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In the news | Pad Patter 19/Feb

bellbird

bellbird

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Pollywog
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So one of the big questions here this week is where do you get your news from?

After the Aust. government got into a public fight against facebook, trying to bring in a law that would mean big tech companies including them pay for the local news content they use on their platform (I've probably waaay over simplified it), facebook cut off access and deleted a whole bunch of pages including a bunch of emergency service and government health related pages. Apparently facebook is a major source of news for people. Personally, we really only use 'real' newspapers, the local kind, as birdcage liner but rely on radio news updates and evening tv news shows for national and international news but i think i could live fine without facebook itself but seeing they bring me instagram now, i'd feel it if that were gone all of a sudden.

So what's your main source of news and could you live without social media?
 
We don't sit down and watch the news per se, but we do frequently have the TV on to CNN or MSNBC. Otherwise, yes, I do get a lot of my news from Facebook. I follow local TV stations and local/statewide newspapers on FB. I do get the New York Times daily newsletter and have a digital subscription to the Washington Post.

Could I live without social media? If I absolutely had to, I suppose I could. But I have friends all over the USA and in other countries so FB is the main way in which we stay in touch.
 
I don't really go to one place for news, I like to read a little bit of everything and then figure the truth is in the middle somewhere lol. Someone that I follow on Insta just recently recommended allsides.com and I've really enjoyed it. It's more US news, some world news, but from all sides. It's really interesting to me how all the different sides present the same basic story or choose their headline.

I could live without FB for sure, other than the fact that I have some CT and other responsibilities there. I much prefer Instagram and would miss it if it were gone.
 
Justine.... we used to use newspaper for our bird cage liners too. So nice of you to share that info with us :giggle

I mostly listen to the news on the radio as I prepare breakfast each morning. Sometimes we watch it on TV.
 
I have a digital subscription to The Washington Post and read CNN's website. Those 2 are my main sources of news. Like others have said, I'd miss looking at layouts on Instagram if social media went away but wouldn't care much beyond that. I've never been a heavy social media user--I get too self conscious every time I post, wondering if people will judge my sentiments/layout/parenting/political views, etc.
 
We take the Seattle Times. My husband reads the print edition but I read the online version. During the Pandemic, I’ve been thankful that the major newspapers have given free access to Covid related articles which I view on Facebook. Facebook has been so depressing with all the politics this year but it has calmed down somewhat since the inauguration.
 
It’s very rare I sit and watch the news on the television. But sometimes I will watch the local government COVID-19 updates on tv.

I do have a habit of checking the news on my phone each day and and like to read the Daily Mail (UK newspaper) website. I don’t think I would ever by the paper, but website is just easiest one to browse on phone, I guess a like the layout. I also read Wales Online which covers more local news.

I’m not sure I could live without social media now, as I use it for so much. Local police, fire, hospitals, councils share updates about local goings on. I also work for a charity which helps older people so I manage our Facebook page keeping people up to date with relevant information.
 
A-M said:
Justine.... we used to use newspaper for our bird cage liners too. So nice of you to share that info with us :giggle.
Click to expand...
When I started at TLP, I was amused by Peppermint's One Little Bird designer newsletters, they were just called 'The Cage Liner' - I don't know if she ever had a pet bird but I could so relate! (Bunnings catalogues will do in a pinch but there's some origami involved in getting it to fit the cage base - I know, too much info but such is bellbird life!)
 
I get most my news from Twitter. I follow The Associated Press, NPR, PBS, and The Tri-County Times (local paper). They all post links to their full stories; I don't look at comments or retweets, but I do read the articles that interest me. I am frustrated by the repetition, but I imagine most Twitter feeds aren't as bare as mine and the redundancy is less noticeable to most users.

I have apps for two of the local news stations for local news. If the others had apps, I'd use those instead of Twitter.

I also use Twitter to follow my kids' school feeds and the city -- although they post the same and more on Facebook -- and the official Animal Crossing feed.

My other social media is similarly limited with purposeful intent, and while I would miss them, I could easily go without.

Facebook is for my friend's personal photos, updates from the schools and the city, and advertisements for companies I choose to follow. (I always hide unsolicited ads.) On Instagram, I follow yarn stores, crochet designers, and zoos. (I have not figured out how to hide their ads.)

I get scrapbooking and photography updates from emails and a couple of blogs that I follow in Feedly.

It sounds like a lot, all written out, but I check everything except Facebook once each day. (Facebook is a little more often.) I keep all the apps together and review them in the morning as part of my wake up routine.
 
