You're Not CNN

Conrad Murray is just the latest Amanda Knox who was the most recent Casey Anthony. And, despite the fact that you may or may not have remembered that name after it fell out of the 24 hour news cycle a couple months ago, you took time out of your day to give a rip because... well, why again? In the same way that our overly connected world has encouraged us to have an opinion and be involved with every worthwhile cause, the sensationalism of "news" is at an all time high. With the wonders of Facebook and Twitter, everyone can be a part of breaking the "news" as it happens. And, while that is an adrenaline rush that I've never really understood or invested much time in experiencing, yesterday afternoon when I looked at the content being shared and commented on, it was all about a verdict in a case that, if asked about it a week before, none of the folks I interact with online would have cared about. But, since it was breaking news, it filled my timeline on Facebook and Twitter for about 15 minutes and everyone had an opinion. Then it was done.

I admittedly have a very low information diet. I don't go looking for news and when news finds me, I don't pay that much attention to it unless it is actionable and relevant to the priorities I have set for my day or the endeavors I am in the midst of. I use my relationships on the interwebs to filter news the same way that royalty used to have food tasters to make sure they don't get poisoned. If enough of my friends care about an article or a subject outside of my focus, then I'll take a look. Otherwise, I let someone else waste their time reading about stuff that doesn't matter in search of the stuff that does.

Just because a story is on a "news" site, in a magazine, or made it on tv doesn't mean you have to care. Don't let the fear of missing out (FOMO) on news paralyze you and cause you to miss out on making the most of the things that actually matter.