Why more and more people are tuning the news out: ‘Now I don’t have that anxiety’
Posted by MuchPerception@reddit | collapse | View on Reddit | 170 comments
A record high amount of people in surveyed countries, something like 40% overall and closer to 50% in the United States and United Kingdom, are deliberately avoiding exposure to news to some extent. They'll tell you it's not worth stressing over things they can't control, whether it's looming climate problems or atrocities on foreign shores, fascism yada yada yada.
Me, I'mma keep doomscrolling like I was born for it. I still feel like I can't look away and wouldn't want to bury my head in the sand (an insult to ostriches, who are actually trying to be responsible by doing that, they're checking on the eggs they store in underground nests).
VolitionReceptacle@reddit
Remember.
"Gradually. Then all at once."
sloppymoves@reddit
From 2013 to about 2019 I was pretty heavily involved in local politics, news, and activism. In that time I even pushed many of my "enlightened centrist" friends further left.
There is always a pregnant pause when all my friends talk about politics now, awaiting to see if I have any cents to share, but I am all out of money, and hope. The best we can do in the immediate is to enjoy what scraps we have, not have kids, and begin prepping for the worse of the crumbles. Hopefully you can get your friends to prep and maybe build up to a future commune. It is about the only way to survive soon.
krakenrabiess@reddit
This is how I feel. I used to be so invested and now I just can't care. There's nothing I can do.
fudgedhobnobs@reddit
What’s the point of getting through if you’re not going to leave kids behind? Why else survive if not to leave your genetics? That’s the whole point of Life and Living Things.
Previous_Way_8788@reddit
What makes you or your kids special enough to be worth preserving for posterity
Gyirin@reddit
That's the most reductivistic view of life.
furicrowsa@reddit
Purposefully bringing children into a dying world is foolish and selfish.
kafkad@reddit
Welcome to the club. Can’t talk about that much though because people don’t like to hear that either. What fun!!
7en7en@reddit
“The first rule of Blight Club…”
Previous_Way_8788@reddit
Woe, plague be upon ye
BobMonroeFanClub@reddit
Same mate. Delivered the campaign materials, put up posters, did the doorsteps. I've given it all up. Just too much.
Bellybutton_fluffjar@reddit
There comes a point when you realise you're fighting a fight that can't be won.
Enjoy what time is left
hectorbrydan@reddit
It can be won but will not be. No leadership. No organization.
americend@reddit
Neither leadership nor organization are what is needed.
whisperwrongwords@reddit
A few French haircuts would be a whole lot more effective
overshootwins@reddit
if it didnt work the first time why would it improve anything now.
americend@reddit
It definitely did work for French peasants, lmao. Land was redistributed. That was the key to their way of life.
Later on, these gains were undone as capitalist society matured... Time for another levelling.
SimpleAsEndOf@reddit
The Tory media controlled the public for the last 15 years.
The Tory media are now supporting the Fascist Party.
Who do you think is brainwashing and radicalising Britain into madness/Fascist Othering/violent demonstrations/eventually deporting and then concentration camps for Muslims???
Because it certainly isn't the fault of the Government.
hectorbrydan@reddit
Labour shares some blame same as dems do for sucking.
SimpleAsEndOf@reddit
Goebbels
hectorbrydan@reddit
Dems, labour, are the illusion of choice.
Know your enemy-ratm
MammothAdeptness2211@reddit
Nothing reinforced this like having a new roommate/friend freshly diagnosed with a terminal illness just before I met them. I’m here for a good time, not for a long time. That doesn’t mean insane risk taking, it just means a more casual attitude.
TrickyProfit1369@reddit
Seems like you live by your convictions, thats commendable.
TwirlipoftheMists@reddit
Same. I try to stay informed enough to vote, but a 24/7 deluge of increasingly grim news I cannot do anything about is not healthy.
Besides, most of the news cycle - the political stuff, foremost - seems so futile. It’s like cruise passengers arguing over the breakfast menu, when the ship’s already hit the iceberg and will sink in two hours.
Nobody discusses the elephant in the room because they don’t know what to do. There’s a plan to restore a rare habitat near here. It will take a century. By then the biome won’t be viable in the coming climate. Much of the news feels like that.
kymmacg@reddit
Damn, I hated to like this but I am there too. I haven't watched news since last November. I feel like a damned conspiracy nut but I'm hoarding bread-making stuffs, keeping bricks charged, and protesting every freaking Saturday cuz I don't want to lose sight of normalcy. I read, mostly international news and un-tainted sources that I can find. Common Ground works well for this. Trying to save just in case.
OwnVisual5772@reddit
Yeah that’s where I’m at.
Spent the last decade and a half in a state of constant meltdown while everyone else went about undisturbed.
Welp we’re FUCKED now and I’m done worrying. Civilizations rise and fall. Time to fall.
