I've learned that just shutting yourself out completely is nearly the only viable strategy (for me in particular). It seems these days that no matter how innocuous an article may seem, some...
I've learned that just shutting yourself out completely is nearly the only viable strategy (for me in particular). It seems these days that no matter how innocuous an article may seem, some jackass always stirs up a political shitstorm in the comments that makes me angry just reading about it. Lately, I've been okay with getting my news from Reddit and Tildes. I consider myself to have no strong opinions on politics/government either way, but I tend to lean more left these days. Reddit and especially Tildes are better for that spectrum
short answer: take a sabbatical from the internet long answer: take a sabbatical from the internet. seriously. you're just not going to escape the news cycle unless you become an...
I'm curious to hear how other folks approach self-care in the face of world news ripe with awful things to dwell on.
short answer: take a sabbatical from the internet
long answer: take a sabbatical from the internet. seriously.
you're just not going to escape the news cycle unless you become an anarcho-primitivist with how interconnected our world is at this point, but the news cycle is infinitely worse on the internet than it is in real life and tildes is probably not going to make a dent in that.
the answer is still definitely to take a sabbatical from the internet. being terminally online is almost always a bad thing, and if your thing is regulating emotions it's basically a necessity to...
the answer is still definitely to take a sabbatical from the internet. being terminally online is almost always a bad thing, and if your thing is regulating emotions it's basically a necessity to occasionally extricate yourself from doing shit online regardless of how well informed you want to be. the news will be there tomorrow, and so will the conversations--your mental health might not be.
If you're at uni, have you thought of joining a study group or club? That's a great way to meet people... especially clubs, since everyone there already has a shared interest with you, which gives...
If you're at uni, have you thought of joining a study group or club? That's a great way to meet people... especially clubs, since everyone there already has a shared interest with you, which gives you something to talk with them about. I still have several good friends that I met at "club anime" at UofT... and I wasn't even attending UofT when I joined, since I was still in high school, but the club was open to the public.
I don't have Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, cable TV, newspaper, or anything. I get my news through word of mouth, a slack group I am in made up of some friends, a 30 min podcast I try to listen to...
I don't have Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, cable TV, newspaper, or anything. I get my news through word of mouth, a slack group I am in made up of some friends, a 30 min podcast I try to listen to each morning, the random comment on radio, and at the moment here on tildes and over on mastadon (I am experimenting with alt-social media sources). And I don't go searching for stuff. This worked for people for most of history. I do not need to know what's happening everywhere in the world to be [happy|fulfilled|useful]. In fact, I am all of those things with less news. I have little at best ability to change what I see/hear in the news, so digesting it as it comes in is pointless. Me finding out about a headline a week or a month later or even never, changes the outcome of the headline by 0%.
It's great, mostly. People look at you weird when you have no idea about the newest headline. For example, something happened in New Zealand, a shooting of some sort, and I only heard about it because I read a headline on here about a guy who invented 8chan and how he felt responsible for whatever it was that happened. You might think it is awful that I have no idea about this event, but my knowledge of the event changes nothing except my ability to experience joy, so it has no concern about anyone but me.
I think there's this natural pull for many of us to want to be informed. Nothing wrong with it and a lot right with it, fundamentally, but the internet has made it so that I can continue to inform...
I think there's this natural pull for many of us to want to be informed. Nothing wrong with it and a lot right with it, fundamentally, but the internet has made it so that I can continue to inform myself about all sorts of stuff that doesn't actually impact me. Small bit pieces of non-relevant non-news that still evoke strong emotional responses. I think that's where it starts to get unhealthy, as those move us into an uncomfortable combo of being emotionally activated while being thoroughly disconnected from the activator.
It's why outrage spreads so well, because even though I can't do anything to directly address something that sparked me, I can set a local fire in the comments, on Twitter, or in a text to my friend. It feels like action, but because it's disconnected from its target, it's ultimately ineffective at changing anything except for my behavior.
Thankfully Tildes hasn't devolved into a newsfeed of outrage-bait, but we're not immune to it. I think the focus on longer articles is a great innoculation, because those tend to be more measured, researched, and thought out. Doesn't mean they're perfect by any means, but outrage likes immediacy and often lacks the attention span for thousands of words. More words also usually allows for subtlety and nuance, which are the enemies of visceral feelings. Nevertheless, the internet is saturated in outrage and its fodder, so some will naturally find its way here.
