I've been in the USA for four months now and haven't bought a single newspaper. And, even though I've got the World's Biggest Telly, it's not actually connected to any broadcast media.
It's surprising to me that, without the lure of familiar media brands - or the come-hither sports/celebrity news headlines - newspapers hold no real appeal for me here. Not because they're bad, or dumb or US-centric....but because....well...I just don't really care...
I occasionally read the news on the BBC website and listen to Radio 4 but I'm much less well informed about 'current affairs' than I ever was in the UK. Or perhaps not. Perhaps just less full of other people's opinions - ever changing according to my media choices.
It's refreshing to escape from the tyranny of newspapers and telly for a while - freeing up whole days for discovering new music, watching movies and reading books I've been meaning to for years..
I'm not sure what I'm saying here. Just that I'm pretty relaxed about being 'less well informed' about immediate news headlines....because the trade off is more time to think about things that actually interest me.
Is this the American malaise? Is this why the 'Dumb American' cliche is so sticky? Well here's a thought - proper international news is, of course, easily available here but you have to actively seek it out. The evening news shows don't cover international events in the way that anyone living in the UK is accustomed to. So it really is very easy indeed not to engage. And to spend that time doing stuff that you enjoy instead. And yet I meet loads and loads of very well informed people in San Francisco. I just wonder - if I'd grown up here rather than on a small, rainy island, would I be so determined to find out what's going on?
I suspect I might have been a right dumb-ass.
Recent Comments