TrickyProfit1369@reddit
I can relate, last 5 years have been turbulent for me and my mental state. But I grieved and now I finally accepted our ever worsening future. I will cross the bridge when I'll come to it.
alacp1234@reddit
COVID made me realize how people, our institutions, and society at large will handle the polycrisis. I’m at the point in Don’t Look Up where they gather with loved ones, enjoying quality time, and breaking bread until the destruction finally comes for them. What else is there to do?
TrickyProfit1369@reddit
So true. Covid has been eye opening.
El_Spanberger@reddit
Similar story, but now apolitical. I keep an eye on what's going on, but mainly just getting busy enjoying what time I have left.
bobjohnson1133@reddit
i'm feeling the same way. at this point, no hope at all. don't want to watch 'the crumbles' in 4K anymore. news infuriates me to no end. i find myself burned out and irrationally irritated at everything. i yell at objects after reading any news. like if i trip on something in the house, i shout the foulest curse words at it. something has got to give. i want my sanity back.
AustEastTX@reddit
Same same. I was active from 2006 to 2020 and then I was done. Disappeared by the entire circus and dejected.
weird_al_yankee@reddit
My wife recently commented that she never expected her good friend from college to be the object lesson on how fascism came to power in Germany. This friend was interested in philosophy and history in college, but now is no longer keeping up with the news for their mental health. Meanwhile they do still get some information from their far right parent, who is keeping up with things through QAnon-type sources.
jawfish2@reddit
I think, with no data, that something like 50% of Americans know nothing about politics or our current situation. They can't name their Congressperson and Senators, local legislators or city council. They probably know that T is prez, and that he hates immigrants. Politics is like the 50 televisions on different channels at the old electronics stores, nobody is watching. 90 million people did not vote in 2024.
Here's my other guesses (also no data)
80% are completely lost on climate change or actively in denial.
90% have no clue about the options and lack of them that might be coming.
95% do not understand anything about the rapidly rising US (and French etc) government debts.
90% of voting Dems still don't use solar power or drive EVs.
99% of people with brokerage accounts can't tell you the difference between stocks and bonds. They have no idea who broadly owns and trades them.
99% do not grasp the fundamental mechanisms of hyper-capitalism that are exhausting our resources.
80% know about TSwift's engagement.
Pot_Master_General@reddit
Lmao 50% is being extremely generous.
sharpestcookie@reddit
It somewhat aligns with literacy statistics. Illiteracy doesn't just mean a person can't read at all; it also means they easily skip over words or concepts they don't understand, and badly misinterpret information as they spread it. Mix in anti- and pseudo-intellectualism, add a dollop of low media literacy skills, and that's the recipe for disaster.
Literacy and sound critical thinking skills are the key to advancements in human civilization.
ProbablyOnLSD69@reddit
Are? Or were? Yukyukyuk…
oracleoflove@reddit
“The more you think you really know the less you really do.”
I am one of these statistics you speak of, I know just enough to maybe come with a warning label at best.
I’ve reached the point in my life I just want to enjoy what time I have left here before things really start crumbling.
I tried to do my part and I was a dollar short and a day late.
Previous_Way_8788@reddit
I forgive you. I cant forgive myself. I know we did our best, but i feel responsible for the weight of the world and i know i failed. If i were religious id pray, because it feels like i failed some test i was put here to do
AbbeyRoadMomma@reddit
Good for you for trying.
CidCrisis@reddit
I take some umbrage at the "don't use solar power or drive EV's" statement. I barely have the money for the 1998 Toyota Camry i have and I'm renting a room. I don't really have say on solar.
jawfish2@reddit
No I am sure you can't do fancy things. Sorry things are tough. I hope you can get some breathing room in your life.
I thought it was obvious that I was talking about people who owned a home for PVs, and who were able to buy/lease a new car.
thekbob@reddit
The solar power and EV thing is weird
Distributed solar has a higher cost than centralized solar managed by a co-op or municipality. Not every roof can handle the load and not every house is located in a fashion to maximize solar gains.
I'm lucky to have a great house and a great location, but I've prioritized energy conservation upgrades first over solar generation since it'll be a significant debt. I'm paying somewhere around half of the average energy bill in my area and living quite comfortably.
As for EVs, Americans don't have great options. Tesla vehicles are awful and most other EVs are priced extremely high. The Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf are the only real affordable options, with the former being redesigned and off the market. The Leaf is getting a redesign that finally liquid cools the battery, a significant improvement over previous air cooled models.
Without allowing more imports, there's no market for affordable EVs.
Also, trying to solve cars with EVs is dumb. We need electrified mass transit and get rid of car infrastructure entirely, saving it for special use cases.
