an antenna.
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@PleegWat said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
Some smartphones have an FM radio builtin, using the microphone lead as an antenna.
Damn, you're right.
I never use it, so I had forgotten all about it.
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@PleegWat said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
Some smartphones have an FM radio builtin, using the microphone lead as an antenna.
ITYM headphones rather than microphones? The couple of times I tried to use the radio on my phone it refused to work until I plugged in headphones. Which was a pain since I wanted to listen to radio as some sort of background noise and I dislike having headphones for that (the sound feels "too focused" on me).
@nerd4sale said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
you're supposed to go inside your home.
Thinking again about the whole thing, and in the context of this thread, I really wonder what kind of events could truly require an absolutely immediate reaction where it matters. There are a lot of "slow" emergencies where being aware that there is one is enough, so just hearing the siren makes you wary and that's enough (for example if there is even a wildfire coming around, it's probably not a matter of seconds to react -- and if it is then the fire is already on you and you probably don't need a siren to notice it!). On the other hand there are some emergencies that are so fast and so dire that by the time the sirens sound, it's probably too late (I've mentioned a nuclear attack a couple of times, but you could also think about a dam breaking or similar). For both of those kinds, you don't need to have some immediate reaction to sirens, apart from "uh, dude, look out and try to get some news?"
So you're left with Bhopal-style industrial accidents. Which obviously are awful and if that happens you'd better shelter-in-place now!!!111! to increase your chances of survival, but I'm optimistic enough to believe that those are so rare in western countries nowadays (thanks, in part, to Bhopal!) that it's not really worth the mental burden of remembering what to do etc.
In recent memory, there was one industrial accident that made top-news for days in France a couple of years ago, and where indeed shelter-in-place was probably wise (until emergency services come around and tell you to evacuate), but objectively, there were no fatalities and only a few people suffering overall mildish consequences, so not doing anything when hearing sirens wouldn't have had a huge impact. 20 years ago there was a huge explosion in Toulouse (heard for tens of km around and literally just a few days after 9/11, you can imagine how it was received!) and there were a few tens of deaths but since it was an explosion (basically the same thing as Beirut but thankfully on a smaller scale), no sirens had time to sound.
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@remi said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I've mentioned a nuclear attack a couple of times, but you could also think about a dam breaking or similar
Don't forget a Zombie attack!
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@remi This is one of the reasons they're also using cell broadcast now; it allows sending more specific messages right away for different kinds of emergencies.
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@nerd4sale Good point. For those ones it probably matters to take shelter absolutely immediately as you don't know where zombies might roam by the time the siren sounds.
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@PleegWat said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@remi This is one of the reasons they're also using cell broadcast now; it allows sending more specific messages right away for different kinds of emergencies.
Yes, that makes a lot of sense -- not only because that's what people have with them nowadays, but also because you can send more nuanced messages (from "be on the lookout" to "shelter NOW!!!").
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@remi said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I wonder how much of your views is not linked to you being an expat (been there, done that...). Local news are hard to follow because you don't really understand them (and with Japan it's probably hugely more true than when moving between western countries!), and your country of origin's news feel too distant (with the time difference added, in your case) to truly be relevant.
Huh that's a good point. Maybe that's it. Japan is one of those places where non-Japanese are always foreigners (even if you're born here), so it's hard to get all invested in anything but your local area.
The Japanese news is also just so "boring", in part because I don't grasp 100%, but also its not flashy infotainment like American 24x7 news is. Very factual, like presenting reports.
This is more a fun experiment than anything. So perhaps after fasting for a few weeks, I could consume some Japanese news 🤔
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@remi said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I really wonder what kind of events could truly require an absolutely immediate reaction where it matters
Earthquakes? I'm not exactly sure what you're supposed to do in an earthquake, I guess quickly move away from things that could fall on you? You're kind of screwed if you're inside, cuz it could be the roof.
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@remi said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
Thinking again about the whole thing, and in the context of this thread, I really wonder what kind of events could truly require an absolutely immediate reaction where it matters. There are a lot of "slow" emergencies where being aware that there is one is enough, so just hearing the siren makes you wary and that's enough (for example if there is even a wildfire coming around, it's probably not a matter of seconds to react -- and if it is then the fire is already on you and you probably don't need a siren to notice it!). On the other hand there are some emergencies that are so fast and so dire that by the time the sirens sound, it's probably too late (I've mentioned a nuclear attack a couple of times, but you could also think about a dam breaking or similar). For both of those kinds, you don't need to have some immediate reaction to sirens, apart from "uh, dude, look out and try to get some news?"
