Thread by @baekdal

After seeing the tweets from @jayrosen_nyu and others today, I think we need an intervention.

So here is a quick thread (well, quick-ish) ;)

First of all, yes, we have problems with the media. Big problems. I myself reached my limit of how much I could take in 2019, and I was deeply frustrated by how journalistic behavior was directly facilitating some of the biggest problems we face today.

But, also in 2019, I did something crazy. I spent a whole month as a 'news avoider', which I talked about in my podcast: baekdal.com/podcast/episod…

At first, I did it merely as an experiment to learn more about this trend, but after it was over, something else happened. I started realizing that news (the way it's done today) is generally unhealthy for us.

So I started dealing with news the same way as I deal with other unhealthy things. Meaning, I stopped just snacking on news 100 times per day, constantly putting me into a spiral of negativity and outrage. Instead, I started reading the news like my parents used to do it.

This meant that I would only really read the news once or maybe twice per day, and mostly in specific 'news moments'. Meaning I was prepared for the negativity and could reflect on it appropriately. (it didn't always work that way, as some of my Twitter rants illustrate)

I also became a heavy 'filter user' here on Twitter, and I'm currently blocking 187 different words/topics all linked to political outrage. And all of this opened up my world to other things that used to be drowned out by all the noise.

Doing this also made me spend far more time with other forms of media. In 2019, this was mostly newsletters, podcasts, or niche channels ... which again gave me a very different world of media to enjoy. A world that was far more realistic about the true progress of our world.

Here is just a few examples of that from @Cmdr_Hadfield

This is what is really happening in the world.

When I tell this story to media people, the response I get is often that of disbelief. And more so, people think that I'm just trying to pretend that all the bad things don't exist, like an ostrich putting its head in the ground.

But this is not true of all. As Chris Hadfield explained above, Coal consumption is down, while renewable energy is massively booming. So the market and the public are all fixing the problem.

This is the world that I focus on — the real world.

Meanwhile, the political press spends all their time in the White House Briefing Room at campaign events where they report about the latest outrage by the president:

So, as a person, you now have a choice. You can either spend your day reading these political-first stories, which will make you outraged and depressed ... but worse, it will make you think that things are getting worse.

...or you can spend your time with the real news.

And this is the choice we all now have to make. You have to use your attention as a tool. If you spend all your attention reading about idiotic politicians and their made-up ideas, then yes, you will get depressed and outraged.

But you don't have to do that.

And if we think about this from a media perspective, we don't have to do this either. We don't have to write 100s of articles each day about something that has no value and doesn't represent reality, despite it coming from politicians.

We don't have to do this.

And when you think about it like this, you realize that 2020 is not going to be worse, and it will not be more depressing.

Both you, journalists, and editors have a choice of how you use your attention. So focus it on what is actually happening in the world.

And, I'm not talking about 'feel-good' stories here. I'm talking about **reality**. The reality is that the crime is down, coal is down, and renewables are up.

The reality is that millions of trees are being planted around the world, and far fewer people die from cancer.

The reality is also that most of the problems we face today are self-inflicted. Meaning that they are only a problem because we made them a problem, not because they are actually a problem.

E.g. Immigrants? No problem ... no seriously. They create more jobs than they take.

What about the things that are truly a problem? Things like healthcare in the US?

Well, here the politicians have proven they can't fix this, so as journalists, writing about this from a political focus has no value. So why are you doing that? They are other ways to fix this.

Use your attention as a tool. As a person, it has a massive impact on your health (mentally), and as journalists and editors, it defines your future.

The world is getting better every day. It's your choice to decide whether you want to be better with it.