Slow news consumption in the age of micro horrors

One of my theories of modern life is that most people know little about what's happening in their communities and regions, with only a passing awareness of what's happening in their country and in the world more broadly.

To the extent that we are familiar with current events, it's through a slurry of social media posts, headlines scrolling on a TV we saw in a public space, short videos and memes, and unconfirmed details coloured in by people we know in real life saying things like, "Did you hear about [insert horror here]?" or "Can you believe the latest [insert scandal here]?".

A formidable challenge is that there's so much information flowing, with bad actors who want to "flood the zone" with whatever will get people's attention to distract us and trigger outrage and hopelessness. It's exhausting to keep up because one can never truly be finished consuming news. The design of every feed and every news site is an enticement to keep going — watch another video, click another headline, and often it's an endless stream of horrors. There's always another horrible thing to read or watch, so many of us simply give up or find videos of cute animals instead*.

The costs are the feelings of apathy, cynicism, and hopelessness that so many of us feel about our communities, about the bad things happening around us, and about the political processes that might give us influence over those things. We assume that "nothing can be done" because "they're all corrupt" or "the system is cooked".

Turnout in elections keeps declining, and the more local the election, the worse the turnout is. And our involvement between elections is even smaller. Most of us have relinquished the privilege (some might say duty!) to express opinions, advocate for change, and offer support or opposition on key decisions that affect our worlds. It's hard to show up when you don't feel informed, inspired, or aware of hopeful alternatives.

Call me a wild optimist, but I tend to believe that a well informed populace will generally support the policies that actually benefit them. A less informed, more cynical populace will support the policies that are easy to understand, without concern for the details.

Rich and powerful people with vested interests benefit from this environment, because they are more willing to use populist techniques to win and maintain power, which they then use to enact policies that benefit them (and often harm others). In an environment where people are poorly informed, simplistic explanations and answers are appealing. Scary, homeless people in parks? Clear them out! Drug addicts leaving needles in playgrounds? Get rid of safe injection sites and lock those mental patients up! Groceries are pricy? Cut taxes! Houses in short supply? Get rid of immigrants! And whatever we do, we can't be soft on crime, so let's increase the police budget. And if those policies don't actually work, it's probably because the politicians are incompetent, so why bother.

I live in Toronto, a city of more than 3 million people — more than six of the ten Canadian provinces. Turnout in our last mayoral by-election was 38.5%, and the general election before it was an even paltrier 29%. Decisions about the kind of city we live in and who it's for are made by representatives chosen by a small minority. When it comes to things happening in our neighbourhoods that truly affect us, it tends to be an even smaller group of grumpy, rich homeowners who show up to complain.

So how can one consume news in a more sustainable way? How can we be informed without being overwhelmed? I think it's quite simple actually, and with apologies to Michael Pollan: Pay for news. Not too much. Mostly local.

Pay for news

If you live in Canada or somewhere else outside the US, then maybe your taxes already pay for the news. In Canada we have the CBC, and despite what some grumpy, rich people think, it is a high-quality source of news, particularly for its thorough coverage of what's happening in your local area.

Regardless, consider paying for a subscription or two. There are great publications and individual journalists doing brilliant reporting, and someone needs to pay them since classifieds and ads for local furniture dealers are no longer a reliable revenue source. The alternative is that news and reporting is subsidized or minimized by those same vested interests.

In Toronto, a subscription to the Toronto Star costs somewhere around $28 a month or less, and there are always great promo offers. A subscription to Matt Elliott's excellent City Hall Watcher newsletter is $6 a month. A subscription to the outstanding publication, The Local, is by donation.

Not too much

The perfect packaging of news was invented a long time ago, but is now nearly extinct: a daily newspaper, easily obtained or even delivered straight to your door. The great thing about a newspaper is that some editors take some time to decide on what you might want to know about today, and carefully arrange it into different sections corresponding to different interests. Each section has a beginning, middle, and end. You can read it, turn the pages, and then be done. There is no pull to refresh.

Personally, I find myself reading the news very differently when it's in physical form. I start at the beginning, reading the most important stories of the day. I turn the pages, look at headlines, and then read those stories too, unless I really don't care about them. Put simply, I consume more news in depth this way, and less news at a surface level.

Get the news delivered to you! I get the Toronto Star on Saturdays and it costs the same as (and includes) a digital-only subscription.

If not in print though, consider a form of news that comes packaged as a finite, consumable entity. Sign up for the news to come to you daily or weekly through an email newsletter. Or find a news show or news podcast. Turn on CBC Radio at 6pm. The point is, news should occupy some reasonably short, dedicated time in your life and have your focus, rather than be a half-committed ever-present distraction.

Mostly local

We should all care about what's happening around the world, but the places we have the most power over and that affect our own lives the most are the ones directly around us — our streets, our neighbourhoods, our cities. Find sources of news where journalists are investigating and exposing what's happening in your community. Including sports, arts, and culture!

Invest yourself in your own community by becoming informed and aware of what's happening, so that you have opinions and ideas about how to make it better, and so you can get inspired by other people who are already there doing (or supporting) great things or opposing bad things. And so you can contact your city councillor and mayor and tell them what you think.

National and international news matters too, and I think we should know about it, but we have less power and influence over it. I also think we all owe it to ourselves to rebuild our sense of civic involvement and influence locally first, before we attempt to influence what's happening elsewhere.

I am fortunate to live in a city like Toronto that has a lot of local news sources, but great muckrakers exist everywhere, even if they're not immediately obvious. Ask around. Ask in your city's Reddit channel.

Not too much?

My confession: I subscribe to a lot of newsletters and publications. Probably too many, and I don't always keep up. I don't think most people should try to consume this much news. But it's good to have a balanced diet, and not rely on one single source, because every person and publication has their biases.

In Toronto at least, consider signing up for one or more of these. Many of them are free!

When we become ignorant of our communities, we become disenfranchised and grumpy when they don’t work right. And we don’t even recognize when good policies and actions benefit us or others, putting those policies and actions at risk. We don’t need to doomscroll. We just need to read the A section.