Who needs news?

I canceled my newspaper subscription today. I started it a year ago, and had really enjoyed being a digital subscriber of De Volkskrant. Until about a month ago, when they suddenly cut me off from a part of their content. Wasn’t too happy about that. But I discovered I didn’t need that part that much and continued to read their articles everyday. I was more or less happy with my digital newspaper again.

Until today, when they decided to increase my subscription price by 70%. Again, out of the blue. And again, I was not amused. I get that prices of everything are going up, but 70%? When I called customer service, their explanation was that I had enjoyed a big discount as a new subscriber for the first year, but now I was going to have to pay the regular price.

They offered me a new, smaller discount, if I would pay for the next year all at once. I briefly considered it, but decided to cancel my subscription instead. In two days, I’ll no longer have access to De Volkskrant. Which is really too bad, because it’s a good newspaper and I have been reading their content multiple times a day, every day.

But that’s also why I decided to cancel it.

I realized I have been consuming news too much. Lately I’ve been checking the Volkskrant app, mostly for the saking of checking it. As a reflex. And let’s face it, 90% of all news is bad news. It doesn’t make me feel good. So I’m going to take this opportunity to quit reading the news altogether. No more Volkskrant, and no other news websites.

I did it once before, a few years ago. From one day to the next, I simply stopped visiting news sites. In fact, I quit checking social media as well. I didn’t miss it. I felt freed! I started reading more books and didn’t feel the weight of the world on my shoulders.

Until the pandemic hit. Suddenly it was simply impossible not wanting to know what was happening in the world. And it feels like in the past 2 years, more world-changing events have happened than in the decade before it. Covid, BLM, Climate Change, Ukraine.

So it feels weird to quit the news. Especially now. But I’m going to try.

The good news? More time to write.