Blackout: 156 Days Without the News

Breaking the Spell

“To be normal in a sick society is no measure of health.”

— Jiddu Krishnamurti

In November, a friend and I realized we were suffocating.

Our attention was being hijacked by politics and drama.

We were spinning our wheels debating issues we had no ability to impact.

Our lives no longer felt like ours.

So I asked him:

What if we gave up the news and social media — and just read books instead?

He said okay, 5 months, cold turkey.

No news. No social feeds. No podcasts.

People panicked for me:

• “Your business will fall apart”
• “You’ll be exiled”
• “Society will crumble without you”

Withdrawal

“We rushed to build a telegraph from Maine to Texas. But maybe Maine and Texas had nothing important to say to each other”

— Henry David Thoreau

The first two weeks were tough.

FOMO. Guilt. Worry I’d get blindsided.

I filled pages with questions to research after the challenge.

And then, I stopped wondering.

I called friends. I spent more time reading.

I felt less reactive, more creative, more… there.

It felt like cutting out a food that had been making me sick.

And when I was exposed to it? I noticed how toxic it was.

Momentum

“Nothing happens until something moves.”

— Albert Einstein

Instead of losing touch with reality or my business falling apart, I

• Took a new AI product from idea to profitability
• 5x’d revenue in the last 2 months
• Read 34 books
• Felt more connected to friends and family than I have in years

Guardrails

“If you don’t want to slip, don’t go where it’s slippery.”

— A.A.

The news is everywhere.

Avoiding the news isn’t just a matter of willpower — it’s a design problem.

Like removing junk food from the house — you don’t have to fight cravings when the stuff isn’t there.

We set up guardrails, such as:

• 🔒 Freedom: An app that blocks distracting websites.
• 🔒 Undistracted: A Chrome extension that hides feeds and recommendations.
• 🔒 Clearspace: Adds a delay before being able to open distracting apps.
• ❌ Deleted social & news apps from our phones.
• 📨 Unsubscribed from newsletters.
• 🔴 Red light filter: Makes phone less addictive.

Costs

We suffer more in imagination than in reality.

— Seneca

There were some.

• An eerie, post-apocalyptic vibe. (“Why is it so quiet? What am I missing?”)
• I did miss important things. What’s uncomfortable is I don’t know what they were
• Looking “out of touch.” (This was overblown — people loved hearing about the blackout)

Important updates still found me — through friends, co-workers, strangers.

For example: a tsunami near me, product recommendations, policy changes that will impact me, a family member in the hospital.

And the bad things? They’d happen regardless of whether I was watching.

The Outrage Machine

“The news creates a loop of impotence: opinions you can do nothing with, about things you can do nothing about.”

— Neil Postman

The news is a drug. And it’s socially unacceptable not to take it.

Pundits have mastered the tone and cadence that sends us spiraling — and profit from it.

The problem isn’t entertainment.

It’s entertainment sold as urgency. As civic duty. As identity.

A few weeks into the blackout, it hit me:

On my deathbed, I will not regret missing a news cycle.

I will regret spending my days reacting to things I can’t change.

Crossing Back

“Rituals are the formulas by which harmony is restored.”

— Terry Tempest Williams

Hell’s Kitchen. Easter Sunday. Hooded.

Mike singing hymns and sharing a sermon.

Nancy rocking out on the piano.

We danced. We did yoga. We watched Crazy Frog (twice).

Afterwards, over lunch, we realized we could check the news again.

But neither of us wanted to.

It felt like checking the bus schedule… for a city we didn’t live in anymore.

Emergence

“I’ve been asked to eat a feast I already buried.”

— Anonymous, written on a wall, NYC

We planned to spend the final 24 hours reintroducing the news.

I had a list. Hundreds of questions and topics to catch up on.

But when the moment came? I couldn’t do it.

Not a single question felt worth looking into.

Not tempting — nauseating.

Attention

“You are what you pay attention to.”

— Cal Newport

My bar for news is now:

“Will knowing this change how I act today—or this week?”

Almost all news fails this test.

Instead, I want to give my attention to:

• Reading and experiencing great works of art
• Building AI products & bringing people together
• Spending time in nature
• Deepening bonds with friends and family

After the Noise

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”

— Simone Weil

Along the way, I started seeing this not as a challenge — but an identity shift:

I’m not someone who follows the news.

Being a good citizen doesn’t mean being constantly informed.

It means doing meaningful work, loving the people around you, and showing up when you can make a difference.

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