“I used to have the news on the TV every morning for an hour or so as I got the children ready for school and completed my household tasks,” he said. “Now it has literally been switched off and unplugged. I can’t cope with it any more. It’s just too much and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Though he dips into his favourite news apps occasionally in the evening, he now strictly limits his news consumption. He’s not alone. The Guardian has been contacted by a series of one-time news junkies who are now seeking to restrict their news intake after suffering from disturbed sleep or a downturn in their mood.
I’m also conflicted about this myself. One the one hand I want to know what’s going on in the world, also the bad things. I don’t want to be oblivious to the genocide in Gaza, the war in Ukraine or any other conflict. But with the EU shifting further right, migrants drowning every day, and the US going full fascist, I’m noticing the news starts to affect my mood. Do I accept these unpleasant feelings because a lot of other people have a rough time, or do I choose to shun myself from it and live my life since I can’t do much about most of it? Feel free to chime in with your opinion on what is the right thing here.
You have to help yourself before you can help someone else. Yes, being intentionally uninformed is bad, but reading/listening to nothing but doom and gloom will do nothing for anyone. Plus, by and large, you probably can’t do a whole lot about those situations you mentioned.
Become more engaged in local politics, watch/attend your town hall meetings, get to know your neighbors, give a dollar to the beggar on the street, volunteer in your community, go out in nature.
Modern activism demands that everyone is knowledgeable and actively fighting everything wrong in the entire world all of the time. And that’s just not sustainable. Take a step back, catch your breath, and trust that others will keep up the yelling until you get back.
You really have to walk a line between being informed and mood being affected. Lemmy and occasional comedian rants on YouTube work for me.
I don’t do TV news at all.
Feel you on this, it’s depressing but it’s a valid feeling because we live in really dark times and as individuals we have very limited influence on the turnout of these things.