This article is about using a linux command-line tool called Newsbeuter1 to automatically download and archive the latest news headlines from chosen websites at regular intervals. I have found that this reduces my anxiety about not being up-to-date on current affairs because it is possible interrogate this archive systematically, even after long periods of not reading the news.
I have always been a bit of a news junkie but the suspense around the current political situation in the UK has taken this addiction to a completely new level. The problem is that while the headlines are coming in at a fast enough pace to feed this addiction, reading each of them makes me progressively unhappier. I have realised that in the back of my mind I must be worried that I will miss some crucial piece of information that will help me make sense of the situation, or perhaps make the future more predictable.
This is a classic case of the fear of missing out, or FOMO. Media organisations thrive on this compulsive news-reading behaviour for generating visitor traffic and advertising revenue, and encourage it with the frequent use of clickbait and alarmist terms in their headlines, and striking elements of web design that evoke a sense of urgency.