This blog has moved!

Thank you to all those who have followed our blog and shared their comments over the past few years.

I am moving this blog to a different location as of the beginning of 2012.

You can visit the new blog at lifestylerevolution.blogspot.com

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Catch you soon!

Dan

Is mainstream news still relevant?

The way we experience media has certainly changed during the past 5-10 years. But, have we changed our intake of news as well?

It used to be that all 'news' came through the newspaper or television; I clearly remember my grandfather and father religiously watching and reading the news each day. For much of my early life, that was the way people stayed up-to-date and learned about the world.

But in the past 10 years, the shift away from conventional media has started. And more and more people are turning to online news sources, blogs, and even social media sites as their first source of 'new news'. It seems the way we take in information has changed, and that begs the question: is mainstream news still relevant?

A few years ago, I read a book by Tim Ferriss called The 4 hour Work Week. It was an interesting read (check out my review here if you like) and one of the key ideas I took away was the 'low information diet'.

In the book, Tim tells how we decided to stop watching and listening to mainstream news and current affairs, to test whether it had any effect on his attitude or lifestyle. It turned out that he didnt miss too much, and if he did miss something important, somebody would tell him about it.

I decided this was a good idea to test, and in the past few years have put myself been on a low information diet, especially when it comes to news reports. I don't watch it, or subscribe to any of it online. In fact, I have now created a view about this: other people's news is none of my business. And lo and behold... I think my attitude and general world view has become more positive as a result.

Now, do I occasionally miss an important news story? Of course, but I have found that - same as Tim experienced - people around me generally tell me pretty quickly if something big happens.

So, that is my view, and I am interested to hear your thoughts too: do you watch or read less news now than you did 5 or 10 years ago, do you have different sources you trust now compared to then? And if you have changed, what has been the effect for you.

Feel free to comment here or on youtube.