As a self-described news junkie I think the thing I’ve been missing the least from home is the news. Due to the lack of consistent TV and internet access at times, I am no longer available to the 24/7 cable news bombardment. The little exposure I do get now makes me feel like one of those kids that has a seizure from watching a Japanimation cartoon.

Anything that has been truly newsworthy I usually get e-mailed about from friends. This probably happens less than weekly, and a majority of it is usually from my dad about cool new gadgets (that I strain to not blow my deployment earnings on).

I challenge anyone else who is a card-carrying member of the Society of Professional Journalists, or who acts like one, to limit their news uptake to once a week. It is a liberating experience. I’m talking dreaming that you’re walking around high school in the nude only to realize it’s not a dream but you still don’t care, liberating.

Is the oil spill in the Gulf terrible? Sure. But is that constantly newsworthy? No. But our networks make it newsworthy. What’s interesting or important is no longer that the Gulf of Mexico gets 150 MPGs, but Obama’s handling/mishandling of BP.

Who the EFF really cares? You shouldn’t. Someone should, but not everyone every day. By not reading my usual 2-3 hours of news a day, I read The Iliad. In a week. On my Sony Reader that’s over 800 pages! I’ve also read more than a handful of other books.

Now I’ll be honest, one of the things I do miss the most is my daily cruise to work with NPRs Morning Edition. Despite it being National Public Radio, it is some of the most balanced and comprehensive news you can digest. What do you miss by trying to keep up with the cable news cycle? Time spent being a productive member of society. Seriously, my once-a-week news experiment left me out of the loop on NOTHING. Oil was still leaking, only slightly faster than Congress, I was still fighting in a war that barely has a budget, and the Cubs still sucked (okay, didn’t have to read that page for a century, let alone a week…love you mom!).

I did read a new study that found compelling evidence that our constant access to information, which has been thought to increase our multitasking abilities, has actually hurt not only our multitasking abilities, but our regular ‘ole single tasking. (Remember that one? Doing one thing, well, until it was done, before checking your facebook messages?)

People are no longer processing. We are becoming regurgitators. In my college journalism classes we used to have pop current events quizzes. Unless you are being tested on the daily beast appetite, I suggest limiting your news uptake. We need more people reading comprehensively, thinking critically, and having people who listen well.

I’ve already deemed this generation “The American Idol Gen,” who doesn’t vote on anything they can’t text in, or read anything that is longer than 160 characters. We now consider people “well read” who can wikiquote a facebook status and name the last three “Biggest Loser” winners. We need a current crop of modern philosophers. We need a generation of people who know education isn’t something people used to die for – it’s something people who know its worth are still dying for.

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