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Dumb State

While I don't have social media and don't have to deal with doom-scrolling, reading the news of my phone is almost as bad. Depending on the source, the opinions are skewed left or right in ways that turn news into content that triggers feelings of angst, hopelessness and pessimism about the world and our future. Not sure if that is any different than doom-scrolling. I was telling a friend recently about how my parents when I was a kid, insisted that I read the newspaper and particularly the editorial page. The weekend supplements were mostly considered good, useful reading and highly encouraged.

We got a couple of newspapers and some bi-weekly magazines at our home. The neighbor had a different set of items she subscribed to, so we traded across the fence often - magazines more so than newspapers though there were times when newspapers were traded too. Getting me to read this content everyday was their way of bringing awareness of the world to my life even though I lived in a sleep town where nothing ever happened. 

They also believed that reading the op-ed pieces would help my language and writing abilities because there was a certain quality bar writing had to meet to make it to the editorial pages. I cannot imagine any of that working today - most newspapers such as they do exist, are a far cry from what I grew up on. I don't think any young person would benefit from them in ways that I did back in the day. I am not sure what is available today to replace good journalism for kids who are growing up in a world where doom-scrolling, influencer posts, social-sharing and news reporting have fused into one thing. Maybe they need to be on dumber devices. It would not make such a dent in the level of the kid's awareness of what is going in the world being that the time names are resorting to AI to write for them. 


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