Rot is no good, sounds like a relief you got rid of that and a productive week overall!

Yeah, sensory overwhelm is definitely a thing; I’m pretty sensitive to light in my bedroom overnight, and then when I wake up I forget to draw up the blinds to let light in (and stop mould etc.). Huge draw on my spoons but it’s also what I need to do to stay functional.

I’ve heard a lot about habits and mentions of that book too! I found an article about his four laws – make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying (ctrl+f to jump down to it) and the cues/cravings responsive/rewarding cycle, which kinda makes me want to look into it in more detail too. I hope the book was useful!

I made a similar move a few years ago - none of the for-profit newspapers, and like you said, a stronger preference for national broadcasters who don’t have to worry about revenue directly from the populace (even if they are funded by public taxes), and a lesser dependence on advertising. I’m not even from the US and signed up for the NPR newsletters because they were so good and interesting!

I can’t help but feel you’re correct that clickbait is leading to a decline in the quality of things-that-I-read. In my opinion, it’s the manifestation of capitalism in communication and socialization and feels like such a terrible problem. Money may make the world go round – but it is clear that it doesn’t always do it in a sustainable way. I do what I can (with contributions to the DeArrow extension for YouTube for example) to stay focused on mitigating it, but I feel like I’ll have to do more in the future.