Find Happiness by Trading CNN for HGTV
We could all use a post-inauguration media diet makeover
I’m currently a week into my new media diet. As soon as Joe Biden was sworn in as president, I decided it was time to refresh my daily intake. Not because I don’t believe we all need to be politically active or outspoken (see all of my previous writing), but because in the end democracy did succeed, the adults are finally back in the room, and we can all breathe a least a tiny sigh of relief. The challenges ahead are daunting, and they will require all of us to be active citizens, but Jesus, I don’t need an update every five minutes. Enough.
So starting Thursday, once the inaugural celebrations were complete, I committed to a new media diet: I now check the news in the morning online over coffee (CNN, New York Times, MSNBC ); I spend a half-hour at lunch reading an actual column or full articles (Medium, New Yorker, New York Magazine, The Economist, and for silly fun, People); then I watch CBS Evening News for a half-hour at night. That’s it. No Facebook. No Twitter. No Instagram. No endless doomscrolling. I deleted all the apps. I put a sign on my desk: “Mamala’s got it.” And I refocused my daily energy.
The biggest change: I swapped out CNN for HGTV. For the last week, my evenings have been spent binge-watching Home Town, HGTV’s…
