Yup. National and world news is mostly a spectacle that lets us feel engaged even when there’s almost nothing of consequence gained from our rapt, immediate attention. If we get meaningfully involved at all, the extent of our consequential involvement is usually captured in a vote or a donation, and it usually takes all of a late minute’s briefing to catch up enough on a news item to hone in on how we’d proceed with those.

The easiest way to disengage is to humbly admit that you’re not important enough to matter very much to almost any issue on that stage, and that the people who do matter probably spend less time soaking up coverage about it than you do.

If you want to be anxious or have enthralling dinner party conversations about big events, by all means keep up your hobby. There’s sincerely nothing any more wrong with it than any other idle hobby.

But if you think the news is important and that your attention is a resource to invest in things that matter, look to the news from your family, your friends, and your community.