I'm a psychologist—doomscrolling has a devastating impact
I'm a psychologist—doomscrolling has a devastating impact
The way we feel is largely a result of the thoughts and images that go through our minds.
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"I had a client with three young children, who believed that she had to keep abreast of the details of the Middle East conflict. This meant that once her children were finally in bed, she would find herself scrolling for hours in an attempt to stay up-to-date and knowledgeable on what is happening.
She believed that to be a conscientious and caring human, it is something she had to do."
I think we do have to keep somewhat abreast of what's going on. Some brands we support could be complicit. We might be voting for the very people who are fuelling the horrors that are unfolding around the world.
We as people just aren't built to process the volume of information that's available nowadays though and spending hours attempting to do so isn't the answer. On the other hand, I'm not sure that we should be unaffected by what's happening to our fellow humans either. Looking after our own well-being has to be a part of the equation though.
Yeah. As someone who has spent years doing both both — spending hours every day staying on-top of current events and related history in my teens, to ignoring all of it after graduating into my early 20's, then back to paying attention again — it's a double edged sword.
You waste so many hours of your life caring about this shit — time that could be spent on relationships, wealth, self-care, and leisure — but an uninformed and ignorant population is why the species and planet is in so much shit. Ignorance is only bliss if external forces don't end up fucking your life.
I get this. I've reached a point where I just can't bring myself to care any more. I feel bad there are people suffering but I feel this is a constant, bad news cycles are good news. Sometimes it's children being gunned down. Sometimes there's a protest in Boise Idaho for a conflict in another continent. Sometimes it's hand wringing about a beer spokesperson. Sometimes it's politics for countries I don't live in. I've reached a point where I'm avoiding news but getting told opinions constantly.
Meanwhile I've got a life full of small compounding problems. Nothing news worthy but a struggle. I can't bring myself to care anymore about problems outside my twenty feet. I just can't. I don't feel like it's even genuine anymore. People want my opinion so they can confirm their own or launch into their prepared rebuttal.
I mean, that's the Job of News Networks. Its their Job to stay up-to-date and then serve it to you in digestible portions so you can stay up-to-date as well.
And if you don't trust "commercialized" news networks in the US, there's always News Networks such as dw from germany that get money from the Rundfunkgebühr (special Tax if you own a Television or Radio).
Ignorance is bliss