While waiting a long time for our beef brisket sandwich, I was too exhausted to make conversation with my big hot date, so I started flipping through my Flipboard app. He peered my way and asked what I was looking at.
These days few of us have the luxury of sitting around a dining room table and listening to the nightly news for half an hour. The only chance I get to read my local rag is whenever there is a free one at my local café or library, or in the workplace. I flick to the sections that interest me, and then skim the headlines for anything of personal relevance.
While at an influencers diner event my neighbours admitted they had stopped watching the regular news and spent more time on YouTube watching videos. I’ve also moved from watching the 6 o’clock news on the telly to checking the ABC news and BBC news websites.
I cringe whenever I get sucked into the classic click-bait headings of mainstream news websites. Doomscrolling through bad news just leads to depressed thoughts and anxiety. I don’t think it’s healthy for society and reader’s mental health to continuously and repeatedly read online content based on the motto of ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ or gossip that is unfounded and untrue.
I’m comfortable never buying and reading another paper print Vogue magazine again – I can’t realistically afford the clothes anyhow. Many of my neighbours and friends have accepted the fact that they may never own the standard advertisers ‘Great Australian Dream’ of a brick house with a white picket fence, because the economy has hit a recession and real jobs are scarce.
Old-school commercial television is so fake and manipulative – the programs and advertising are inherently designed to make you feel depressed and inadequate and want to buy stuff. The younger generations understand this and that’s why they switch it off and turn to alternative news sources.
The Flipboard website and app fills in this news gap nicely. You can customize the news you want to read into bite-size moments. I can check it on the commute to work and at the start of my lunch break. At night, I can check the app just before settling into a documentary, Netflix or a streaming show.
The news is a curated collection of articles from reputable sources that meet journalistic standards.
Did you know that Flipboard has over 100 million monthly active users spanning every country and all age groups with an even gender split?
The app is easy to use. The user interface is elegant and well designed. The best feature of the Flipboard app is being able to select 9 interests and passions. I like to refresh my interests every couple of months to ensure that I’m not creating an ‘echo chamber’ and to ensure I’m reading new material and considering alternatives points of view.
I don’t feel like I miss out on any major news. If it was important, then it will be repeated or it will usually come up in a face-to-face conversation during the week.
Highly recommended.
About Flipboard
Flipboard is the world’s largest content curation platform. Powered by people and technology, Flipboard makes it easy to stay informed and get inspired by the stories and products that fuel your passion.
Flipboard presents relevant stories from over 4,000 world-class publishers within a gorgeous user interface. https://flipboard.com/