I have a high efficiency hybrid, getting 50.2mpg, but the best mpg is when I don't drive it and stay home. Now if only my job didn't mandate RTO...
jawfish2@reddit
I live in California, so many people have solar. For renters/condo dwellers, you can specify renewable-only from a CCA power company.
I have a Tesla and it is truly a great car. Elon is a jackass. Yes I might like a German car at twice or three times the price, or a Rivian. With the now-expiring federal tax credits panels and batteries were a great deal for those who had the cash. For those who don't, the leased units were a good deal.
Anyway the point was, there were lots of good options for people who believe in climate change among my friends and acquaintances, but they still drive gas, take plane flights often, and go on cruises.
It's as if they can ignore the problem, as long as they don't do anything about it. Also knowing that any one individual or even a town, makes no difference, leads to learned helplessness.
thekbob@reddit
To be clear, you can like Tesla, but they're one of the least reliable manufacturers and have some of, if not the worst, depreciation.
The savings potential versus a traditional or plug-in hybrid is poor; I know, I just did new car shopping and ran to ground the numbers.
A Civic or Corolla hybrid variant would be the best value for most buyers right now. Until there's a reliable sub-$25k (without subsidies) EV, it's not going to catch on.
That and a logarithmic tax scaled to vehicle weight, which realizes the physical impact of larger vehicles, heavier vehicles.
jawfish2@reddit
"least reliable" "bad depreciation" a different analysis:
Stellantis vehicles are typically the worst for repairs. Tesla shows up mid-pack, and sometimes they count over-the-air updates as a repair. They are extremely common in my town, and there is no great hubub about problems. There was a lot of emotional anti-Tesla posting, for instance it was common to complain about fit&finish using body panel alignment. With this in mind I took a parking lot and neighborhood tour to look at the joints on cars. This is easy to do, and completely blew up the criticism for me. Lots of Toyotas were uneven, Fords and Chevies were pretty good to my surprise, and the Teslas looked just fine. Anecdotal of four owners I know, zero repairs.
Hybrids are maximum complex, so statistically they will have more repairs than a gas vehicle. But Prius and Volts have aged well.
Depreciation is bad on all EVs due to the ending of the tax credits, and uncertainty over new vehicles. My car was $30K after taxes, so the used market value looks good compared to that, not good compared to $38K new. But I drive off my PVs 90% of the time, and thats a saving (less PV cost) over a gas car.
Hybrids are probably the cheapest way to go, and if everyone drove one or an EV, greenhouse gases would be reduced.
One last thing for non-EV drivers. I am a life-long truck and motorcycle guy, but also cheap. I've driven BMWs, but never owned a performance car. I will never buy another car that can't go 0-60 under six seconds. I never get tired of the acceleration, and gas cars seem soooo slow.
Vdasun-8412@reddit
The last thing...demonstrates the American intellectual collapse...
gxgxe@reddit
Americans were never intellectuals. We've always been proud anti-intellectuals. It's just that it's finally seeped into every aspect of our lives. People who have tried to stem the tide of stupidity lost as soon as the Fairness Doctrine was repealed by Reagan at the behest of the oligarchy that was still angry about FDR...
SecretPassage1@reddit
Being an (anti-)intellectual has nothing to do about understanding that wasting such vast amounts of everything is exhausting our ressources fast. This is being taught to children starting age 7 in France, and they all get it.
Just get them to have a real look at their overflowing dustbins and ask how their grand parents's bins looked like, where did all of this garbage come from, where is it going, and start from there.
You don't need to use big words to explain the situation.
gxgxe@reddit
The adults are anti-intellectuals, not the kids. The adults have to care before they are willing to teach the kids. Instead, in America, we proudly raise generation after generation of entitled anti-intellectuals who would rather watch sports than think deeply about the world.
The kids don't stand a chance.
bobjohnson1133@reddit
at this point, it's pretty damn obvious that 'the business plot' against FDR finally came to complete fruition. it just took the oligarch kakistocracy coup longer than originally planned.
AbbeyRoadMomma@reddit
Interesting. I don’t know anything about this plot.
Barnacle_B0b@reddit
Honestly there isn't time for me to manage having a quality life, and to manage the world at large. The whole idea of representative democracy is that we can trust our representatives to...well, represent our interests. But with citizens united, everything is a race to get lobbyist funding because it takes so much marketing to become known in the small spaces that peek into the quality spaces of people's lives, and incumbents tend to continue winning because of name/brand familiarity from winning.
I can't be an expert in geopolitical history, international and internal politics with my own country, and fend off disinformation and predatory social media among my family and friends, while maintaining my own professional skillets, building my own life history of happy memories with family and friends, and having a meaningful exploration of my brief and fleeting human life. The idea is we all contribute a little bit to society, and unfortunately some people would just rather have no governance at all, in the most unironic and unexagerrated sense of meaning. So for whatever good I want to do through STEM, volunteering, mentorship, there is some mouthbreathing MAGA jackass out there ready to cancel it out and then some with their anti-vaxx rhetoric, support of ICE, and "redpilling" the youth.
