Getting heated is bad for the heart, after all. But I’ve always had the belief that the worst thing you can be in this world is consciously uninformed, so I wanna stay in the loop.
My approach is gray rocking. I posted something on Mastodon and got reply from someone I knew was looking to argue with me by what he wrote. I just shut it by just replying, “yeah, sure, whatever you say.” Super dismissive, but letting it go in case he replies to that I can just keep replying, whatever you say.
Some people talk, some people listen.
Those who talk generally don’t listen.
I don’t really get the question. To stay informed you just have to read/watch. To get into an argument you’d have to get into a conversation with someone.
It’s very easy to watch TV or read a newspaper without getting into an argument with it.
Listen to experts. Stay off of social media. Get used to visualizing the average commenter on anything as a middle schooler. Talk to your friends about important topics. Learn how to vet sources. Challenge your beliefs. Recognize what cognitive dissonance feels like to you and seek it out. Focus on things that matter to your life. Read all the way through articles.
Don’t try to chase breaking news, but focus more on analysis that steps back and looks at the situation. For instance, I read the Economist because it only publishes once a week and it provides more in depth discussion of issues.
