I'm especially interested in new historic events and new ideas (including bad ideas). I want to know what people around the world are up to.

The news stories I avoid are human interest stories, local news, and "fluff" pieces. Except when they involve actual fluffy animals, I read those. But generally if something has already happened a million times before, like some murders, an explosion, some pollution, I don't care. Noticing these doesn't make me feel bad, though, unless my time was wasted by clickbait.

Shit happens. A lot of commenters here are saying "if it doesn't affect you, why read about it," but I think that should be understood only as a message for anxious people who are going to feel affected by things they ought to feel blasé about. And often these are stories about the same old grind anyway.

I'm going to flip the message around: "since it doesn't affect me, and I know it, and yet it's globally significant, I'm going to have a cosy time reading about it."

I disapprove of thousands dying in distant wars, but I also expect it as part of normality. But there are people who will get upset by hearing about it. Those people should probably avoid news.