If you want a better perspective on how important the news really is, pay attention over a several day holiday break like Thanksgiving or Christmas. The news websites, podcasts and videos that were filled with “breaking news”, “what you need to know about”, “existential”, and “unprecedented” go dark.
Why?
Because everybody is on vacation. Suddenly all of these supposedly URGENT issues can wait until after the holidays.
If you want an even broader prospective, read the news from a year or two ago. I did this once when I was working at a boring job in college. Everything that written about in Newsweek and Time Magazine turned out to be completely inconsequential just a year later. Literally everything.
The news doesn’t tell us what is important (other than the local weather and hyper-local updates on traffic, road conditions and community happenings.)
Instead, it turns out that we (and apparently, the news people) agree on what’s important – your life, time with family and friends, celebrations, traditions, vacations and love.
Go figure.
We all knew this all along.