If possible at all, of course.
My sanity is more important. I can’t do anything about current events if I’m not sane. I take breaks as needed.
How do you reconcile staying sane while keeping yourself up-to-date with the news?
Submitted 1 day ago by nikoo@sh.itjust.works to [deleted]
Comments
JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 day ago
TheBat@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I gave up trying to keep up with local news a long time ago. That’s why you’ll rarely see me talking about India even though that’s where I am from.
I used to keep up with UK and US news as a sort of long distance view/broad strokes/whatever.
And after the US election I gave up watching John Oliver and other late night shows.
Scallops@ttrpg.network 1 day ago
By becoming willingly non informed. Mixed success so far. 🙁
original_reader@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Basically some reasonableness.
Set boundaries. Meaning you probably should choose specific times to check the news. You could for instance check once in the morning and once in the evening. Or even only on specific days.
Also curate your sources. Follow outlets that offer reasonably balanced reporting. Misinformation and sensationalism are your sanity’s worst enemies. For example, don’t get your news from social media (as is so common with many and which leads to a host of other issues…).
Try to avoid doomscrolling. If scrolling starts feeling like sinking, it’s
okaynecessary to stop. You really don’t need to absorb every detail to be informed.And just something I personally found is to balance bad with good news. Spend time with positive stuff. Even in this timeline there’s good to be had.
bitchkat@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
I bought a camper van that is useful to focus on when I need a break. Lots of projects to work on and then actual trips.
jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I can intelligently read/listen to only as much crappy stuff as my mindfulness can extract nutrients from and shit out. I take active internal notes on the ratio of helpful nutrients to amount of shit produced, even for sources that are usually good.
There are many evil billionaire-employed full-time professional liars trying to make me stupid enough to believe that being pissed off is the same as being informed. It isn’t, and fortunately once you catch the gross corporate overlord fear stench they leave in you as they talk, you can internally identify them every time. If they make you more likely to hate and distrust, they are acting in service of bad shit in that moment.
Tonava@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
I went insane already in the early 2000s, when I realised nobody gave a shit about climate change and ecological destruction and nothing I could say or do made people understand or care. I had a good chuckle when the whole Greta-thing happened and suddenly more people cared, even though we’ve known this is happening for decades now. Too little, too late. There’s always war and genocide going, now we just know it’s happening in real time. Knowing changes nothing, we don’t learn from history, too few care and those who do get in power too rarely for any lasting change to happen.
I was about to kill myself for the first time in 2013 and honestly I should just have done it, it’s the decision I now regret the most in my life. I already died that day anyway, I have just been sort of lingering remnant after that, barely a person anymore. At least my parents could have had a decade to grieve me, now I’ve just dragged more people to care about me and will hurt them as well with my death. My suffering has just gotten worse and worse together with my physical and mental health; sometimes thing not only don’t get better, but just get worse. I don’t even know how I’m still here, probably just out of spite and lack of access to handguns. Eventually I’ll get to see what will manage to end me first, my body or my mind, I don’t even know which one is leading the race.
To conclude my insane and personal rant: not everyone can get a happy ending. Enjoy and do good if you still can
thezeesystem@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
That’s the fun part I don’t. As someone who’s pretty much the exact target for this facism regime there is absolutely jack shit I can do about it besides I guess voting. So I pretty much avoid it all because there’s nothing I can do about why of it and need in Amerikkka is all about getting people angry sad or anything that boosts engagement without care of people. So I don’t play there games. I avoid it all. New depressive shit happening? Alright I’m already completely fucked so idc
agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Focus on what you can change. Try not to let what you can’t bring you down too much.
PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S@lemmy.sdf.org 1 day ago
Take breaks.
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I have hope that enough of the people who voted for Trump now see they were duped and that the mid-terms will be a rout for the Rs. Not a lot of hope, but hope.
However, I don’t want to think too hard about what they will try to do if that comes to pass.
Perspectivist@feddit.uk 1 day ago
I have next to zero urge to “keep up with the news.” I’m under no obligation to know what’s going on in the world at all times. If something is important, I’ll hear about it from somewhere anyway - and if I don’t hear about it, it probably wasn’t that important to begin with.
I’d argue the “optimal” amount of news is whatever’s left after you actively take steps to avoid most of it. Unfiltered news consumption in today’s environment is almost certainly way, way too much.
MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Be aware of your personal bubble. If there’s anything important enough to be an issue, you’ll hear about/read about or see it.
starlinguk@lemmy.world 1 day ago
This is absolute bullshit. People know WAY too little. Not too much. Which is why they vote for people who will destroy the world.
Pringles@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
By looking at it from a larger perspective. You can always get worked up about things but if you zoom out, you see that most of it is just a temporary trend. Some things trend well, some trend poorly, but these tend to be blips in the span of a lifetime.
Especially when comparing with the past you will see that things really aren’t all that bad in general.
OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
That’s a great way to look at it if you’re coming from a place of privilege where it doesn’t affect you directly. The Palestinians don’t get to say “it’s just a trend”. It’s not just a trend for the immigrants being rounded up in concentration camps. Or for the homeless and mentally ill Trump has just declared will also be rounded up. And for the LGBTQ who are soon to follow.
And the destruction of the environment we all rely on to survive isn’t “just a trend”.
You’re only able to have the luxury of thinking it’s a trend because it hasn’t affected you. Yet.
Pringles@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
Ok, sure. I do want to point out that I simply answered the question. I don’t deny my state of luxury yet also don’t feel that this bout of whataboutism is entirely warranted.
LovableSidekick@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I mostly don’t do either.
Tedesche@lemmy.world 1 day ago
It’s a balancing act. You have to learn how to gauge when you’re getting overly-stressed/depressed by news consumption and stop doing it. Limit yourself to engaging with it in short bursts, so you can keep up with the general knowledge of what’s happening, while not getting bogged down in the details.
Etterra@discuss.online 1 day ago
Define “sane.”
MuttMutt@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I remove almost everything that is considered breaking current events. Someone is going to do something stupid to someone else. Disasters are going to happen. Wars are being fought (IMHO WW3 had already begun and everyone is trying to stay out of it like the US did in WW2) just that everyone is avoiding it. I have watched a local to me longlines station have a lot of new activity and a person is living there in a travel trailer but two years ago it was basically defunct. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfHyy-4W5X0 is an example of a different one but gives an idea of the use.
All this crap happens and there is nothing I can do about it nor does it help my daily life. I get a little bit of local news directly from their site and everything else is related to tech or science. I also block Javascript on the browser I use for news feeds, it prevents headlines from other crap being shoved into articles I choose to read on many sites and if breaks a site I just remove it from my feed.
I’m also doing a lot of repairs on a 100 year old house while I live in it, trying to work towards teaching people who have dealt with childhood trauma and others with PTSD how to SCUBA dive for free, and doing my best to stay sane with everything that has happened in my life.