Let's start with a little backstory first. There was a tech/science news website which I read every single day for years and really enjoyed because of what I felt was a nice, balanced, scientific approach to the world. I won't name any names because I don't want to ruin anyone's favorite website. Everyone wants to feel like they're getting an unbiased and accurate view of things, right? Well, I guess I thought that I had cracked that code a bit. It was an island of rationality in the ocean of fearmongering news slop (which I was also consuming at that point).
As things on the internet started to degrade a few years ago, I started to taper off my news media consumption. I tried to resist checking my Google News feed more than once a day, and then maybe only a few times a week, then tried to stop myself from checking it at all. But I kept reading that one particular news site which I felt was giving me a rational feed of what was going on. I became a subscriber/supporter, and kept enjoying what I was reading there.
However! At the beginning of this year, for obvious reasons, I stopped reading news at all. Cold turkey. I didn't like what was going on and don't feel like there's anything that I can do about it on an average day, so why am I making myself upset by checking it? People have very good and reasonable answers to that question, but my answer was just to stop listening. This included my favorite news site. Even if I felt it was rational, it was still going to tell me something about the state of the world, and my goal was to hide my head in the sand.
Well, six months passed this way, but recently I was tempted to check on my old favorite. I don't know why, I guess I was bored or curious or both, but I clicked that link that I'd been avoiding. And do you know what? I don't find it to be so balanced, rational, and reasonable anymore! After not being exposed to the aggressive fear machine of news media at all for 6 months, the articles felt clickbaity and the writing style felt designed to inspire negative emotions in order to encourage engagement.
Had the site changed while I was gone? No, I don't believe so. I was just seeing it with new eyes. After not being exposed to the machine of "we're going to pull you in with this scary title/premise/image" for so long, seeing it again was really jarring. Now, are they the worst offenders in this regard? Absolutely not! But it goes to show that perspectives can change over time, and maybe a little time away from our favorite things can... Well... I guess help ruin them, lol. Maybe that's not the best lesson, but it's what I got out of it.
Will I be going back to reading the news and checking my old favorite news site every day? NO WAY. I kind of like being calm and not afraid/angry/upset every time I open up the browser.
