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What’s on your mind?

yaxomoxay said:
My news diet experiment is ongoing. Some findings so far... some surprising.

What I did:
  • I basically stopped watching and reading all news a few weeks ago, gradually.
  • I removed ALL political accounts from my IG, Twitter feed, and Facebook.
  • I removed reddit.
  • I removed the few youtube subscriptions to news.
  • I removed all the subscriptions to political podcasts.
  • I cleaned up the gmail account I use for newsletter. All of them (except one) go in the trash now before I even see them.
What I found so far:
  • I do NOT miss watching/reading the news. I mean, not at all. My mind seems way clearer.
  • It seems that so far I am still able to "receive" important news. I heard, through word of mouth or a random comment on social media, about some major events, or some executive orders.
  • It seems that I am mostly out of irrelevant stuff; I just do not have any clue about this or that gossip, although something still arrives to me.
  • To my huge surprise, not only twitter is bearable, but I actually like it. I have motivational follows, I have fitness follows, I have bookish follows, and a few friends in there. I am using it to motivate myself, and it's working. To my double surprise, so far I haven't seen a single political post, or a single controversial post on it since I started the test. (by controversy I mean something serious, I don't mean "Do you like director X?") I also noticed that the little non-political controversies on Twitter are not really as "violent" as the political ones.
  • Instagram can be a double edged sword. I have mostly fitness related follows... and a few IG-models :) I noticed that some controversy might happen on there, and I noticed that somehow political posts will appear. I also noticed that it's inevitable, but it's also very very contained to big events and just a few accounts for one or two days (e.g. after the presidential inauguration people, groups, heck even IG-models posted something political).
  • Instagram also makes me aware of some minor event via meme. I started observing many memes on Senator Sanders, and it took me two or three posts to understand what it was (many are incredibly hilarious) even if I haven't seen a single video, and even if I haven't seen the actual picture. Comments on IG can be really nasty, but mostly are good.
  • Some friends are way too political even on IG and I muted them.
  • Facebook is the worst. I did not expect this, but it's all about politics. After removing all the political follows, and all the news channels, and even many groups I used to follow, politics is there. Always. Every two posts there is politics + controversy. Many of the so called Friends talk about politics, even the unsuspecting ones, and they usually do it a-la PRSI style (@Scepticalscribe my comment on the Feedback forum comes from this observation).
  • It seems to me that most of the controversies on IG and FB come from a small % of accounts (more on FB than IG), while Twitter is the opposite: most of the good stuff comes from a small % of accounts.
So far, very interesting experiment. I'll let you know!

(this post is 100% apolitical)
Click to expand...
No wonder you need a detox if you are doing all that! I just did into the BBC news app when I want to read the news or the Sky app. That’s about it. I sometimes have the news on for a few minutes whilst eating breakfast. But that’s all.
 
Apple fanboy said:
No wonder you need a detox if you are doing all that! I just did into the BBC news app when I want to read the news or the Sky app. That’s about it. I sometimes have the news on for a few minutes whilst eating breakfast. But that’s all.
Click to expand...
I am (was?) a true news junkie.
 
yaxomoxay said:
My news diet experiment is ongoing. Some findings so far... some surprising.

What I did:
  • I basically stopped watching and reading all news a few weeks ago, gradually.
  • I removed ALL political accounts from my IG, Twitter feed, and Facebook.
  • I removed reddit.
  • I removed the few youtube subscriptions to news.
  • I removed all the subscriptions to political podcasts.
  • I cleaned up the gmail account I use for newsletter. All of them (except one) go in the trash now before I even see them.
What I found so far:
  • I do NOT miss watching/reading the news. I mean, not at all. My mind seems way clearer.
  • It seems that so far I am still able to "receive" important news. I heard, through word of mouth or a random comment on social media, about some major events, or some executive orders.
  • It seems that I am mostly out of irrelevant stuff; I just do not have any clue about this or that gossip, although something still arrives to me.
  • To my huge surprise, not only twitter is bearable, but I actually like it. I have motivational follows, I have fitness follows, I have bookish follows, and a few friends in there. I am using it to motivate myself, and it's working. To my double surprise, so far I haven't seen a single political post, or a single controversial post on it since I started the test. (by controversy I mean something serious, I don't mean "Do you like director X?") I also noticed that the little non-political controversies on Twitter are not really as "violent" as the political ones.
  • Instagram can be a double edged sword. I have mostly fitness related follows... and a few IG-models :) I noticed that some controversy might happen on there, and I noticed that somehow political posts will appear. I also noticed that it's inevitable, but it's also very very contained to big events and just a few accounts for one or two days (e.g. after the presidential inauguration people, groups, heck even IG-models posted something political).
  • Instagram also makes me aware of some minor event via meme. I started observing many memes on Senator Sanders, and it took me two or three posts to understand what it was (many are incredibly hilarious) even if I haven't seen a single video, and even if I haven't seen the actual picture. Comments on IG can be really nasty, but mostly are good.
  • Some friends are way too political even on IG and I muted them.
  • Facebook is the worst. I did not expect this, but it's all about politics. After removing all the political follows, and all the news channels, and even many groups I used to follow, politics is there. Always. Every two posts there is politics + controversy. Many of the so called Friends talk about politics, even the unsuspecting ones, and they usually do it a-la PRSI style (@Scepticalscribe my comment on the Feedback forum comes from this observation).
  • It seems to me that most of the controversies on IG and FB come from a small % of accounts (more on FB than IG), while Twitter is the opposite: most of the good stuff comes from a small % of accounts.
So far, very interesting experiment. I'll let you know!

