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Vanity activities

(quarter--mile.com)
74 points surprisetalk | 1 comments | 01 Dec 25 18:57 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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titanomachy ◴[07 Dec 25 18:53 UTC] No.46184041[source]▶
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.)

replies(2): >>46184445 #>>46187827 #
johnnyo ◴[08 Dec 25 02:59 UTC] No.46187827[source]▶
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.

replies(2): >>46187856 #>>46190135 #
1. dragonwriter ◴[08 Dec 25 03:05 UTC] No.46187856[source]▶
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.