[wsc981]

Perhaps it's better to just not keep up with the news too much. From what I understand the world is safer today than it has ever been, especially in the Western world. And most news is bad news anyway - you won't feel much happier knowing about it.

Maybe it's better to focus on what's important and what you have some influence over, like the well-being of your family and friends, self improvement and your future goals.

[PeterisP]

What you say was true some 2 years ago, but right now Western world/NATO is as close to conflict as in the Cold war - of course, not nearly as close as in the peaks of Cold war, but comparable to most of the 'background' of cold war, and less relaxed and safe as, say, in year 2000.

Also, depends on where you live - there is a big difference between USA and, say, eastern parts of EU.

[ExpiredLink]

"News is bad for you – and giving up reading it will make you happier"

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/12/news-is-bad-rol...

[gravedave]

I know that much, but when socializing, I still want to be able to not be like "huh?" when someone brings up, say, Russia's suspension from the G8/G7 over their annexation of Crimea.

[lfowles]

Any issue with letting _them_ be your news source? "Really, I haven't been following, could you explain what's happening?"

[ggreer]

That's exactly what I do. Conversations are my only source of non-tech news. To give some idea of how disconnected I am: I didn't know who won the Super Bowl until the Tuesday after, and I've since forgotten. It's quite pleasant to live like this. Most news is both depressing and completely irrelevant to daily life.

Unless there's a natural disaster nearby, news doesn't really matter to me. My life is affected much more by the next release of io.js than by some Russian G8 membership dispute.[1] And I don't mind being clueless about current events or media. Typically, people are more than willing to summarize important news in conversation, or I can get the gist as others discuss it.

1. Which I only learned about because gravedave mentioned it.

[gravedave]

Yes, they're not really the let-me-explain type. I wouldn't ask about this if I didn't think it's a question worth answering.

[Rapzid]

Given how barely reliable news outlets are I'd hate for some bodies sole news source to be Freddie in accounts.

[lfowles]

You don't have to take Freddie's word to be absolute truth. It's probably going to be a better conversation if you go in with an open mind than if you persistently correct his sources[0].

[0]: http://xkcd.com/1475/