Want to Really Make America Great Again? Stop Reading the News

Stop watching cable news, it’s bad for you.

Stop filtering the world through social media, it’s a cesspool.

Turn off those breaking news alerts on your phone — none of them are as important as you think.

But isn’t it my responsibility to be an informed citizen?

Absolutely.

The problem is, we’ve fooled ourselves into thinking that endless news consumption is how you stay “informed”.

About 15 years ago, I made an abrupt turn in my life. Souring on the marketing world, I wrote ​Trust Me, I’m Lying​, a book about media manipulation. Although a lot has changed since it came out in 2012 (and a lot has changed ​since the updated edition in 2017​), it’s alarming how relevant the book continues to be. It was, if anything, ahead of its time. Today, we are awash not just with fake news but with too much news, period. Too much information. Too much noise.

I had a few aims with that book but one of my hopes was that when people saw how the sausage was made, they would eat a lot less sausage (and certainly less factory-farmed sausage).

Yet here we are — across the political spectrum — consuming way too much of it. No wonder we’re miserable! No wonder we’re overwhelmed. No…