Which is where we come in: this is a roundabout answer to your question, but I don't think self-care is necessarily just balancing out negative news with positive stuff (though I am always in favor of more positive stuff). I think self-care is really learning to manage our emotional responses to stimuli online, partly by acknowledging that there are a lot of people and companies out there trying to make money, push ideology, and influence politics by directing how we feel. This is not an abstract concern: we know it is already happening, and we know it is effective.
What we need to do is understand that there are people already benefitting from modifying our behavior, and it's not us. They want our clicks and comments directly, so it can fluff their numbers, and they want them indirectly, so they can track us and predict our future behavior. By knowing who we are and what we do, they can nudge us toward what they want. It's dystopian, but it's happening.
Nevertheless, it is equally, if not more, important to understand that we are not hapless visitors in someone else's web but that we too shape what's out there. They do not get to take it from us. It is not theirs to own. Do not let them dictate who you are and how you act. Check what you're responding to, why you're responding, and in what manner. Ask yourself: who benefits from this? Let's hope it's you, first and foremost. If not, treat it like the drain it is and flush.
Tildes is exciting to me because it's the first place on the internet in a long time where I feel like I'm lounging in my own backyard, rather than someone else's. It feels like the early internet, with all its growing pains and uncertainty. As the web became corporatized and monetized, we moved away from that, and now what so many people see and post is indistinguishable from what companies want them to see and post.
A healthy media diet shouldn't just focus on bad or good, outrageous or wholesome, as these are the most easily exploitable feelings. Instead, a healthy media diet should focus on interacting with individuals over companies or ideologies. It should be one where you feel that you're contributing more than merely responding. It should be fundamentally enriching for you, even if there is strife or disagreement, because you're answering to yourself when you post and not anyone or anything else. Not likes, or a score, or exemplary labels, or a celebrity retweet. Use the internet to connect with people, reach out to them and their lives, and share yours. The moment it becomes a treadmill of sorrow, injustice, or outrage is the moment we're allowing all of our energy to go towards someone else's benefit.
Do not be the raw material for some company's bottom line. Do not let their machine siphon off your happiness, nor use your anger as a fuel source. This is your internet, and you get to choose where you go and what you make of it. Never believe that it isn't, or, if you suspect that someone else is holding the keys, go elsewhere. One of the best parts of the internet is that there's always somewhere new. Doors are being made faster than we can open them, and not all of them are latently hostile to their users. The internet is an amazing tool if we use it right, and we should never let someone else drive for us. They aren't going where we want to go--plus they suck anyway. Get rid of them and be your own pilot.
I've learned that just shutting yourself out completely is nearly the only viable strategy (for me in particular). It seems these days that no matter how innocuous an article may seem, some jackass always stirs up a political shitstorm in the comments that makes me angry just reading about it. Lately, I've been okay with getting my news from Reddit and Tildes. I consider myself to have no strong opinions on politics/government either way, but I tend to lean more left these days. Reddit and especially Tildes are better for that spectrum
short answer: take a sabbatical from the internet
long answer: take a sabbatical from the internet. seriously.
you're just not going to escape the news cycle unless you become an anarcho-primitivist with how interconnected our world is at this point, but the news cycle is infinitely worse on the internet than it is in real life and tildes is probably not going to make a dent in that.
the answer is still definitely to take a sabbatical from the internet. being terminally online is almost always a bad thing, and if your thing is regulating emotions it's basically a necessity to occasionally extricate yourself from doing shit online regardless of how well informed you want to be. the news will be there tomorrow, and so will the conversations--your mental health might not be.
If you're at uni, have you thought of joining a study group or club? That's a great way to meet people... especially clubs, since everyone there already has a shared interest with you, which gives you something to talk with them about. I still have several good friends that I met at "club anime" at UofT... and I wasn't even attending UofT when I joined, since I was still in high school, but the club was open to the public.
I have panic disorder, which makes socializing hard for me too, so I understand and sympathize. Good luck with the counseling.
I don't have Twitter, Reddit, Facebook, cable TV, newspaper, or anything. I get my news through word of mouth, a slack group I am in made up of some friends, a 30 min podcast I try to listen to each morning, the random comment on radio, and at the moment here on tildes and over on mastadon (I am experimenting with alt-social media sources). And I don't go searching for stuff. This worked for people for most of history. I do not need to know what's happening everywhere in the world to be [happy|fulfilled|useful]. In fact, I am all of those things with less news. I have little at best ability to change what I see/hear in the news, so digesting it as it comes in is pointless. Me finding out about a headline a week or a month later or even never, changes the outcome of the headline by 0%.
