In 2020, I found that I would have to pause my news intake periodically. Keep in mind that I nearly majored in politics as an undergrad and have long fashioned myself as a “news junkie”. Nonetheless, exhaustion would come in every few months and 2020 was particularly bad.
The election noise, from both sides of the aisle, was loud.
My routine was simple enough: after dinner, I would open up Apple News and scan the day’s events. While my ritual was a good one (similar timing each day to read), the effects of my reading were not. Day after day, I would notice increasing anxiety. The only thing to satiate would be to consume more news. Or so I thought. The cycle went on and on until I would turn it all off for a weekend here or a day there. Telling myself that I just needed “a little pause”, my anxiety would subside and the following week would bring a return to the cycle.
Something needed to change.
Then, without much coordination (although after the election) I opted for something different. I had had enough. Having read about a “low information diet” from Tim Ferris, Cal Newport and others, I decided to give it a try. I would cast aside my news-reading-ritual after dinner and only check Apple News once a week. I would also read a physical paper once a week on the weekend. As for news podcasts, those had to go as well. That was it- that was the framework.
One week turned into two. Two turned into three. Eventually, I was sold.
The low information diet can differ depending on the individual. For me, it consists of the criteria above (only check news once a week, read one physical paper once a week, no news podcasts). At the heart of the experiment is a desire to decrease anxiety and create more space for other more personal things like my family and hobbies.
I figure that, if something is really that important, it will find me through the vehicles I’ve established (the newspaper on the weekend as an example). And, to my delight, this has been correct.
Some might consider this to be naive or out of touch with the issues of the day. If it is, I’m ok with it. My framework still allows for some news to come to me but it’s not nearly the deluge that it once was. I no longer have the unsatiated desire to see which bill has passed Congress or what President Biden said on a given day. My system ensures that the super important things will get to me but in a way that isn’t overwhelming.
Connection to The Quiet Life
The Quiet Life needs boundaries and a will to live intentionally. It also gives room for the practitioner to be a little eccentric. This in turn makes prayer easier as the Lord has more space in which to speak to our hearts. When we get to Mass on Sunday, we have an eagerness to listen and worship. We are more attentive when others are speaking. As we’ve been controlling the floodwaters of information during the week, we are rewarded with a calm disposition and a mind that is uncluttered. I suspect that you’ll find, like I was, that a low information diet can become quite appealing.
How might you practice the low information diet this week? And, just as importantly, how might this expand The Quiet Life in your week?