And all my fellow voters have shown me is that rather having politically experienced and virtuous socialist democrats in power, even the political left would rather have corporate sponsored status quo janitors, and unfortunately we ended up with a NeoConfederate industrialist felon child rapists putting up portraits of Robert E. Lee in Westpoint. Neoconfederate industrialist felon chils rapists are literally who my fellow citizens see fit to represent them, and the nation. This is no longer a society worth contributing to. I was this society's investment into STEM, and now it is losing me.
I've done what is reasonable. I've given enough of my life and time and effort to trying to create and empower a better society that nobody wants. Society is not some great altar upon which I'm endebted to sacrifice everything I have just for the hope of change.
Electrical_Notice169@reddit
Are these registered voters?
Zealousideal_Scene62@reddit
Depends on why you're doing it, I guess. I think it's plain to see that the crises of the 2020s are the system's death throes and that the powers that be are just throwing stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks (nothing will) now that the Chinese spatial fix for the profitability crisis has been exhausted. It's likewise clear, given the exhaustion of the social movements of the 2010s, that history was right and we don't actually live in a new paradigm- activism without a vanguard party and a revolutionary program is futile, and the subjective conditions for political change aren't there. Underneath Trump flooding the zone with spectacles, this is just an intensification of the same violence that's been going on forever. The daily news cycle neither presents new information nor solves problems- as if we're all just gonna say "enough's enough" to this week's outrage and there's going to be some jubilee moment (that was supposed to be 2020 according to progressives).
ArcticRU@reddit
This is absolutely me, I just block everything that gives me anxiety nowadays. I can't do anything about it, I have about a year's worth of non-parishables. I cant really do more.. it got to the point of affecting my life and so I just decided to say fuck it. I still see the big stuff on my feed, I just dont read any further about it usually..
AngusScrimm---------@reddit
I never do this for climate chaos related information, but as an American, I do it often for our domestic political clown show.
While I can't influence either front, being part of a species that is delusional to the point of racing over a cliff to its collective death is the most fascinating thing I've ever observed. Contrast that with an infuriating domestic clown show where vile criminals rise to the top.
For me, the former is inevitable, as planetary systems break down; while the latter attaches names and faces to our infuriating clown show. I paid very little attention to national news after the election; while watching the human reaction (usually means complete avoidance except for happy talk) to the death of the biosphere is amazing and depressing and mind blowing.
Staubsaugerbeutel@reddit
It's highly ironic that to me, climate-/polycrisis news have become a form of escape-ism from normal news, because in the long run, they're the only thing that truly matters. ofc, something else might take us down before the climate crisis hits, but that is so unpredictable that no amount of news will make anything clearer..
Previous_Way_8788@reddit
Gotta mix up your doom
JacksGallbladder@reddit
It becomes increasingly more difficult to "stay informed" when "The News" is a corporate market prying for your attention to sell advertising.
At its roots media makes money. If there is money involved, they want me to engaged as much as possible. So every story is breaking news, every fiasco is a disaster hurling us into darkness, every scandal is earthshattering... ect.
Human beings were not designed to absorb every tragedy / moral failing of the world every night before dinner.
I think it is quite wise to avoid the news for your own sanity until you can balance staying informed with being completely disregulated by a commercial market that tries to convince you everything is dangerous and the sky could fall at any moment. Its no way to live.
Konradleijon@reddit
I can’t fathom the denial of other humans
BitchfulThinking@reddit
MUST BE NICE! Some of us are brown people, LGBTQ+, women of childbearing age, immigrants, children of immigrants, have loved ones who are those things, religious trauma... etc. I don't have the luxury to ignore something that impacts me and people I care about, or I don't know, even innocent strangers who don't fucking deserve this at all.
Did no one see the photo of the little boy at a protest a few months back, with his sign that said ICE took his best friend? Do you all want your children to experience either side of that??
It appears that many here don't have to worry about "I might get rounded up today, just for going to my ethnic grocery store/service that we use as a culture" or wondering about the fate of your relatives, who legally came here and worked for this selfish country for years, saving racists' lives as nurses, but are unwanted here still, because they're not white. Or friends getting murdered for simply being born a way, because the fascist regime promotes it. Will my parents' marriage be annulled? Will I be banned from being with my partner? This administration really hates mixed race people, but I doubt anyone else will care when we're culled, aside from losing celebrities.
Does everyone not worried have a plan for when there's no more Filipinos to take care of the infirmed and elderly?? Are you all going to pick the produce that the migrant children didn't get to before they were kidnapped by ICE?
