News Health: Intermittent News Fasting

Happy Sunday,

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31

What’s a healthy news diet?

A “normal” news diet is to get updates throughout the day, likely from a mixture of notifications, social media scrolling, conversations with friends/coworkers, podcasts/radio, or cable news. If you’re ever even a little bit curious about what’s happening in the world… you just go have yourself a little news snack. After all, the news pantry is always fully stocked. News organizations make sure of it.

This constant snacking (and occasional bingeing) left me feeling bloated—stretched full but not satisfied. I ended up not-very-thoughtfully consuming bites of news, all throughout the day.

Contrast this with intermittent news fasting: I can consume as much news as I want… but only in a certain window of time. Outside that window, I am unplugged from the 24/7 news cycle.

It’s glorious.

One of the biggest changes is that it’s made me intentional with my news intake—skipping over junk commentary and frivolous updates—because I know I’m on the clock. It also gives me a sense of accomplishment. Following the news is something that I can actually accomplish and check off my to-do list, instead of being a never-finished task.

Your homework: try intermittent news fasting. Give yourself a window of time (maybe 30 minutes in the morning) when you’re allowed to check the news… then be done. Anything that happens outside that window is tomorrow’s news.

What do you think?

Jason

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