When curation and filtering don't work, just step back !

I don't think I'm obsessed with staying current on the news. Not yet. But it is getting increasingly difficult to feed the beast.

A torrent of information, of questionable value
The bulk of the articles, blog posts and  breaking news being churned out every second are pure trash. Breaking news on TV just isn't worth my time. You'd think I'm better off reading about it online or in the newspaper the next morning. But the rot doesn't end with news on TV; the breathless blog posts all over the internet the next day aren't any better. And the line between a blog post and an online news article is already quite blurred. So I'm probably better off reading a weekly.

A degree of separation could be a good thing

Take the flurry on blog posts / (online) news articles that followed Steve Ballmer's decision to resign - beyond the fact that he resigned and wasn't a very successful CEO, they had nothing to offer, not even any speculation worth your while. I'm quite sure I'll read the first thoughtful piece on the topic in about a week.

The more removed you are from the incident, the more clarity you get. And to my delight, there are people out there taking up the challenge - magazines like Tehelka, Caravan have gained a small but clearly defined readership of people fed up with a media environment gone to the dogs.

Step back !

If it's just the headline I want, I'm better off on Twitter. The answer is not tweaking the feeds and filters on Feedly, Flipboard or Currents or whatever you use to 'curate' your news. The answer is to step back.