No one else has their intergenerational trauma just flaring up right now? My grandmother's Jim Crow stories, before that side of the family made the drive out west, are sounding like current events. Every other headline has been a racist dogwhistle for Jewish people, Japanese Americans (really all Asian Americans), Indigenous people, and LGBTQ+ people.
I don't know how that's all just okay for some people, but it must be nice to be able to just ignore so much suffering around you.
hippydipster@reddit
Username checks out.
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tfenraven@reddit
I just drove across the country, south to north, in my first major move in over a decade. I didn't listen to the news in the car. I did not turn it on in my motel rooms. I didn't hear one word about Trump's latest horrorific announcement or the state of our government for well over a week (three days in the car, no immediate internet when I arrived). It was sheer bliss. As a responsible citizen who thinks it's my duty to keep up on what's going on in our country/the world, the break was amazing! I talked with people at welcome centers and gas stations. I was friendly, they were friendly; politics wasn't driving our conversations. A lot of my stress and anxiety melted away. I got internet back again yesterday; I still haven't read the latest news. I admit it: I JUST DON'T WANT TO KNOW. It will only upset me and make me crazy and what can I do about it anyway? The longer I can wallow in my ignorance, the happier I'll feel.
BigJSunshine@reddit
Yep.
PrimalSaturn@reddit
I honestly think some news channel are the root cause of most of our problems. It’s literal modern day brainwashing and influencing massive groups of populations to think and behave a certain way whether it be indirectly or directly.
Sapient_Cephalopod@reddit
I get it, I really do. But it's just burying your head in the sand
if the proportion of people too stressed to care with things bigger than themselves is on the rise, something's not right, right?
AntiBoATX@reddit
We are where we’re at (the end) because too many people buried their head in the sand for decades already.
Time_Tailor1005@reddit
No. We are where we are because people fighting to build a different world were completely and thoroughly defeated. The other side has all the tech, money, weapons and power- they have been consolidating this and defeating their opposition for almost a century now, and they have won.
I hate the bullshit about how it's how we average people just didn't know enough or try hard enough. It's ahistorical and ignorant of how the world actually works, and it's usually stated by people who believe things like recycling and raising awareness and standing around with signs and calling their senators could change things. Actually look at the history of struggle and learn about how the government, military, ruling class, etc of the world actually works. They won.
AntiBoATX@reddit
I’m talking about ignoring the creeping fascism, consolidation of wealth, and increased heat that’s been trending for decades. I’ve been bitching about it for 20 years, with nothing but a highschool education and access to the internet. Yes it’s atypical that democracy and masses had as much power as we did. So what. We had the greatest tool of all time at our disposal. And we wasted it on nyancat and boxy. The people deserve their shackles
Time_Tailor1005@reddit
People have been actively fighting that for decades. They have been repeatedly destroyed, murdered, infiltrated, overthrown, disrupted, imprisoned, etc. If you think more people learning stuff online is the answer then I dont know what to tell you other than to perhaps learn a bit more about history and how the world works before being so liberal with your condemnation of who deserves oppression.
CampfireHeadphase@reddit
But do you think following the news arms you with whatever is needed to act? As someone else mentioned, your time is likely better spent reading books to grasp the what's going on, which might have a higher chance of propelling you into action
Time_Tailor1005@reddit
Being aware and caring about it doesn't actually matter or change anything though.
AlxCds@reddit
Don’t look up.
ASafeHarbor1@reddit
The issue though is its barely the news anymore, no matter what side of the spectrum you are on.
cruznr@reddit
I think a good majority of us know something’s not right at this point - but when you read the news knowing that it has an underlying bias, having to do that active filtering gets exhausting.
There’s other ways to keep yourself informed - reading history, philosophy, political theory gives you a pretty good blueprint of what’s going on. Just my two cents, but I’d rather read up on history than whatever the latest economic twist is this week knowing that it might change in a day.
Sapient_Cephalopod@reddit
1000% on that last point - you cannot critique media narratives without a good grasp on underlying economic, political ideologies and history
Johnny55@reddit
I think you can care without reading rage bait from the NYT and WaPo. Or listening to NPR pretend that the military is in DC to fight crime. Or watching any cable news channel credulousy repeat the IDF's version of events.
Mike-Banachek@reddit
It’s called “flooding the zone” and it’s working perfectly.
forma_cristata@reddit
“Before it can go into battle, this army will need to be trained. Mainly, they will need to be ideologically trained—in special reading and discussion clubs. The old regime can huff and puff, but it will have a hard time cracking down on subversive book camps.” Curtis Yarvin, The butterfly revolution
TheHistorian2@reddit
I allow myself a few minutes here in the News feed each day. That’s it. I’ve cut off everything else. It’s helped.
vand3lay1ndustries@reddit
It’s helped you.