It's great, mostly. People look at you weird when you have no idea about the newest headline. For example, something happened in New Zealand, a shooting of some sort, and I only heard about it because I read a headline on here about a guy who invented 8chan and how he felt responsible for whatever it was that happened. You might think it is awful that I have no idea about this event, but my knowledge of the event changes nothing except my ability to experience joy, so it has no concern about anyone but me.
I think there's this natural pull for many of us to want to be informed. Nothing wrong with it and a lot right with it, fundamentally, but the internet has made it so that I can continue to inform myself about all sorts of stuff that doesn't actually impact me. Small bit pieces of non-relevant non-news that still evoke strong emotional responses. I think that's where it starts to get unhealthy, as those move us into an uncomfortable combo of being emotionally activated while being thoroughly disconnected from the activator.
It's why outrage spreads so well, because even though I can't do anything to directly address something that sparked me, I can set a local fire in the comments, on Twitter, or in a text to my friend. It feels like action, but because it's disconnected from its target, it's ultimately ineffective at changing anything except for my behavior.
Thankfully Tildes hasn't devolved into a newsfeed of outrage-bait, but we're not immune to it. I think the focus on longer articles is a great innoculation, because those tend to be more measured, researched, and thought out. Doesn't mean they're perfect by any means, but outrage likes immediacy and often lacks the attention span for thousands of words. More words also usually allows for subtlety and nuance, which are the enemies of visceral feelings. Nevertheless, the internet is saturated in outrage and its fodder, so some will naturally find its way here.
Which is where we come in: this is a roundabout answer to your question, but I don't think self-care is necessarily just balancing out negative news with positive stuff (though I am always in favor of more positive stuff). I think self-care is really learning to manage our emotional responses to stimuli online, partly by acknowledging that there are a lot of people and companies out there trying to make money, push ideology, and influence politics by directing how we feel. This is not an abstract concern: we know it is already happening, and we know it is effective.
What we need to do is understand that there are people already benefitting from modifying our behavior, and it's not us. They want our clicks and comments directly, so it can fluff their numbers, and they want them indirectly, so they can track us and predict our future behavior. By knowing who we are and what we do, they can nudge us toward what they want. It's dystopian, but it's happening.
Nevertheless, it is equally, if not more, important to understand that we are not hapless visitors in someone else's web but that we too shape what's out there. They do not get to take it from us. It is not theirs to own. Do not let them dictate who you are and how you act. Check what you're responding to, why you're responding, and in what manner. Ask yourself: who benefits from this? Let's hope it's you, first and foremost. If not, treat it like the drain it is and flush.
Tildes is exciting to me because it's the first place on the internet in a long time where I feel like I'm lounging in my own backyard, rather than someone else's. It feels like the early internet, with all its growing pains and uncertainty. As the web became corporatized and monetized, we moved away from that, and now what so many people see and post is indistinguishable from what companies want them to see and post.
A healthy media diet shouldn't just focus on bad or good, outrageous or wholesome, as these are the most easily exploitable feelings. Instead, a healthy media diet should focus on interacting with individuals over companies or ideologies. It should be one where you feel that you're contributing more than merely responding. It should be fundamentally enriching for you, even if there is strife or disagreement, because you're answering to yourself when you post and not anyone or anything else. Not likes, or a score, or exemplary labels, or a celebrity retweet. Use the internet to connect with people, reach out to them and their lives, and share yours. The moment it becomes a treadmill of sorrow, injustice, or outrage is the moment we're allowing all of our energy to go towards someone else's benefit.
Do not be the raw material for some company's bottom line. Do not let their machine siphon off your happiness, nor use your anger as a fuel source. This is your internet, and you get to choose where you go and what you make of it. Never believe that it isn't, or, if you suspect that someone else is holding the keys, go elsewhere. One of the best parts of the internet is that there's always somewhere new. Doors are being made faster than we can open them, and not all of them are latently hostile to their users. The internet is an amazing tool if we use it right, and we should never let someone else drive for us. They aren't going where we want to go--plus they suck anyway. Get rid of them and be your own pilot.