We keep checking the news, but rarely question why we do it. We browse the headlines before bed and crave a fix before our morning coffee, even knowing that most of what we’ll get is bad—death, war, scandal, corruption—and that it’s unlikely to help us understand complex issues fully. Why do we find ourselves uplifted by tales of disaster, fixated on the love lives of celebrities, entertained by disgraced politicians, and bored by upheavals in far-off lands? Philosopher Alain de Botton, author of The News: A User’s Manual, visits Zócalo to discuss what the news is doing to our brains, our souls, and our views of one another—and to bring a measure of sanity to our news-addicted age.
Books will be available through The Getty.
The Takeaway
News Is the New Religion
Philosopher Alain de Botton Wants News Junkies to Consider What Their Fix Is Doing to Them
We’re obsessed with the news. Most of us check the headlines on our mobile devices up to eight times a day. But at a Zócalo/Getty Center event, philosopher Alain de …