After a Break From the News
A news junkie (briefly) exits the discourse and returns (somewhat) refreshed
Without political news and social media, I was less angry. I wouldn’t say at peace or unconcerned about the state of the world, but at least less actively pissed off. It didn’t hit me until about two weeks into my now-annual news break, when another driver said something obnoxious at a red light. I was thinking about it a few minutes later, annoyed, when I realized that I’ve been feeling angry nearly all the time about much more important things.
The Information Age deluge of updates, alerts, notifications, and commentary throws everything in your face. Shutting all that out—never checking, not once, for enough days to lose track of events—takes effort, especially at first to break the habit. But each year I’m glad I did.
No breaking news, no doomscrolling, no awareness of what some pundit, politician, or big social media account said. No Trump. Or at least a lot less.
It takes a few days to lose touch with the news, then settles in. Feels more relaxing. Pleasant. And millions of people live like this all the time! I couldn’t, but it’s a nice place to visit.
Anyone directly affected by Trumpian authoritarianism doesn’t have that option. Anybody with a loved one detained by ICE, for example. But if you’re able, I recommend shutting the news out for a bit.
Feeling frustration, anger, or despair about political events doesn’t make anything better on its own. If those feelings motivate you to take more action, great—I participated in protests for the first time—but the negative feelings themselves don’t improve anything. As I wrote after last year’s break: they take so much already, you don’t need to let them take your mental health too.
During my news hiatus, I focused more on my kids, especially during their break between the end of school and the start of camp. This is the time of year when dad never says “we can play later, but now I have to work” or “hang on, I gotta finish writing this.”
Usually on these breaks, I accomplish yardwork and home improvement tasks that have been hanging over me, and while I still did some of that, much of my physical energy this time went to a puppy.
This puppy:
Her name is Hazel. She’s about 10 months old, rambunctious, and adorable. The kids love her and she clearly loves them too.
During these breaks, I like to get absorbed in a fantasy or sci fi book series, a fictional world to care about while I shut out the real one. This year it was Dungeon Crawler Carl. It’s fun, basically “what if people were forced into a bonkers real-life D&D video game,” with elements that reminded me of the Running Man, Critical Role, the Hunger Games, and Ready Player One, though decidedly more adult than the latter two.
The person who recommended it said I should do the audiobook, and it’s great (thanks, sis). I live in the Midwest, both my parents and in-laws are east coast, and my family listens to audiobooks when we drive to visit. Many narrators are good, but Dungeon Crawler Carl’s Jeff Hays is the best I’ve heard. There are so many characters with distinct voices it’s hard to believe they’re all the same actor. And while I bet parts of the books are funny on the page, Hays’ delivery adds to the humor. It’s not a family road trip book, though. Too many parts aren’t appropriate for kids.
Hays’ group Soundbooth Theater adds some audio effects; not so much it’s overwhelming, but enough it enhances the listening experience. Sometimes there’s a noise or music in line with the story. An AI talking over a loudspeaker has a slight mechanical distortion. The powerful monster’s voice reverberates. While my knowledge of audiobooks is far from exhaustive, this is the first I’ve seen it as its own medium, something more than a person reading a book aloud.
It’s a long series, and while I’m not finished, I’ve listened to a lot. This meant extra long walks for the puppy.
This puppy:
More than in previous years, I found it difficult to get away. Newspaper headlines such as “U.S. Strikes Iran” caught my eye in the supermarket, even as I tried to avoid them.
I read the book Greenwild on recommendation from my 10 year old. I love that my kid is so excited about books he wants me to read them. It was pretty good, but it turned out the main character is half Iranian, and references Persian phrases her mother said, which works in the context of the story, and nicely exposes kids to other cultures, but unfortunately made me think about the real world situation I was most trying to ignore.
I closely followed the NBA playoffs, my favorite annual sports event. Even better, the New York Knicks, my favorite team—not just in basketball, in any sport—made a run to the finals.
But Trump insisted on attending game 3 in New York, the first sitting president to go to an NBA finals game. The announcement made headlines on sports media, injecting Trump into information spaces that usually don’t mention him. Security arrangements required attendees to come hours in advance and the Secret Service maintained a noticeable presence throughout. The TV broadcast showed or mentioned the president multiple times.
I was really trying to stick to sports. Politics wouldn’t let me.
On the upside, sports media has seemed terrified to touch anything political in the aftermath of the 2024 election and earlier backlash to athletes and sports media personalities showing solidarity with Black Lives Matter—as if neutral-to-positive about the status quo isn’t political—but the logistics of an NBA finals game are unquestionably a sports story. As annoyed as I was that Trump had forced his way into my news break, it was nice seeing sports commentators criticizing the additional difficulties the president thrust upon a big event that’s already hard to run, and how he worsened the vibe.
The Madison Square Garden crowd booed loudly when the Jumbotron showed Trump during the national anthem. That seemed appropriate. And very New York.
Then the Knicks lost the Trump game, breaking their 13-playoff-game winning streak. When they fell far behind in the next game, I worried that Trump had managed to ruin this too, getting the Knicks to blow a 2-0 series lead, cursing the team forever more. But then, without Trump present, they pulled off the biggest-ever comeback in an NBA finals game, and the next game won the championship.
I choose to interpret this as a metaphor.
The end of the playoffs happened to coincide with the announcement of a U.S.-Iran “memorandum of understanding.” It’s time for me to reengage with current events.
I can take a break, but I can’t check out. Checking out is what authoritarians want you to do. I feel angry about the stupid, damaging war of choice on Iran and the ongoing degradation of American democracy because those are really bad things, causing unnecessary harm to so many people.
I can’t hide from all that. I’ll follow events, seek more information, try to understand what’s happening, and process it with others. I’ll read, listen, talk, write, scroll, and post. Sometimes that will be unpleasant. But at least I’m going through it with all of you.
And this puppy:
