I think we should all go back to reading newspapers. Like actual newspapers, with the paper. I feel like actual, physical newspapers were a "load-bearing inefficiency" of modern civilization. Also, they can't spy on you like the phone you're currently reading this on is doing.

i read the paper - I actually switched to a digital edition of the daily paper because the waste was intolerable, but - and it definitely changed my life. not super dramatically, but I became much more informed about specifically local issues, became a better conversationalist, became more invested in my city, etc. it's just a much better way of getting news, you end up being forced to engage with stories you aren't naturally inclined to care about, to learn things you wouldn't seek out.

part of the problem with algorithmic news is that it silos people into narrow and non overlapping information ecosystems and even atomisies their ideas of what's going on around them. it's so easy to lose touch with the wider world if you're only being narrowcast via algorithms or even curated feeds (like Tumblr or maybe Reddit) things you already care about and inclined to react to. Specifically, without a shared information bedrock, without people generally operating from the same list of 'things happening around me' that more traditional news formats provides, it becomes increasingly difficult to communicate between one another, and thus to not only talk and understand but to act and resolve. it also allows one to fall into echo chambers which act as feedback loops to reinforce counterfactual perspectives.