I don't have a tv or listen to the radio or buy newspapers so all of my news comes from online, usually one of two major news sites here in New Zealand or I may have seen a link on Facebook. About the only news I watch like @Mrsdudds is our government press conferences online about COVID.
 
I don't read news on SM and have an add on for FB that blocks all of that stuff for me. I use FB to keep up with family and friends and if they post too much political (either way), they get unfollowed for 30 days. If I want to see that I can go to national media. I used to have various news stations on during the day as background noise but it just got to be too much this last year so I have stopped that totally. My blood pressure thanks me for it.

What I have been doing lately is going to Google News and scanning the headlines. Interesting to see how the different sources try to clickbait you into reading their news. For local news, I will go to the newspaper website in the city 14 miles from us to see what is happening in the area. My local town newspaper has not been worth the price of a subscription for over 20 years and when you go to their website now, you see the message "read more in xxx day's paper". So I look at the obituaries and move on (unfortunately knowing too many people in there these days).

I do follow a couple of local groups on FB for updates on emergency situations in my county (weather related stuff mostly), the local health department on COVID information and vaccine updates and I still watch the twice-a-week COVID press conferences by the governor. Only way to get good information for Ohio since national websites don't know what is actually going on in the state.
 
I have never been much on watching local or national news. I do enjoy having local news, weather information, and other alerts available on social media. I will typically scan headlines/links to determine if it's something I feel is pertinent to my life. Hubby is more of a news watcher/follower, so I've always relied upon him to give me the basics. Even he has reduced the amount of news that he watches and/or reads. He does listen to different podcasts now, so that leads to interesting discussions about day-to-day events and news items.

I would miss Facebook. I connect with family members and friends from over the world. I use it for my business, as well as sharing my creativity. I'm not as active on IG or Twitter. I'm hit or miss on IG and Twitter is just automated.
 
We don't have TV (like Comcast/Xfinity) we only have hotspot TV so our news is limited. I don't like to get my "information" from social media because it is so jaded and one sided. I have to admit that I kind of like living in a bubble. LOL
 
Hubs still gets the newspaper delivered but I never read it. I get the highlights on Apple News and global news online. We watch the local news at least a few days a week before dinner.
 
I get news from NPR, The New York Times, The Washington Post and others I follow online and via podcasts. I haven't subscribed to a newspaper since 2008 or maybe even longer ago.

But since sometime last spring I found Heather Cox Richardson who writes daily summaries of the news with a historical perspective that I have been reading every day ever since. She is fantastic at summarizing current events and it's interesting to read about connections between what's going on today and our history.
I read her summaries on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson
but you can also subscribe to receive emails at https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
 
Oops, almost forgot the second question.

I'm sure you don't mean it literally. I did live for nearly 40 years before social media was invented. :D (Or only 23, depending on how you define social media. I started using Prodigy, one of the first Internet Providers, in 1994 when I was 22. I started using Facebook in 2009 when I was 37.) I'm sure I could still live without it, but I sure would miss it. I don't deny there are negatives about it but we just need to work out how best to make use of it because the positives are so great. Look! We are using social media -- TLP -- to have this discussion. That's just one example of many many many reasons I'm grateful for social media and the Internet.
 
I get my news mainly from updates on my phone with apple and cnn. Sometimes I’ll read the article - usually I won’t. I look up stuff if I hear of something major happening from others but mostly I live in my own world. I tend to get mad and yell at the tv during the news so my husband usually makes me leave the room (hence my byline thanks to the naming fairy).
I could certainly do without social media but I enjoy it and don’t feel I abuse it.
 
I probably get most of my news from Facebook, I find it too depressing to keep abreast of. If something big happens either it will be on my Fb feed or someone will tell me what I need to know. I use Fb as one of my galleries to post creative team layouts too, as well as posting to some groups.
I love to scroll instagram as a mindless time waster. So I would miss that.
Pinterest is another gallery for my layouts and occasionally I will look at keto recipes I have pinned.
I am old school, love my blog reader and use that everyday. Feedly is my friend.
I am sure that I would miss social media - not that I can't walk away for a few days but it has become a regular source of comfort/inspiration/boredom relief for me.
 
I get my news direct. I have email subscriptions to the news sites I follow for flash updates.

As for social media, it's how I connect with people and support groups at the moment, with face to face currently being illegal. Once life gets back to normal I might manage without it, but it would be difficult to start with. I would miss the interaction with international friends that I get from it.
 
i do the same as @KarenB get highlights from different sources on AppleNews - and will click and read more on the things that interest me. no allegiance to any one outlet. sometimes i follow local news after work for a bit.
 
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