It's not my only news source given I work in politics/civics, but HN is what I use for understanding the way the conflict is impacting the Internet on a technical level and the discussions of tech politics. For example, the request to ICANN, discussions on whether or not to cut off Russians' ability to use foreign infrastructure, etc.
It's invaluable for helping me follow this one specific area.
Edit: Also, I would like to say that the idea that 'every place on the Internet has to address every major event' is not really great for anybody who works in a related area. Think of political issues taking over hobby subreddits: I'm literally a civics educator, it's not super fun for me to log in to talk about video games and get greeted with 'if you don't agree with VERY REDUCTIVE BASIC 101 POSITION/don't want to see discussion in these spaces, you're terrible.' I put in almost 40 hours a week and do more than you do, random (likely 16-20 year old) Reddit mod. I don't need your lectures, I need to see crazy ways to break video games.
Like no. It's just that it's like being a math teacher and logging in to see people sharing (often wrong) math test answers in your beer group. You need a break for your own mental health.
I'm starting to get really concerned for the overall mental health of the journalist class + political staffers. The ability to step away from the pressure cooker is integral to maintaining your stability.
Totally agree with this. My work and study involves a fair amount of statistics. Yesterday I got accidentally nerd sniped by some bad date based numerology which I promptly spent 20 minutes angrily demolishing. It would have been nice to not see numerology on my fb feed because I could have put that effort towards something more constructive.
I work in communications for a non-partisan civic/political non-evil organization (Think like the Congressional Research Service or parts of NARA, nothing sexy or cool) and my graduate focus was on filter bubbles/social media algorithms/information policy (back in 2015). I also do front-end/UI/UX work.
There have been multiple times when I've logged into my social media (or my regular media feeds) and felt nauseated. I can just see all the fingerprints everywhere, pushing us this way and that, and I have also seen the effect that it has had on my loved ones over the past 7 years. It's like everything now is covered with this disgusting, vampiric slime that prevents you from making genuine connections with others.
It's invaluable for helping me follow this one specific area.
Edit: Also, I would like to say that the idea that 'every place on the Internet has to address every major event' is not really great for anybody who works in a related area. Think of political issues taking over hobby subreddits: I'm literally a civics educator, it's not super fun for me to log in to talk about video games and get greeted with 'if you don't agree with VERY REDUCTIVE BASIC 101 POSITION/don't want to see discussion in these spaces, you're terrible.' I put in almost 40 hours a week and do more than you do, random (likely 16-20 year old) Reddit mod. I don't need your lectures, I need to see crazy ways to break video games.
Like no. It's just that it's like being a math teacher and logging in to see people sharing (often wrong) math test answers in your beer group. You need a break for your own mental health.
I'm starting to get really concerned for the overall mental health of the journalist class + political staffers. The ability to step away from the pressure cooker is integral to maintaining your stability.