... most especially television news and opinion. Before twitter came along I used to think television was the worst medium for news and opinion.
I don't see any advertising on my television or computer. I pay money to sites like DU or The Guardian to make advertising go away. I also use ad blockers, but not on sites I regularly visit except to block ads that pop up, move, and/or make noise.
My wife and I don't have cable, satellite, or broadcast television. Our television only plays DVDs and two or three no-advertising streaming services. That's all it does.
Social media like the-site-formerly-known-as-twitter and traditional television news, opinion, and advertising are all designed to make you feel empty anxious so you go out and buy something you probably don't need to fill the void. It's not just consumer goods, but damaging political and religious ideologies too.
I quit television news and opinion more shortly after 9-11-2001. My wife has never been interested in television news, she used to say "What is that crap? Turn it off!" if I was watching the news when she came home from work and I was getting ready to leave for work. ( When our children were young we were fortunate that we could schedule our work so one of us was always home. We had no childcare expenses. )
We quit cable television soon after, and broadcast television in January 2012.
I have never understood Twitter. I was blocking it before Musk bought it. It seems to me that there is very little actionable content on twitter and too much noise. Being the first to know some bridge three thousand miles away has collapsed, or the latest dumb ass thing Trump has said isn't going to get me off my butt. If something is actionable then I'm going to get a phone call. Or my wife is. Or maybe we'll making those calls ourselves.
I'm very protective of my own mental health. When my mind has gone completely sideways I've landed in the psych ward. I'd rather avoid that.
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