| > What good does "paying attention" serve? I don't understand this position. What good does knowing anything about anything serve? What good does reading about history do? I like being informed about the world and matters that affect me. Trump extending a lifeline to my disastrous government has implications for my life in our upcoming elections, and possibly beyond (they are saying the bailout comes with draconian "conditions"). I also care about more indirect ramifications and what it means for our sovereignty. I like being informed about the world. > He specifically points out the contrast being glued to some national issue that has no impact on his life, but isn't informed at all for any local issue that actually impacts his life. You can and should be informed about both. There are no issues with absolutely zero impact in your life. Maybe they won't impact now, immediately and in a way that you notice, but in the longer term they will. Even as a trend for your nation. Everything in life is political (just not about political parties, not sure why people conflate the two things). PS: I've never used TikTok, I'm arguing out of principle. I do use Facebook and Instagram though. I swore off Twitter even before the Musk era, so I wouldn't know what's it like now (I imagine not good). |
The upthread discussion was about being glued to the 24/7 news cycle, which at least in the US focuses mostly on national political drama. If you're suggesting that people should spend most of their limited attention budget following that news cycle, then they won't have attention left for much else.
I don't think anyone in this thread would say that spending, say, 15 minutes a day getting caught up on political happenings is a bad thing. It only becomes harmful when it sucks up all of your attention (as it does for political junkies).