[johnnyo]

News consumption impacts political decision making, like who I want to support or oppose in local, state, and national elections.

That seems a pretty high impact decision we want all the members of our society to be making on a regular basis.

[dragonwriter]

Staying informed of current events being a vanity activity is an idea very heavily pushed by people who are radically opposed to broad democracy in favor of some variety of elite rule, a distressingly common position in general, and particularly in tech spaces.

[titanomachy]

True, I don’t have the right to vote in the place where I live, so that definitely reduces my incentive to engage in news.

But out of friends who engage in news it’s disproportionately at the global and nation level, so I don’t think they are really optimizing for civil engagement.

[johnnyo]

Voting is just one way people engage in the political process.

[titanomachy]

I live in a country that tends to deport noncitizens who “engage in the political process”, unless it’s in support of the incumbent government.