News Abstinence Benefits
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Shaan Puri and Sam Parr discuss their evolving perspective on news consumption, shifting from feeling obligated to stay informed to deliberately avoiding news for mental well-being and productivity.
Key Points:
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Personal Experience with News Abstinence:
- Shaan completely abstains from news apps and news-focused social accounts
- Initially felt ashamed about not following news
- News tends to "brute force" its way into awareness anyway for major events
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Mental Health Benefits:
- Avoiding news reduces mental exhaustion
- Current events are particularly draining
- Books preferred as entertainment/information source over news scrolling
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Philosophy Behind News Abstinence:
- Focus on "governing yourself" before worrying about broader governance
- Being a good citizen doesn't require constant news consumption
- Local impact (helping people in daily life) more valuable than being updated on distant events
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Input Control Philosophy:
- Most underrated life skill is controlling your inputs:
- Food you consume
- Information you absorb
- People you allow in your life
- Problems you choose to make your own
- Most underrated life skill is controlling your inputs:
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Practical Implementation:
- No news apps on phone
- Don't follow news-focused social accounts
- Allow major news to filter through naturally via conversation
- Focus energy on local community impact instead of distant events
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Perspective Shift:
- Sam initially criticized Shaan for not being a "good citizen" by avoiding news
- Later reversed position, realizing most news isn't important
- Found greater value in focusing on personal development and local impact
This approach represents a deliberate choice to prioritize mental health and local impact over constant news consumption, challenging traditional notions of civic duty and information consumption.
Sam Parr
Host of MFM and fitness influencer
Sam Parr is a serial entrepreneur and business media pioneer.
In 2016, he founded The Hustle, a business news media company that started in his kitchen with just $12 and grew to eight figures in revenue.
Sam led the charge in making newsletters popular when few believed in their potential.
After four successful years, he sold The Hustle to HubSpot, a publicly traded company. Now operating as HubSpot Media, The Hustle reaches 3 million readers daily, employs a team of nearly 100, and has been the launchpad for dozens of its staff to found their own media companies and newsletters.
Sam remains the host of the popular business podcast, My First Million, and continues to start and sell companies. He also co-founded Hampton, a highly vetted community for entrepreneurs, founders, and CEOs, and teaches people to write better through his platform, Copy That.