IN the old days news was the assassination of JFK or a big war, not a burger with slightly different sauce at McDonald’s. Here’s what to avoid to prevent your brain turning to sludge.
Some bullshit or other on Twitter
Twitter is ideal for people who love a good moan about finding too much soil in the bag of potatoes they bought. Which is up to them, but do we need a news story about it? Also avoid stories about furious JK Rowling-type Twitter rows. The Guardian will not be giving you those hours of your life back.
ICYMI
For those not hip to this clunky young person’s term, it means ‘in case you missed it’. Or: ‘This story got a lot of hits yesterday and we’re struggling today so here is some old news presented as new news’. It probably also means ‘Yes, we think our readers are idiots’.
Readers react
A whole article consisting entirely of Facebook comments and Tweets about a news story from a few days ago, opening up the possibility of readers reacting to readers’ reactions and so on in an infinite loop until the fabric of time and space is ripped open forever.
Celebrities wearing clothes or very few clothes
Who’d have thought a female celebrity might wear a nice dress? And there’s a Z-list soap star wearing a bikini on the beach, not a suit of armour as you might expect. What’s weird is not only that anyone cares that Hugh Jackman dresses casually while popping out for some croissants, but there isn’t exactly a shortage of other news right now.
Anything with a headline that includes the word ‘revealed’
You will click. The article will not be what you think. A little piece of you will die inside. Do this too often and you will turn into a jaded nihilist who believes everything is worthless and disappointing.
