News Intake As A Contact Sport
Once upon a time, staying informed meant reading a newspaper. One. Singular. It arrived in the morning like a polite guest, delivered its facts, maybe offended you once on page 12, and then left. You could physically complete the news. Fold it. Stack it. Use it to swat a fly. Democracy was tidy.
Now the news is not something you read. It is something that happens to you.
When Information Attacks: The Modern News Experience
Information no longer arrives. It lunges.
Alerts vibrate like medical devices malfunctioning. Headlines scream in all caps, even when the story is about a parish council meeting. Push notifications whisper urgently, like a mate who says, “You’re gonna want to sit down” whilst you are already doing seventy on the motorway and emotionally seated since Brexit.
Every story is BREAKING. Even the corrections are BREAKING. Especially the corrections to the corrections.
You do not consume the news anymore. You absorb it through blunt force trauma.
The Helmet Era Of Awareness
Modern citizens require protective gear. Emotional mouthguards. Cognitive knee pads. A helmet rated for repeated exposure to phrases like “sources say,” “developing situation,” and “this changes everything.”
You wake up intending to glance at one headline and accidentally read twelve, each contradicting the last, all labelled “explainer.” You now need an explainer for the explainers. A flowchart. A therapist.
The news cycle has become a full-contact sport where the objective is unclear but the injuries are very real. Whiplash is common. Concussions of certainty happen daily.
Experts call this “engagement.”
Push Notifications As Emotional Home Invasions
The phone buzzes. You do not check it calmly. No one checks a buzzing phone calmly anymore. A buzzing phone means something is wrong somewhere, possibly everywhere, and you are late to having an opinion about it.
The alert does not say what happened. It says something happened. Click now or remain morally suspect.
You click. The article begins with three paragraphs of context, two historical references, and a sentence that says, “The situation remains fluid,” which is journalism for “We will absolutely change this later.”
By the time you finish reading, there are five new alerts explaining why the first alert was misleading.
You are now both informed and incorrect.
The Sit Down Economy
“You’re gonna want to sit down” has become the default tone of all information, even when the content does not warrant sitting, kneeling, or lying in the foetal position.
Stock market fluctuates? Sit down. Celebrity tweets something vague? Sit down. Weather exists? Sit down and reflect on your carbon footprint.
There is no standing position for modern awareness. You are either seated, bracing, or already recovering.
Sanity Is Now A Subscription Tier
There was a time when ignorance was frowned upon. Now it is aspirational.
“I don’t follow the news” is no longer a confession. It is a wellness flex.
People say it with the same pride others reserve for cold plunges or sourdough starters. They glow. Their skin is clear. Their blood pressure knows peace.
Meanwhile, the informed citizen refreshes, scrolls, absorbs, reacts, regrets reacting, and refreshes again. They are well-informed and deeply unwell.
The Final Impact
The irony is cruel but efficient: the more you try to stay sane, the less informed you feel. The more informed you become, the less sane you appear to everyone who wisely logged off.
The news is no longer a mirror of reality. It is a treadmill with opinions attached. You can run forever and never arrive, but you will absolutely get hurt.
So buckle up. Stretch first. Hydrate.
The whistle has blown.
And the headlines are charging.
Auf Wiedersehen, amigo!
Alan Nafzger was born in Lubbock, Texas, the son Swiss immigrants. He grew up on a dairy in Windthorst, north central Texas. He earned degrees from Midwestern State University (B.A. 1985) and Texas State University (M.A. 1987). University College Dublin (Ph.D. 1991). Dr. Nafzger has entertained and educated young people in Texas colleges for 37 years. Nafzger is best known for his dark novels and experimental screenwriting. His best know scripts to date are Lenin’s Body, produced in Russia by A-Media and Sea and Sky produced in The Philippines in the Tagalog language. In 1986, Nafzger wrote the iconic feminist western novel, Gina of Quitaque. Contact: editor@prat.uk
