[bityard]

Even if we get past the emotional click-baitey aspect of mass-media news (and also your jab at capitalism), the fact remains that 99% of news is not relevant to the average person's day-to-day life and is wholly _unactionable_. Meaning, there is nothing you can read on the front-page of CNN that we, the people, can do anything about. (I'll carve out a small exception here for pointers to relief funds for disasters, perhaps.)

"Staying informed" for its own sake is just a hobby. The most utility you can possibly gain from it is arguing your point of view (politics) with other people online or in real life.

Real important events that directly affect me and my family either never hit the mass media, or will be relayed to me through my _actual_ social networks (not facebook or the twitters). National and world trends that might influence my long-term decisions (how to retire, when to invest, etc) don't reveal themselves by reading the news every day, these are things I actively research from time to time via my own means.