What Part of You Are You Feeding When Consuming News?

In the U.S., did you hear about the Gillette ad this past week that became the subject of much argument? Or how about the high school boys in red MAGA hats said to have harassed a Native American elder in Washington D.C. on Saturday?

Is it just me, or does engaging with these kinds of stories (particularly in the comment sections and the related social media posts) degrade one's state of being to one of agitation, frustration, and restriction? That being the case, what does this indicate about how to best proceed with watching/reading the news? How is one supposed to "know what's going on with the world" (which is commonly preferred), if it leads to a negative demeanor (which is obviously not preferred)?

According to Tim Ferriss, author of the bestselling "4-Hour" series of self-improvement books, the answer is to ignore that common wisdom and DON'T watch/read the news. Far from having his head in the sand, he argues it's better from a productivity standpoint to avoid the minutiae of (and many minutes spent on) the news of the day.

Perhaps this advice is a modern twist, affected by the reality that news today is polluted with slant and emotion, and that a news story isn't a one-time release but a series of updates, comments, and debates by as many people as wish to participate. In all, it's sort of an emotional mess.

So, why engage with this?

Well, I like news. I like hearing about new technologies and their potential affect on our world, new ideas' effects on our ways of thinking, new events revealing humanity's path, and new accomplishments cementing our efforts. And I like to write about these things from time to time.

So unless we're going to take the Tim Ferriss route, I think the answer to the news consumption question lies in what part of ourselves we're feeding. Am I feeding my intellectual curiosity and/or desire to be inspired by a moving story? Or am I feeding my political animal, basking in my side's glory or in the other side's defeat; or wallowing in my side's defeat or in the other side's victory?

I've concluded that with the growing slant of news these days, and with growing access to it, comes the need to re-calibrate my media intake from time to time, to stay engaged with that which enhances my life, that which feeds my better nature.