CapnJJaneway@reddit
Collapse is here, obsessing over it isn't going to make it go away. You really expect everyone to spend their days doomscrolling and tanking their mental health because they...owe it to others or something? Please go outside.
watsrongwithupeople@reddit
Ignoring it will not make it go away either.
vand3lay1ndustries@reddit
Don’t just scroll, do something.
Personally, I joined the ACLU and Ukraine IT Army. You can come outside with me and help. We meet in DC every day as a part of FLARE too.
Country_bloke100@reddit
No.
Im fully aware that quality of life is on the decline worldwide and that we are marching head long into collapse. Being bombarded with rage bait does nothing but negatively impact me and those around me.
I also have no interest in protesting for things like climate change, especially when most.of the activists dont understand the grid and what Infrastructure they should actually be calling for anyway. I have no interest in actively engaging in things to help people on the other side of the world. As an example, the situation in Ukraine is horrible. But the needs of my family absolutely trump the needs of those experiencing conflict on the other side of the world.
Hell, I dont even engage in politics at all anymore. I believe that the act of arguing and contributing to political division is doing more harm than the good I tried to push.
Instead, I focus on me and those around me. Im starting to grow vegetables, building a chicken pen, and fixing the paddock so we can get meat sheep or goats.
Over the next 3 months, I need to fill up our wood shed to make sure we are warm next winter.
I need to get our gutters fixed to make sure our water catchment is still enough if we have years of drought.
What I am doing is being assessed as self-sufficient as possible. Self-sufficiency = sustainability. The less we need to be consumers, the less we feed the collapse, and the more resilient we are when it hits free-fall.
These are what's important, in my opinion. Not activism.
Walking the walk before preaching it, basically.
knownerror@reddit
I've changed my habits, for the better I think. Check the headlines in the morning but don't read the articles. Block Reddit during work hours except on weekends and holidays. Spend Saturday morning catching up on in-depth analysis. Stay off other social media except weekends.
It's been great.
StationImpossible964@reddit
I echo this. It’s a pity that so many people here seem to say “it’s all propaganda”, doing Bannon’s work for him.
knownerror@reddit
Powerful people want you to mistrust everything... except them of course. They know they'll convince a certain number of people that only they can let you in on the way it really works, and you'll love them forever for it.
Texuk1@reddit
The only thing I would say about this is there is a lot of great news that isn’t anxiety inducing. I’ve always subscribed to major newspapers and I read past page 1 - you get to more interesting things. If I just switched of my news consumption rather than manage my anxiety I would be a lot less informed individual. I personally value knowing about the world so I feel it’s a much more important to manage anxiety vs tune out.
BeardedGlass@reddit
Same for me.
I used to be so invested in doom-scrolling. I was fascinated and terrifying. I even got my wife into it.
But it was taking a toll on our everything. The fact that we can't literally do anything and only witness was horrible.
I now only skim the top posts, and mostly spend time on the Weekly Observations. I stopped all of my other socials as well (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.)
We've downsized and simplified our lives. Moved to a small town, living where we work (a few minutes away on foot), and don't really travel anymore.
We don't earn much, we don't have much, and life's simple. Better.
-Calm_Skin-@reddit
Balance.
StationImpossible964@reddit
Exactly this.
Southern_Classic6027@reddit
The trouble with only reading the headline is that the lead is often deliberately buried within the article, and propagandists count on the majority of people not reading the article so they make the headline even more sensationalised and biased than the article itself.
VolitionReceptacle@reddit
lordy folks, it don't matter if you don't care about the news. The news will come to you eventually.
Beneficial_Mall_635@reddit
I've unfortunately been of the view that we were on a collision course with climate disaster since about 1996.
Giants like James Lovelock obviously reached the same conclusion and what struck me in particular was reading his Guardian article in 2008, which most of you will have read, that advocated just enjoying what time we have left. It was good advice, not that I followed it.
I've a severe mental illness and have been advised for some time by professionals to distance myself from the news, as it's not helping with my underlying anxiety and depression.
I think it's things like the rise of support for fascism that upset me most, as well as the "every man for themselves" attitude of most people. I'm a career misanthrope and aware of cruel history of mankind, so these developments doesn't surprise me one jot, but it's nonetheless sad to see. On that note, the unpleasantness we saw during the pandemic will be magnified a thousand times when collapse really begins to bite.
Whilst I avoid news media, I still glance at this sub, because what's happening with the climate is really not news to any of us at this point. I accepted many years ago where we're headed.
The establishment of CollapseSupport was an excellent idea, and I think speaks to the compassion evident within the collapse aware community.
escapefromburlington@reddit
These idiots usually keep on having kids tho
bill_b4@reddit
This is a disaster unfolding. Because information is being manipulated, we are avoiding it altogether. Our society is collapsing around us and we are completely unaware. I hate this timeline.
