Spicy take: none of it is relevant to you. All world news is outside your sphere of influce and sphere of concern. It’s a pure waste of your time and you don’t need to read anything about it. If a global event is about to affect you, I guarantee you will hear about it.
I had to book emergency flights back to the UK on a day's notice last year before Christmas because all the countries were closing borders. My partner would've missed it and been stuck abroad if I didn't tell her about it. In a world as connected as ours, finding out what's relevant and what's not is a continuous struggle.
This is an area of thought that I am interested in learning more about. Humans globalized too quickly - we are not evolving quickly enough to meet the new demand it has put on our mental wellbeing. Our tribes used to be small, and they slowly grew and grew. Now the tribe is essentially the size of the world - if you permit that firehose of that data to your mind. I do think it is healthy to turn that off. It's a slippery slope though - I want to know about atrocities happening on the other side of the world. I don't care that some province in Canada has reinstated an indoor mask mandate.
Yes, and of course I am playing devils advocate. After all I am here on HN commenting on the news of the day. You are hitting on exactly the issue here though and think it’s extremely healthy to tell a person who feels overwhelmed and besieged by the news cycle to take a break from a 100% optional activity.
By the time you hear of an impending national disaster (maybe a pandemic), you can take no further steps to prepare because it's already happening. IMO, being able to prepare and brace yourself for coming change or disruption is a key benefit to consuming news.
