My hot take is this: I feel like the news and politics are largely unhelpful. Many people seem to think that to be a good citizen you should be informed on the going-ons of your state or country, but in my opinion this is exaggerated. I feel that many people throughout history have not known much about the news and major world events until days or weeks after they occur (or begin), and it didn’t affect their lives greatly. From my perspective, the news just creates anxiety more than anything. Many people like it as a form of entertainment, but beyond that its function is limited. If something major occurs (like, say, a former president getting shot), I will hear about it from someone, but it seems more healthy to not have to know about every going-on in the world. I’ve heard someone say before that people are not designed to know everything and can’t know everything, but that modern technology makes us feel like we can and should find everything that we can. That’s not entirely the same as following the news, but I feel like the root desire behind it can be the same for some people. This isn’t true for everyone, and it is good that there are some people who follow these things, but for the most part I feel like its necessity is often exaggerated.