In this series Oliver Burkeman argues that not only is the way we've come to consume news bad for us, it actually distorts our ability to be informed, hindering society rather than enabling it. Through our preoccupation with the news we might ultimately contribute to making the world worse!

But how did we get here? In this episode we explore the problem of how we became addicted to the news and why it's so bad for us. Starting with the origins of the modern concept of news tracing its evolution through the ‘penny press’ of 19th century New York to 24-hour rolling news to social media and ultimately to Donald Trump, daily COVID briefings and the war in Ukraine. Show less