> He suggests going on a news diet by mindfully curating the news content one plans on consuming, and thinking about its relevance to everyday life
I've actually wanted to do this for multiple things too. Ie, I want to spend ~15m a day getting a curated list on various topics that interest me. From tech, programming, etc. I don't want to feel I'm "missing" anything.
My desire stems from not wanting to miss tech related events, and building habits of being on Reddit and HN. If I had a reliable aggregator I hope to reduce my FOMA style addiction. I imagine this would be useful for world news as well.
>If I had a reliable aggregator I hope to reduce my FOMA style addiction.
Frankly, you are merely feeding that addiction. Treat the fear, don't placate it. This becomes easier as the years go by. After you spend a lot of time tracking something (news, Reddit, whatever), do the following exercise:
1. Write down how much it benefited you. You (hopefully) will be able to list a few ways it really helped you. That is what is keeping you addicted. Now try to come up with a marginal value over time. Yes, you benefited a lot, but what did you gain out of it per hour?
2. Look at those around you who are not addicted. How are they disadvantaged by not receiving the gains you outlined in step 1? Are they living a less content or full life? Now re-evaluate all those benefits you listed. What did they do for you (and for your mental well being)?
3. What have you been missing out on because of your addiction? Once your life gets busy (job, parenthood, whatever), then everything has an opportunity cost. What valuable activities could you be partaking in if you didn't feed the addiction?
As a former news junkie, my (perhaps unpopular) perspective: Spending only 15 minutes a day on the news will leave you quite misinformed. There isn't a path of moderation here. It takes a lot of effort to understand and follow current events. You need to read multiple sources, as well as multiple perspectives (for a very simplistic example: 3-5 sources from a liberal perspective, and 3-5 sources from a conservative perspective - for each issue, and assuming there are only 2 sides).
This is very time consuming. Spending 15 minutes a day just populates your mental models with poor information. The alternative is to stop and spend time on other activities. That way you know clearly what you don't know, and at least still have an open mind.
I built a tiny link web app for myself and it just shows me the last time I visited a website and how many times a day I visit it and this is enough to make me stop visiting some places too many times a day/week. Of course this depends on using the web app for visiting your most frequently visited sites.
If you've got the skills for that, you could probably convert it to a web extension that tracks when you type into the URL bar or follow a link as well.
Don't overlook hyperlocal news; what's happening in your community. Even 'boring' things like reviewing planning applications have brought me closer to the other people in my town.
It's very easy, particularly as dormitory commuters, to know more about what's happening elsewhere in the World than on our own doorsteps.
I feel a lot happier that I don't know much what's happening in London, 400km away, but I'm making a difference 400m away.
Keeping an eye on local news helps prevent getting screwed, too. The highway passing a property is slated for safety improvements. One particular idiosyncrasy of the design was going to severely inconvenience us, our tenants, their customers, and our neighbors. We lobbied the highway department to change the design slightly, and they did change it. This is the same state highway department that has happily put dozens of local businesses under. A rare actual case of "Hanlon's Razor". If we hadn't paid attention we'd have had no recourse.
I've actually wanted to do this for multiple things too. Ie, I want to spend ~15m a day getting a curated list on various topics that interest me. From tech, programming, etc. I don't want to feel I'm "missing" anything.
My desire stems from not wanting to miss tech related events, and building habits of being on Reddit and HN. If I had a reliable aggregator I hope to reduce my FOMA style addiction. I imagine this would be useful for world news as well.