Growing up, most parents worry about their children’s sugar intake, so they limit sugar to specific times, usually after dinner. Biting into a shiny, snappy square of chocolate or devouring a freshly baked cookie is a satisfying moment after a long day. As kids get older, they gain more control over their diets. Chasing that satisfaction, they gravitate towards sweet foods. Soon, they drink sugary coffee and eat muffins daily, barely tasting the sugar. The sugar consumption has diminishing marginal returns — the additional satisfaction of consuming more sugar decreases each time a person adds more to their diet.
The most obvious area of diminishing returns in this age is related to information. So much is available, all the time. However, information presented unasked for presents no value. And, when it comes to news, companies are incentivized to pump out as much content as possible, which is contrary to the reader’s best interest. For example, politics are complicated and slow. Politicians and lawyers’ jobs are to read and understand laws and procedures. As representatives of their people, it is their sole job to act and make decisions in those people’s best interests. Regular people should trust their representatives to make those decisions, but news organizations are incentivized to pump out content that catastrophizes the daily workings of the government. Keeping up with every congressional hearing, every minute decision, is a task that is both unnecessary and actively harmful to one’s well-being because of the added stress and mental load. This is not to say that people should not pay attention to the news, but that the news sources should be more selective about what to report. When every headline is sensationalized and overblown compared to the real impact of the event, people become numb to the news, which lessens the impact of the real, important events.
In addition, local news is declining. The real news that impacts a person’s day-to-day life should not be hard to come by, compared to the plethora of national news, the impact of which is lesser on a person’s life. Over 50 million Americans live with limited or no access to local news, according to Northwestern’s Local News Initiative. These “news deserts” are largely due to the rise of online news sources and changes in monetization models. Additionally, newspapers that are left today are profoundly different from newspapers of the past, where, because of the consolidation and closing of many papers, local papers are forced to cover a wider area, reducing their usefulness as sources of local news.
Additionally, printing has become less frequent. As of 2025, there are fewer than one thousand daily newspapers left in the US, a 40% reduction from 2005. In a fast-paced world, where people have come to expect constant access to information, the loss of daily papers will only accelerate the decline of local news and increase people’s reliance on social media and national news as alternatives. This is problematic because these sources are often echo chambers, politically charged. When they do report local stories, it is always with a national angle in mind. These sources will never spend enough time and care reporting on a local area, because, having national audiences, they know it is not profitable.
Overall, a fast news cycle and a focus on national headlines over the real local news that directly affects people is a symptom of capitalism. News organizations will never act in the best interests of the people unless it is profitable. Accountability, public service and watchdog reporting that is transparent and accountable is necessary for civic engagement and a decrease in polarization.
