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Bad News Overload? News Avoidance On The Rise
These days more than ever, it often feels like there’s no end to bad news.
In the age of social media and constant exposure to news, doom scrolling can take a heavy toll on people’s mental wellbeing.
As a consequence, more and more people actively try to avoid the news or at least limit their exposure to it.
As Statista's Felix Richter shows in the chart below, according to the Reuters Institute’s latest Digital News Report, an average of 42 percent of respondents from 48 countries included in the survey said that they sometimes or often actively avoid the news, a significant increase from 29 percent in 2017, when the question was first asked.
You will find more infographics at Statista
Selective news avoidance, as the Reuters Institute calls it, became significantly more widespread across all markets in recent years, with half of all respondents from the United Kingdom and 45 percent of U.S. respondents making an effort to reduce their news intake.
The Reuters Institute finds that news avoidance is often linked with low trust in the news and that there are generally two types of news avoiders: consistent avoiders who typically have low education levels and little to no interest in the news; and selective avoiders who struggle with news overload and try to insulated themselves from certain topic to protect their mental wellbeing.
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Waste Of The Day: Town Manager's Snacking Spree
Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations,
Topline: Michael Boaz, the former town manager of Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, made hundreds of unauthorized purchases on his city credit card from 2022 to 2024, including bullets and a hotel for his family vacation, according to a state audit released in May.
Boaz was fired in 2024 when the allegations first came to light. Now that a state audit confirmed the questionable purchases, he has been indicted for felony embezzlement.
Key facts: Boaz' questionable purchases totaled $18,426, much of which was spent on food. He spent $12,897 at pizzerias, barbecue restaurants, an oyster bar, Chili's, Jersey Mike's Subs and many more. He also placed 34 DoorDash orders for $1,576.
Boaz bought $2,300 worth of other items, including ammunition, a massage and a hotel for a family vacation.
Credit card records show Boaz claimed the purchases were for work meetings, but he did not provide documentation and could not remember who attended the alleged meetings, according to the audit.
All checks and balances were ignored. The town's finance officer paid Boaz' credit card bill without reviewing the transactions, and the town's board of commissioners failed to review credit card statements even though the town's credit card policy requires them to do so.
Boaz was also paid $37,936 in unused vacation leave when he resigned in 2024. The audit found that $12,804 of that payout was improper.
Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world's largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com.
Background: Pilot Mountain, population 1,500, is located about 30 miles northwest of Winston-Salem. Boaz was hired as town manager in 2019 and earned $108,000 in 2024, records show.
Summary: The town of Pilot Mountain paid for thousands of dollars in meals, bullets and travel that auditors say had no legitimate public purpose. The town also failed to follow basic oversight rules that could have prevented or caught the spending earlier.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
Tyler Durden Thu, 06/18/2026 - 19:15