During the last ‘election summer’ things went haywire but ultimately nothing meaningful really happened, and not a whole lot really changed as a result of that unrest. This time things are going haywire again, and it seems like something big will happen but people thought that the last time… Would it just be better to ignore everything and go work on yourself, your skills, etc. or consume whatever thing is going on? The constant fear that’s being pushed is so emotionally exhausting… I’m finding it harder to care about these things without anything major happening, as shitty as that sounds
Try to stay informed, but also recognize that news is all going to be bad because humans engage with that more.
Learn to recognize when youve had enough bad news and then disengage and find something else to do.
Obligatory Wendover video, he’s better than that HAI guy.
It’s worth the 18mins of your time, even if it’s just to identify that nobody’s immune to advertising or propaganda, and what the negativity bias is.
Stay informed. When you feel like the news make you depressed, or even worse you start doomscrolling, take a break. There is a German word called Weltschmerz. It’s the pain you feel when the world seems to go to shit. It is a depressing form of dissatisfaction. I had this the last time when US and allies withdrew from Afghanistan and we left the people who helped us to die. The pictures of desperate people falling from planes still haunt me to this day. Then Russia invaded Ukraine and I doomscrolled for a couple of weeks.
I am not willing to sacrifice my mental health for this. So I cut news from my feed but I still read them every couple of days. Blissful ignorance can also not be accepted. I think the way I do it is a good compromise.
Just my opinion:
“Politics” impacts a huge amount of what happens in our lives. It used to be possible to have a single-income family living in a nice house from working a 40-hour job, take vacations, have a nice retirement. The process that got us that was definitely a stressful and unpleasant time (TL;DR unions). The reason it all stopped being that way was “politics” (TL;DR Reagan).
IDK if any particular outwards manifestation is or isn’t productive but I definitely wouldn’t look at the whole endeavor as unmeaningful. I think a lot of what comes through TV and social media is partisan and engineered to produce an emotional response, which is draining. I get that. If that’s what you’re talking about then maybe just ignoring it is honestly a better response because a lot of it is just noise and nonsense. But disengaging from the whole thing doesn’t seem like the right way either.
BLM produced a lot of positive changes to policing, neoliberal economic policies produced a lot of unnecessary not-having-enough-money after decades of people getting jaded about “getting political” in the union-drive sense and just showing up to vote every few years and thinking that’ll be enough. To me what’s happening now actually feels hopeful - like people are starting to care again, because things are getting so bad that it’s unavoidable that things need to change. IDK if any particular stressful thinking is going to produce change (probably not, if it’s coming from consuming media) but I definitely would say that people caring about politics and government and what public policy looks like seems like a good thing (instead of just leaving it on rich-person-in-Washington autopilot and hoping that the result from that is gonna be good.)
Uh. I’m always depressed after reading the news. And loose faith in humanity. I’m far better off meeting neighbors and realizing there are actually lots of nice people around. Or partying with family. Or reading a good book or working on my projects. Sometimes I get (politically) active in my neighbourhood.
I also have the urge to follow the news and politics. But in the end I don’t get anything out of it. And it doesn’t provide me with anything lasting for me. So I try to balance that… And national politics isn’t all there is. If you don’t like that show (and I think it’s more a show than anything else), you could also learn about European politics, or what’s going on in Korea (for example). I think that’s going to provide you with a broader perspective on the world, than just watching something that’s supposed to be a show to stir up emotions.
Agree with the first one. As someone with anxiety, I am fully informed of what’s happening in the world, but that doesn’t mean I need a constant stream of doom into my eyeballs.
When Russia invaded Ukraine I went into a full panic spiral, anxiety attacks and depression. I went out, I got help, and now I know when things happen but don’t just look up the news, I keep informed but also acknowledge I’m not going to change anything. So I live my life.
IMHO you always have to stay informed. Just find a news source that does not create too much FUD and you’re set. E.g: Axios, NPR, Reuters, etc
Always.
By now you probably have the gist of what’s going on - that won’t change. It’s useless to attend to it at the expense of your own actual life.
Most news outlets promote the outrageous and controversial stuff to get viewers face time. Try to go with informative but reasoned news sources. Also the MSM, and social media tries so hard to capture audiences that they miss vital but less sensational topics. That said, the AP presents pretty non-inflammatory news. I get news from comedians like Jon Stewart and Emmy Award winner John Oliver to lighten things up and Beau of the Fifth Column for unique non-partisan points of view.
Once you understand the major forces and their interests, there is little reason to follow day to say, it’s just poisonous.
If that’s your level of understanding, I would say you don’t really need to be paying more attention. You should just understand your specific level of ignorance and recognize that you’ll need to defer to the opinions of experts on whatever topic you hear about in the future.
If you refuse to learn about current events, and more importantly the context of those events in history and so on, then you have no choice but to trust experts that know more than you. In this context, expert means people that study/work in a field their entire life and are backed by the larger community of experts - that is to say, they’re not at risk of losing their license or being removed from their employer/academic institution.
In my personal opinion, the largest impact you have as an individual is your vote. Once elections are over there’s no need to keep up with the news, there’s nothing you can really do after all.
Something that really changed my perspective is that one of the oldest men to have ever lived, lived and grew up in Venezuela, a horrifically mismanaged country with tons of despair. Despite everything around him and living very modestly, he lived to an extremely old age.
You don’t live that long without will to live but despite his circumstances he found personal happiness and fulfillment.
Moral of the story, despite the gloomy world out there doesn’t mean yours deserves to be too.
I find that it is better to consume more longform news over shorter term “breaking news”.
You don’t have to keep up with all the news. Your mental health is more important. The most important news will be impossibe to avoid anyways. There will be memes about it and it will be on home pages of search and email sites, etc…
First one, then the other. Keep semi-regular contact, but don’t spend every waking moment on the news or social media, as you aren’t gaining much additional actionable information that way.
Get a weekly newspaper on physical paper. All of the news, none of the day to day hype.
