I was having lunch with a friend of mine, Darin, last year (back in the old days when you could still have lunch with people) and we got to talking about how to strike the right balance when it comes to our news consumption. In an age when the internet will serve up as much news as anyone could possible consume, how do you ensure that you’re well enough informed to fulfill your role as a citizen without overdosing?
Darin told me about a practice of his that struck me as brilliant: he skips the stories about things that haven’t happened yet. Surprisingly, these are everywhere. On any given day you can open the paper (or news app or whatever) and find a story that speculates about how some upcoming event is likely to play out. “I figure I can afford to wait and read the story about what actually happened,” Darin said.
Genius. That one tip has saved me so much low-value reading. I was reminded of it this morning when I saw the story on the first page of the New York Times business section about the congressional hearings today at which the CEOs of Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple are scheduled to testify. Per the Darin Rule, here was an entire story that I could entirely skip, since tomorrow I’ll be able to read about what actually happened at the hearings — or, if I’m especially interested, I can watch the hearings themselves.
Granted, this morning’s article might have provided some context for what was about to happen, but as someone who reads the news every day, I probably have all the background I need, and in any case, that same context will be included in the articles that run tomorrow, with the added benefit that’ll accompany reporting on what was actually said rather than what might be said.
Ditto the articles that ran recently speculating about who might get Emmy nominations. I skipped them all and instead read this morning about who was actually nominated.
Yes, this approach has its limits. If I were working in D.C. as a lobbyist for the tech industry, I would have read the article in the Times this morning, and a lot of related articles besides. But when it comes to holding in check the amount of time I spend following the news, this is a broadly useful and straightforward rule of thumb. Thanks Darin.