system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: people should stop watching the news

I'm begging someone to change my view because it's making me lose respect for the people I care most about.

The "people" I'm referring to: the people who get home from work and flip on the news (or watch the news with their morning coffee, etc.).  In general, people who watch the news daily/almost daily.

The "news" I'm referring to: national news channels especially (CNN, Fox, MSNBC, etc.), I'm somewhat undecided about local news, but still lean in the direction that people should stop watching it.
Also, when it comes to the national news stations, I believe we shouldn't be reading their articles online either.

My issues with watching the news:

It can be detrimental to people's mental health
-it causes fear, anger, sadness on a daily basis and your feelings aren't channeled productively.  It hurts to learn about these awful situations, but having no way that you could significantly control/help.

You being "aware" of these problems does nothing for anyone unless you are actually going to act, which most people don't.
-"I watch the news because you can't ignore these situations" in my opinion if you're not doing something to help or contribute, you pretty much are ignoring them.

Movements happen online, watching the news "as a people" is not going to be the main driver of change.

There are better ways to get your news rather than funding this oligopoly.  They give you sensationalist news based on their political agenda.  They make people think they care about specific issues that that are really being covered to keep people emotionally invested, and thus coming back to watch more news.

I'm mentally exhausted from a long day, so I'm sorry this isn't more descriptive and that I'm not articulating my thoughts very well.  But I'm hoping you get the gist.  Please change my view!
gpt
While it can be detrimental if you are constantly anxious from constant consumption of news. Not being an informed citizen is worse, a completely uninformed and naïve population is dangerous. The government is ultimately (in the us) accountable to the people. Unchecked, it allows democracy to be eroded (cough, AT&T merger, death of net neutrality, ignoring human rights, cough). Being updated daily is not unreasonable. Any government should not be prioritizing profits for companies over the well-being of the average citizen. Remaining informed as a population helps keep this in check. It may take a while, but it’ll be a lot faster than a population with its head in the sand.

Edit: Biased news is a whole other can of worms... but not getting into that now.