The Rip Van Winkle Project

Making an active effort to keep up with the news is not as important as it seems. Looking back on major events such as the death of Osama Bin Laden, the revolution in Egypt, and the first appearance of Ebola, most important news stories will find their way to people through social media and word of mouth. For this reason, the man who is doing the Rip Van Winkle project’s addiction to the news is not something that one could say is the healthiest addiction. He writes, “Not caring about anything beyond the extent of one’s own front bumper can result in a person who is an egotistical ignoramus and a poor citizen of this representative democracy in which, ideally, all of us participate”(thevanwinkleproject.blogspot.com). Feverishly following every piece of news is not necessarily productive if it causes one to divert too much attention from her own life. Taking more interest in one’s own life and looking out for major national and international events is not the same as “not caring about anything beyond the extent of one’s own front bumper”(thevanwinkleproject.blogspot.com). Rather, paying fair attention to both one’s news and one’s life is like seeing one’s entire car and most of the surrounding road. It is essential to a healthy lifestyle to be self-aware.  For the sake of the health of one’s personal life, no news may be bad but too much news is worse.