So you're left with Bhopal-style industrial accidents. Which obviously are awful and if that happens you'd better shelter-in-place now!!!111! to increase your chances of survival, but I'm optimistic enough to believe that those are so rare in western countries nowadays (thanks, in part, to Bhopal!) that it's not really worth the mental burden of remembering what to do etc.At least where I'm at, they sound the alarm for bad rainstorms (borderline tornadoes).
The official advice for that is to take cover in your basement. If they're sounding the alarm, the wind is strong enough that it could blow debris through a window, so you shouldn't stand next to windows.
There are additional reasons to shelter in place in areas where tornadoes can pull a building off its foundation.
In either case, because it's a crapshoot how strong the winds develop, the alarm (and the cell phone notification, which in practice is the only way I ever see the alarm) gives you about 5 minutes notice.
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@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@remi said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I really wonder what kind of events could truly require an absolutely immediate reaction where it matters
Earthquakes? I'm not exactly sure what you're supposed to do in an earthquake, I guess quickly move away from things that could fall on you? You're kind of screwed if you're inside, cuz it could be the roof.
You're supposed to stand in an open doorway. The door frame should protect you from falling debris.
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I do actually have a subscription to the local newspaper, so I get daily updates on what's happening around here. Today, for example, we had "Intoxicated woman tried chasing away teenagers with [her] tired cat" where we could learn about a woman trying to sic her cat on some loud teenagers, but it showing zero interest in being treated like a guard dog. Clearly, I cannot go my day without having these important news brought to me!
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@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@remi said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I really wonder what kind of events could truly require an absolutely immediate reaction where it matters
Earthquakes? I'm not exactly sure what you're supposed to do in an earthquake, I guess quickly move away from things that could fall on you? You're kind of screwed if you're inside, cuz it could be the roof.
Yeah, being in Japan, this would be useful information. As stated, door frames are generally sturdier than normal ceilings, so standing in them is recommended. Or get under a sturdy table / desk. Obviously if the whole building comes down on top of you neither will save you. Stairwells are typically the strongest parts of a building. If you're outside avoid stuff like powerlines. Yeah, get to an open area is generally what you do.
I grew up in California. We had lots of earthquake drills in addition to the normal fire drills. The basic thing was, "Duck and cover." You got under your desk, making sure that your head was under it and put your hands over your head to give it a bit of extra protection.
My first tornado drill was on an Air Force base in Nebraska. We basically just stopped what we were doing and went and hung out in the basement for a while.
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@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@remi said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I really wonder what kind of events could truly require an absolutely immediate reaction where it matters
Earthquakes? I'm not exactly sure what you're supposed to do in an earthquake, I guess quickly move away from things that could fall on you? You're kind of screwed if you're inside, cuz it could be the roof.
Really? You should plan a visit then:
Tokyo Rinkai Disaster Prevention Park
As a country prone to natural disasters, Japan makes disaster prevention and response a priority.
https://bestlivingjapan.com/ikebukuro-life-safety-learning-center/
(Never been there, but I have heard of them and it's FREE !!!111)
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@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
Very factual, like presenting reports.
The best kind of news.
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@GuyWhoKilledBear said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@apapadimoulis said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
@remi said in It's time for a news diet! Maybe.:
I really wonder what kind of events could truly require an absolutely immediate reaction where it matters
Earthquakes? I'm not exactly sure what you're supposed to do in an earthquake, I guess quickly move away from things that could fall on you? You're kind of screwed if you're inside, cuz it could be the roof.
You're supposed to stand in an open doorway. The door frame should protect you from falling debris.
And maybe it does, if the doorframe is in a load-bearing wall, or otherwise extra sturdy.
If not, then you should invest in a good hardwood dining table.
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The part about emergency radio broadcasts reminds me of a nice
.There's a large (2 MW) AM transmitter in France, which used to carry the main public radio station. Since it's so powerful, it can be received all over the country (and even beyond). It was also the official way to broadcast emergency warnings in case of major crisis, since FM can't offer the same guarantees (it relies on a network of smaller transmitters, so local outages can happen.)
A few years ago, some politician said "keeping that thing running is costly, and nobody listens to AM anymore. Let's turn it off!"
Except... it turned out that the radio signal from this transmitter also carries time-synchronization information, that's used by all kinds of public infrastructure. And for some reason (either cost or
), switching to DCF77, GPS or NTP time sync wasn't an option. So they had to keep the transmitter running.So, everything's got all right in the end? Well, no. They kept the transmitter running, but switched off the audio modulation because it saves a tiny little bit of money. So if that part breaks, making the transmitter useless in case of emergency, nobody will notice. But on the other hand, we still keep paying for broadcasting 2 MW of time signals!
