Quick way to keep up with current events when avoiding the news?

December 17, 2017 6:49 AM

For the sake of my sanity, I've been avoiding the news sites and sources that I used to read/watch/listen to (even comedy like the Daily Show). This has been good for me (and I tend to hear about things from the people around me or through my work anyway). However, I'm also finding myself in the position sometimes of not knowing about important current events and I want to have at least an overview of what's going on to avoid "nodding along" in casual conversations...

Are there any good sources you recommend where one can quickly get a summary of what has happened that day? Maybe something like "The week in 60 seconds" from The Week, but a little longer, or something that is created every day?

posted by Bluebird Wine to Society & Culture (14 answers total)

Maybe The Skimm? Their tone is sometimes too try-hard and jokey for me, but it includes quick summaries of important news and also pop culture stuff. It’s free, although it includes some ads.
posted by itsamermaid at 6:53 AM on December 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

Axios
posted by Nelson at 6:58 AM on December 17, 2017

If you’re looking for American content, and aren’t a Trump suporter, whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com gives pretty concise synopses of news stories.
posted by Edna Million at 6:58 AM on December 17, 2017 [10 favorites]

I downloaded the Reuters app, and I skim the headlines once a day. If there’s something particularly “whoa,” I’ll go ahead and click into the article, but I mainly stay with the headlines.
posted by functionequalsform at 6:58 AM on December 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

The Economist has an app called Espresso that will give you a daily news briefing.
posted by gennessee at 7:05 AM on December 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

BBC news is good for world news and has enough US news to keep track of events but with a certain remove that puts it in perspective. It also has separate pages for science, medicine, tech, business and entertainment. It has too many trivial videos and irrelevant stock photos but it's worth looking at for leads to important stories.
posted by Botanizer at 7:43 AM on December 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

The New York Times' Morning/Evening briefing emails are really good for this. You can just skim the headline/summaries in the email and you'll get enough to know what's going on without having to subject yourself to unnecessary stress.
posted by nightrecordings at 7:50 AM on December 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

I subscribe to both The Skimm and NextDraft. I find NextDraft has more news than The Skimm -- NextDraft summarizes it and then link to more detail if you want it. The NY Times' briefings are also good and link to NY Times articles
posted by elmay at 7:55 AM on December 17, 2017 [1 favorite]

I also use What the fuck just happened today when I'm in "mental Heath ostrich" mode. Pretty legit breakdown, usually.
posted by furnace.heart at 7:59 AM on December 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

The Wikipedia current events portal is good for skimming the past 24, 48 and 72 hours. It's pretty neutral in tone, with a slight US/technology bias because of the average Wikipedian's profile, but it's a good quick look.
posted by Happy Dave at 8:40 AM on December 17, 2017 [2 favorites]

Do you like podcasts? The New York Times, Washington Post and NPR all have short daily news podcasts. This one from NPR sounds like what you want -- an overview of all the big stories in 10 minutes.
posted by AppleTurnover at 9:52 AM on December 17, 2017

Something that's created every day, you say? If mostly politics news is what you're after, look no farther than the amazing daily newsletter from MeFi's own Phire:

Fight Fire With Phire is a weekday newsletter for the politically overwhelmed. Each email covers one new(ish) topic, one ongoing topic, one issue to think about, one action item for making the world a better a place, and one thing to make you laugh.

If politics news isn't your sole focus, or you don't want to be so North America centric, I very much enjoy the BBC Newshour whenever I happen to be driving home really late at night. But it does definitely remind you of just how many crises are happening around the world simultaneously vs whatever we're obsessing over here in the U.S., so YMMV.

Finally, as a Twitter user, I also like Nuzzel for an automated, low-investment rollup of everything people I follow on Twitter are linking to lately.
posted by deludingmyself at 10:06 AM on December 17, 2017 [3 favorites]

The Guardian does a morning briefing which does the job for me. It comes into my inbox every morning. This link also includes previous briefings so you can see if it's to your taste and covers the topics you're interested in. I think it's great.
posted by Ziggy500 at 12:44 PM on December 17, 2017

PLEASE buy your local newspaper. Local news likely won't wear you down and it's SO critical to the country that print journalism at the local level survives.
posted by KazamaSmokers at 9:21 PM on December 17, 2017 [4 favorites]