Vanity activities

I have this debate with people about news and podcasts sometimes (news was one of the examples in TFA). People say they are doing it to remain informed, and it’s a high-value activity, but I argue it’s mostly entertainment since it rarely affects any decision-making.

This is not a hardline position, but I’m surprised at how vehemently people insist that their news habit has benefits beyond entertainment.

(To be clear, I have nothing against entertainment.)

I agree, but also the context matters. Reading news about sports is basically always entertainment, with an exception of maybe betting, to make better bets. Reading news about housing market can get me in a better position to buy my next home for cheaper, or strenghten my negotiation position.

News consumption impacts political decision making, like who I want to support or oppose in local, state, and national elections.

That seems a pretty high impact decision we want all the members of our society to be making on a regular basis.

Staying informed of current events being a vanity activity is an idea very heavily pushed by people who are radically opposed to broad democracy in favor of some variety of elite rule, a distressingly common position in general, and particularly in tech spaces.

True, I don’t have the right to vote in the place where I live, so that definitely reduces my incentive to engage in news.

But out of friends who engage in news it’s disproportionately at the global and nation level, so I don’t think they are really optimizing for civil engagement.

Voting is just one way people engage in the political process.

I live in a country that tends to deport noncitizens who “engage in the political process”, unless it’s in support of the incumbent government.