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  "path": "/2026/03/three-months-of-not-reading-the-news/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-30T11:57:51.000Z",
  "site": "https://neilzone.co.uk",
  "tags": [
    "stopped\nreading the news",
    "buying\nthe tiny, pocketable, X4 ereader"
  ],
  "textContent": "Three months ago, I stopped\nreading the news.\n\nI made a note to force myself to reflect on it, after three months, and this is that reflection.\n\n## This is about general news / news sites\n\nI still read lots of RSS feeds of people’s blogs. I _love_ this.\n\nI still read industry-specific news sites (mainly law-related stuff), and other sources of information which are often the basis of news coverage (e.g. government or regulator press releases and updates).\n\nI still read local news, but _wow_ is that a rubbish experience. I get that local news needs funding to survive, but making the product so unappetising makes selling me a subscription a very hard sell indeed. Frankly, I could probably just not read the local news and keep an eye on the local council’s roadworks website instead.\n\nI still have my 404Media subscription although, to be honest, I am a bit on the fence about it. I am not sure if I will renew it or not at this point. No slight to the quality of their journalism.\n\nWhat I have basically stopped doing is reading the BBC, the FT, the Guardian etc.\n\n## It took a while for me to adjust\n\nI had not appreciated just how conditioned I was to reading the news when I had a spare moment.\n\nIt took me quite a while to get used to the idea of not opening the BBC website, in particular.\n\nI did not go to the extent of blocking news sites, so this was just based on self-control / choosing not to do it.\n\nCuriously, what I found hard was that almost instinctive “fingers move to open a news site” behaviour, rather than actually missing reading the news.\n\nI had to train myself out of it, and now, it doesn’t cross my mind.\n\n## I still see some general news, just less of it\n\nI have not managed to avoid general news entirely, nor was I really intended to do so. This was about _lessening_ my exposure, rather than doing all that I can to avoid it.\n\nI still see people posting news-related stories in the fediverse, and I just scroll on by. In some cases, I can filter by keywords, and so no If someone posts news too much (or, in particular, posts party political stuff), I either unfollow them or mute them. I’ve no temptation to click the links.\n\n## Am I less informed?\n\nYes, and that is by design!\n\nBefore, I was informed about a whole load of things, in a way, and to an extent, that I didn’t find helpful or healthy.\n\nNow, I am aware, in broad terms, of major stuff going on around the world, but I am far less familiar with the minutiae, or the endless “up to the minute” reporting. That feels like a good level of awareness for me.\n\nI am also far less exposed to stuff that I never cared about in the first place, especially “celebrity” news, of which I remain blissfully ignorant, sport, and so on. To each, their own.\n\n## I don’t miss reading the news at all\n\nFor now, anyway, I don’t miss reading the news.\n\nAt all.\n\nI’ve overcome that reflex of opening a news site.\n\nI have not - as far as I know, anyway, which I appreciate is quite a caveat - missed anything which, had I known about it, would have made a significant difference to anything important.\n\nI read far more books (and buying\nthe tiny, pocketable, X4 ereader was an attempt to distract me from my phone more often, letting me read even more).\n\nSo I am going to carry on with this experiment for now, and see how I get on.\n\nI can’t _prove_ that this experiment has been good for my mental health, but it certainly feels that way.\n\n## Perhaps a monthly summary of “important” stories would be nice?\n\nEven though I do not want to read the news, I wonder if a monthly, edited, one-or-two page kind of approach, of key / important news stories, might be welcome.\n\nOf course, there would be complexity in determining what is “key” or “important”, as that is subjective.",
  "title": "Three months of not reading the news",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-30T11:57:51.000Z"
}