Skip the News. Read the Analysis.

2026-03-31

When COVID hit, I was glued to the news. Refreshing case counts, reading every hot take, tracking every policy shift. When October 7th happened, it was worse — scrolling Twitter for the accounts that actually had real info, cycling through non-stop WhatsApp groups, some of which turned into sending money and supplies. It felt like I was doing something.

But when I took a hard look, I realized I was doing nothing. The donations were real, but the hours of doom-scrolling weren’t. I wasn’t better informed. I wasn’t making better decisions. I was just anxious — cycling through the same updates repackaged with a new timestamp. The news gave me the feeling of understanding without any of the substance.

So I stopped. What I do instead: I read people who think in systems. People who connect trade policy, energy flows, and alliance structures — and explain why things are moving, not just that they moved. Tanvi Ratna’s piece on the Iran conflict as the climactic chapter in a global reordering is a perfect example. Whether you agree with her framing or not, you walk away with a mental model. You can think about what comes next instead of just reacting to the last headline.

That’s my bar now for what earns my attention: did it give me a better map of the territory? If not, it was entertainment pretending to be information.

What’s in your reading stack that actually changed how you see something? Email me.