(this post is 100% apolitical)
Click to expand...
I love this experiment and have given serious thought to embarking on something very similar as I try to adopt an outlook more consistent with the teachings and practices of the great stoics as a means to self-improvement and life satisfaction. Over the last year or so, I have learned that being plugged in to all the uncontrollable noise -- mostly in the form of the news coverage concerning political bickering, riots, senseless violence, and reports on the pandemic practices (or lack thereof) of others -- impinged on my happiness and well being. I will endeavor to stay informed as always but in a much more "need to know" kind of way -- I hope.
 
Apple fanboy said:
No wonder you need a detox if you are doing all that! I just did into the BBC news app when I want to read the news or the Sky app. That’s about it. I sometimes have the news on for a few minutes whilst eating breakfast. But that’s all.
Click to expand...

Sadly, Sky News in Aus. is roughly the equivalent of OAN on a bad day...
 
Geepaw said:
I love this experiment and have given serious thought to embarking on something very similar as I try to adopt an outlook more consistent with the teachings and practices of the great stoics as a means to self-improvement and life satisfaction. Over the last year or so, I have learned that being plugged in to all the uncontrollable noise -- mostly in the form of the news coverage concerning political bickering, riots, senseless violence, and reports on the pandemic practices (or lack thereof) of others -- impinged on my happiness and well being. I will endeavor to stay informed as always but in a much more "need to know" kind of way -- I hope.
Click to expand...
So far, I am happy about the choice. As of you, the stoics were one of the inspiration sources for this (also a couple of books on solitude and Cal Newport). The real question is: is it sustainable? I think that a complete diet will be somewhat impossible in the long term (exactly as a "detox" can't be done forever), but I think I am getting towards a solution to the problem.
 
What happened to movie industry? No cinemas, ticket sales near 0.

yaxomoxay said:
One American News Network (OANN). No comments on them to avoid PRSI topics.
Click to expand...

There used to be a tv channel called American One they had live stream like back in 1998. Is this it?
 
Listening to some music I haven't heard since since ca. high school and thinking about the term "guilty pleasure", the ridiculousness of it and conformity in general when it comes to likes and dislikes. Having in the past been in that trap myself it's actually quite liberating to just be able to listen to what sounds good and let that be the end of it. Others don't like it? Cool, plenty of stuff out there I don't like, doesn't really mean anything.

If you like it, you like it for a reason, right? Good enough for me, go nuts and enjoy it. Let your freak flag fly, proudly.

The saying goes "You can't go home again", but music can take you close. At least that's how I see it.
 
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We and some friends had a lovely, pre-Australia Day picnic with friends on Saturday.
We planned to have it at the Australian Botanical Gardens just across the road from where we live, but when we turned up it was all booked out. We ended up at another site, just as nice, a few metres away from a nice, small lake.

Company was pleasant, food was good, weather was hot (39C, 102F) but occasional breeze to break it up a bit.

The lake had a surprising amount of bird life, both in numbers and species (black swans, swamp hens, ducks (mostly wild wood ducks, but two over-fat white domestic ones), cormorants, pelicans, corellas, magpies and crows). In the middle of the lake is a small island with a roosting tree, where we could see a number of nests of different species.

Picnic.jpg


We were in the brown roofed shelter at top left.
 
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yaxomoxay said:
Second vaccine dose today (Moderna). I’ll let you know if I wake up having to change my name in Gregor Samsa.
Click to expand...

No, you don't want to wake up as Gregor Samsa. (And my mother, bless her, had these books on her shelves, all of which I read as a teenager).

However, the very best of luck with the second vaccine, and I hope that you suffer no ill effects as a result of the experience.
 
yaxomoxay said:
Second vaccine dose today (Moderna). I’ll let you know if I wake up having to change my name in Gregor Samsa.
Click to expand...

Be prepared to have a day or two lying around on the sofa or even in bed, as from everything I've heard the second dose is the one which really packs a wallop. After my first dose my left arm was rather uncomfortable the following day but after that gradually went back to normal. I am already looking ahead to February and my second dose, and will prepare things so that I won't need to go anywhere or do anything for a few days following it.
 
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Clix Pix said:
Be prepared to have a day or two lying around on the sofa or even in bed, as from everything I've heard the second dose is the one which really packs a wallop. After my first dose my left arm was rather uncomfortable the following day but after that gradually went back to normal. I am already looking ahead to February and my second dose, and will prepare things so that I won't need to go anywhere or do anything for a few days following it.
Click to expand...
Sounds like I’ll need to do the same in 2022 when it’s my turn.
 
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I really hope that as time goes on that things can be accelerated in terms of manufacture and distribution.....the quicker we can get everyone around the world vaccinated the better for all of us. In the US there is at least one more drug manufacturer working on a vaccine which is rumored to be a one-dose only and to begin becoming available in March.
 
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Clix Pix said:
I really hope that as time goes on that things can be accelerated in terms of manufacture and distribution.....the quicker we can get everyone around the world vaccinated the better for all of us. In the US there is at least one more drug manufacturer working on a vaccine which is rumored to be a one-dose only and to begin becoming available in March.
Click to expand...
More than 4 million have had at least one injection so far in the U.K. There are 69 million of us so only 95% to go before we are finished.
 
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Apple fanboy said:
More than 4 million have had at least one injection so far in the U.K. There are 69 million of us so only 95% to go before we are finished.
Click to expand...
well, in reality we don't need to vaccinate every single citizen. We need enough people to make this a minor problem. I bet if we vaccinate the vast majority of 60yo+ and the vast majority of teachers and first responders we will all be good as mortality and infection is low under 60.

Also don't forget that it's 4,000,000 in less than a month of a first release. It's not a small feat.
 
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