Ditch the Daily News Habit
Why Reading Wisely Rather than Widely is a Better Recipe for Staying Informed
Much has been made of the question about what it is to be an informed citizen. We’re instructed to “read widely,” “engage in debate”, “seek out new viewpoints,” etc. The message is clear: the more information you consume, the better informed you will be. On its face, this is reasonable and well-intentioned advice. The problem is that it’s also completely wrong. We’ve become so enamored with the availability of information that we’re forgetting to first judge the quality of our information. For years I practiced this kind of information consumption — particularly with the daily news — only to become burned out by an overload of unfiltered, inaccurate, biased, and ultimately low-quality information. As a result, I’ve decided to take a new approach: don’t read widely, read wisely.
Most of us want to be good consumers of information. We see ourselves as intelligent, well-read, critical thinkers, and we bring that perspective to our professional and social interactions. All day we are flooded with new information. We check our newsfeeds, listen to podcasts, read through social media, and watch cable news. Naturally, after consuming so much information, we consider ourselves to be well-informed. And yet, if pressed to go deeper on that article we…