I Heart the Newspaper

Yes, I read a physical newspaper. I get the paper delivered Monday - Saturday and I read each edition. Yes, I’m a millennial. Yes, I don’t know anyone else my age who does this. 

I’m in mixed company. Nasim Taleb famously hates newspapers (and journalists). Warren Buffet famously reads multiple papers every day. So what’s my rationale?

I’ve written before about my media diet and my preference to limit my inputs.

I want to avoid noise if at all possible so that I can spend my mental energy on productive tasks, like deep thinking and synthesis. The newspaper is one area where I strategically add noise to my day. 

Hindsight is relatively easy, but sifting through daily headlines, often sensational, and actively thinking about how the day’s events fit into the big picture is a practice I value. It’s not different from the inputs and noise a leader gets every day. We have to decide what to listen to, and then what to act on and how all while avoiding what appears to be a knee-jerk reaction. 

I’ve written before about the serendipity involved in paper newspapers. I find the exercise of flipping through, page by page, to be a relatively brief investment in passive learning across a variety of subjects. I would never choose the Science section, but I make a point to flip through and absorb what’s going on even though it may not be directly applicable to my day job. If nothing else, my familiarly with Voyager 2 will be enough to get a science-enthusiast talking at a future networking event. 

I enjoy reading the business section, of course, and trying to consider everything through a longer time lens. I look for signs of cyclicality - what have I seen before? What do I think their next move will be? 

I’ll be honest: I don’t always read the paper the day it arrives, but I always play catch up. I never cease to find an interesting tidbit during those catch-up sessions, which reinforces the habit. 

How do you get your news?