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Why it matters: Participating in life, and your community, means staying informed.

To be clear, we get it.

As journalists whose work involves being immersed in news every day, we know how “bad news” weighs heavily. Political divisiveness, climate change, mental health crisis, drug epidemics, housing shortages — the negative list seems to have no end.

That being said, avoiding news is not the solution. That appears to be the recent behavior of more of the U.S. population these days. Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism asks people about their news consumption habits. Its most recent survey reveals 38% of U.S. respondents say they sometimes or often avoid news.

Just as telling, according to a Washington Post story about the survey results, is that the proportion of people in the U.S. who are “extremely” or “very interested” in the news keeps dropping. This group was in the minority at 49% for the first time in the survey’s history, down from 67% when the survey began in 2015.

Making choices about how much news you focus on is certainly a logical strategy to avoid a bad news overdose. Technology constantly bombards us with bits and pieces of news everywhere all of the time. And the nature of news, of course, is to report when something goes wrong. It can be overwhelming. But withdrawing completely from being informed about what’s going on in the world and your own community will get us nowhere.

A way to tamp down the barrage of information is to be more selective, relying on reputable, credible sources. Of course, we think newspapers are the best choice because that’s what we do, but also because of the historical track record of newspaper reporters being trained as government watchdogs and developing sources.

It’s also up to professional news organizations to keep telling the positive stories about our communities and helping to determine solutions when doing in-depth reporting on problems.

Being informed is the job of all adults. That’s how we learn to make decisions, choose political candidates, spend money and vote. Burying our heads in the sand like ostriches won’t stop the rest of the world from running by. It’s best to know what’s going on around you and be part of it.

— Mankato Free Press, Aug. 7