ApocalypseYay@reddit
If you don't read the papers, you are uninformed. If you read them, you are misinformed.
StationImpossible964@reddit
Obviously not true. One of those silly, pithy quotes that people use for a post on FB to make them sound clever. Reading anything without critical thinking is pretty pointless. People should watch the news and read newspapers. It’s not all garbage, and how can you identify propaganda if you don’t learn how to identify it?
whisperwrongwords@reddit
That's the secret, it's all propaganda
StationImpossible964@reddit
I teach Chomsky. I had read Manufacturing Consent. Chomsky never says “it’s all propaganda”. If you’re so certain that he does, please find me a quote.
You’re trying to simplify his ideas in a way that allows you to understand him. But you’ve oversimplified. Are you trying to tell me that every single word in the NYT is “propaganda”? If there is some factual reporting in there, then (a) it might be useful to read, and (b) learning to distinguish between fact and commentary/ propaganda is a helpful skill.
I return to my original point: complete disengagement with the media, not reading and listening to the mainstream news is a far bigger problem than listening to it. People need to engage with the media critically. Instead, today, people listen to podcasts where people tell them what they want to hear and they don’t even need to think about what they are hearing.
SimpleAsEndOf@reddit
It's Absolutely True✅️
This is a typical Fascist lie - lets blame the poor people for climate crisis, lets blame the Democrats for Republican Fascist policies, lets blame Chima for Covid, lets blame the less intelligent for not having our level of critical thinking skills.
Republican Fascist. American White Supremacist Steve Bannon.
You seem to have missed the fact that media everywhere has fallen into the toilet called post Truth aka supporting Fascist Big Lies.
Easy example - when Trump named Israel the Capital of Israel there was zero media reaction.
Whenever Biden made mistakes there was media outrage, they pursued the story for days or weeks.
Whenever the standards are applied unequally (2 tier media), surely the media is applying its own version of Tyrannny?
Most definitely misinformation and disinformation across right wing media makes it impossible to know truth from lies.
I've never heard of a country with amazing critical thinking across the population. But I have been to countries where the media don't lie every other sentence, where they don't spread Fascist Othering and where they don't promote Fascist Big Lies and attack their Enemy.
lavapig_love@reddit
The above is actually attributed to Samuel Clemens, pen name mark Twain, but I'm impressed you'd throw the name of an LDS President in there.
ApocalypseYay@reddit
Sadly, that is a misattribution.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/12/03/misinformed/
The original creator of the exact phrase is unknown, but the closest are the ones attributed here: Hubbard and
cr0ft@reddit
Ignorance is bliss. Until the shit hits the fan, anyway.
CerddwrRhyddid@reddit
I'm not religious, but sometimes there are bits of philosophy that stand out to me and apply in certain situations.
Here?
Give me the serentiy to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
This is the serenity bit.
AllenIll@reddit
Understandable... when the doomscroll turns into the doomstroll... just outside your doorstep. For more and more of us everyday in the U.S.
zuraken@reddit
Doesn't help that "the news" has been harassed by the Government for alignment to current politicians
pegaunisusicorn@reddit
FEEL THE DOOM MY PEOPLES!
For the rest: Put your head in the sand: it insulates.
Monsur_Ausuhnom@reddit
This will have devastating consequences as people remain in denial towards all issues.
Mountain-Nose-8555@reddit
I can’t even listen to NPR anymore because of the anxiety it causes me.
J0n__Doe@reddit
Me, I just go back from the pre-social media ways of digesting news
I just give myself 30 minutes each day to fully read/watch specific news or articles that concern or interest me and then tune off of them for the rest of the day
We are not built to be bombarded with stressful information 24/7, work and adult obligations are taxing as it is
Fabreezy28@reddit
I like this approach
Canyoubackupjustabit@reddit
Yes yes yes
cmfred@reddit
Me too. I am being mindful about the time I spend consuming news. I still keep up, but I prioritize other things in my life, where it matters.
Leather-Sun-1737@reddit
Its an early stage in the process of becoming collapse aware. The hegemony is slowly waking up.
filmguy36@reddit
It’ll be fun to watch their reactions when the orange fool suspends the midterms .
AL_GEE_THE_FUN_GUY@reddit
Most Americans are still too comfortable to give a fuck. If they suspend elections, the average American voter will just be relieved to not see campaign ads again. It's not as if most were going to bother voting anyway.
Randyguyishere@reddit
The click bait on YouTube is crazy, esp on current events, I just skip them now
cranberries87@reddit
I used to read and watch news constantly, and I was very involved in politics. As soon as I got home, I’d turn the TV to news and keep it on.
