Why I'm not watching global news
So the world is pretty crazy right now. I think you know what I'm talking about, and I don't want to mention everything that has happened in like the past month because it's just insane.
And maybe it's just better to not watch global news.
The Earth is small
What I want to say is that you should look at the Universe. Look at its size. Look at the amount of galaxies, of suns, of planets. And then look at the Earth. Maybe look at Voyager 1's "Pale Blue Dot" again.
You'll see that the Earth is pretty small. Not only pretty small, but like… really small. The ratio of Earth:Universe is probably even smaller than the ratio of (active gemini users):(active internet users) [1].
So what do you take away from this?
Too small to be relevant
If there's anything you can take away from this, it's that everything happening on Earth will stay here. If something crazy is happening, it will get further. But still, things that we built that are the most distant from Earth (and thus increase the radius of things happening on Earth / created by us on Earth) are not even a light year.
The distance of the Voyager 1 is around a light day right now (in 2026). Compare that to the roughly 50 billion light-years the universe has in size.
Anything that is happening here will stay here. Even if things on Earth seem huge for us, they are not.
So you can just ignore them. Who cares about NASA's Artemis mission? Who cares about predicting what will happen next? Things are going to happen anyways (and in most cases it's unexpected what will happen), and you can't do anything against it (in most cases, again).
What is still important?
With this background about global news, it's really important to me that you still read some kind of news. Else, you are just cut off from everything. I mean, it's not bad to do that, but that's not the thing I want to achieve with this post.
You can still watch local news about things that are going to affect you. If people announce a protest and it looks interesting, read the announcement! If there is some new law being passed, read the article! Those things are important for you.
And, read news about the stuff you're using. Read news about the software you use. Read news from people you're interested in.
Everything that is interesting for you (as in REALLY interesting, not just "needing to watch news") could be a good idea to watch or read. And, please stuff from people's personal blogs (or gemlogs!). This is probably also why I'm starting doing stuff in the Geminispace.
What should I do instead?
The first thing you should do instead has already been mentioned: Watching local stuff, watching stuff that is important to you.
But there is a second thing: Do more stuff for you. Really. The universe is so big that there is no practical difference between 100 and 10000 people that see what you've made (it's still almost zero compared to the universe).
So do things you enjoy in your free time. Do some crocheting, if you like it. Do some coding, if you like it. Do some writing, if you like it. Do anything that you like, and that feels fulfilling for you personally.
Don't do anything for the sake of being in a news report, even if it's "breaking a record".
That's it
And that's basically what I wanted to say today.
Maybe you took away something from it, maybe you didn't. That's fine. At least you discovered another person's thoughts in the Geminispace. And if I'll realize my plans, you'll hear from me more often in the future.
But most importantly: Create something! If you are a musician, go practice your instrument! If you are a programmer, go hand-code some small project (or continue working on your bigger project)! If you are a writer, go write something! If you are a composer, compose some music! Do something for yourself!
If you liked this post or if you'd like to discuss it with me, feel free to drop me an email at:
samuel.fiedler@proton.me
[1] I didn't actually do any calculation to ensure that this is true, but I'm pretty sure it is. That's why I wrote "probably".
My Gemlog