The Mute Way to Knowledge

I am an “early riser” and start my day at 5:00 am or 6:00 am.

I can do a lot of writing in these early hours and when I was a college teacher I preferred to teach in the afternoon hours, as I told my colleagues, “when I was sleepy.”

As a trained political scientist I want to understand what is happening in politics and I discover that CNN has good news reporting starting at 5:00 am. In fifteen to thirty minutes I can learn about the top three or four political events or issues of the day and for the remainder of the day not watch any more biased reporting at MSNBC or CNN.

I have also learned to rely on the “Mute” button to shut out stories that offend me or the series of commercials that seem interminable from Joe Namath to a variety of pharmaceuticals for maladies I never knew existed to attorneys now chasing clients from cable TV.

I can click “Mute” and view only what I need to know in order to stay informed.