The day after the election, I removed ALL of the “nEwS” notifications/updates from my phone. I notice that if something absolutely earth-shattering happens, Reuters will send a notification. But that happens maybe every 2-3 months. Otherwise, I don’t get any more news notifications. I went into savings and got a nice back patio built. I bought a BBQ grill, a fire pit, some of those outdoor string lights. Got some really nice used patio furniture cheap. I sit outside, cook out, listen to music, lay in the hammock, enjoy a cold one. I plan to spend my time enjoying what I can until everything completely runs off the rails.
LordTuranian@reddit
Well it's pretty much common sense to know that if you are hit with bad news 24/7, it will mess up your mental health.
Petrichor_Panacea@reddit
Just because you don't know about it doesn't mean you won't be effected by it.
mdlway@reddit
Widespread rank ignorance got us to this point. I have full faith that it will lead the masses to blissfully countenance various incipient efforts to drag the 99% back to the dark ages socially and economically while allowing for unchecked cryptogrowth as the planet becomes significantly less capable of supporting current standards of living and life in general.
AbbeyRoadMomma@reddit
“Widespread rank ignorance”—yep. And this is where we are now—in the crapper.
itsatoe@reddit
There's a feedback loop too. When those ignored-news-stories then cause personal hardship, those people can be easily convinced that that hardship is because of immigrants (or whomever).
TrickyProfit1369@reddit
Yes, hardship usually doesnt make people more leftist
Pot_Master_General@reddit
Like fucking lemmings.
postconsumerwat@reddit
Have to cope and survive... don't need that much more info about how bad ppl can be. It's only so interesting
Solo_Camping_Girl@reddit
Nowadays, I just read the headlines of the news and just selectively pay attention to what is actually relevant to me. The media is great in what they do, they package their stuff to make you feel that you need to know these things despite these things happening on the other side of the world and have no direct effect on you.
Learn to disconnect not only from news, but from social media to a degree. Still maintain some form of line of communication and get some news from time to time, but don't monitor things like you're in a navy destroyer's CIC. It ain't good for you.
EliWhitney@reddit
oh wow, thats wild
Doridar@reddit
I will turn 59 tomorrow. I've been reading the news and watching the news for most of my life now and I understand the feeling. When you hear, as we do here in Belgium, about a tragic bus disaster in Pakistan or a boat capsiding in Angola, a tragedy for the people involved and their families but so distant from you, when you have the Orange Agent all over the news, local political disputes, well, you disconnect
MonsterTruckCarpool@reddit
With Reddit, TikTok, instagram and group chats I get all my distressing news already. Don’t need to double down on bad news even more.
ideknem0ar@reddit
I get the Financial Times and WaPo newsletters every day in my work email (free subs, perks of working at a college) and spend 30-45 minutes scanning and reading what's interesting. I listen to Citations Needed for the media critique, and a couple history podcasts. I feel just as informed as I did during Trump 1, but the amount of doomscrolling has shrunk. Basically this sub and my happy place of the jigsawpuzzles sub. Going to try to read more books this winter. Way too busy in the summer with growing food for the end times. Lol
LocallyInvasive@reddit
Up until the last few centuries, the vast majority of people didn’t even know what was happening in the next village over. They knew about every birth, death, sickness, and surprise in their own town because it affected people close to them.
Apparently most people in the Roman Empire only learnt they had a new emperor when the coins were changed.
Now we’re expected to hear and care about every earthquake, every conflict, every celebrity, and every bullshit new fad.
dhSquiggly@reddit
Personally, I believe it is our duty (to a degree) to pay witness to the events that impact the human condition. We do it as a scattered group to keep the memory alive of what happened. It is how you find answers to the question of “but what can we do about it?”
It saddens me that more do not see it that way, but I am glad to know others continue to watch in vigilance.
Kaldorain@reddit
Winter is coming, brother. Steel thy self.
I feel the same way. You all can run away, call me crazy, whatever; I am the only ONLY source of news in my family/tribe/clique.
If it wasn't for me, most of my friends would still be supporting the Right, and working their 9-5 as blindly as they were before.
Getting PTO removed recently has def stoked our local fires. We voted that in, the Repubs vetoed our vote.
Country_bloke100@reddit
The media is just another product they are trying to sell you. Investigative journalism is dead.
Instead, these vultures are no different than the facebook algorithm, "READ THIS THING THAT WILL MAKE YOU ANGRY!" So they can make $0.2 off ad revenue every time you open a link of theirs.
Outside of a few specific stories, usually international like the war in Ukraine, i just dont engage in the news. And I haven't for 5/6 years.
Much happier for it, too.
SomeGuyWithARedBeard@reddit
I don't know if this is really specifically collapse related or new, more like something that has been going on since the beginning of time.
meatspace@reddit
Post truth has arrived.
4ab273bed4f79ea5bb5@reddit
Yep. My partner was the same way. Eventually they started tuning me out too :((
Kaining@reddit
Everytime someone start to talk to me about local politics and whatever ragebait the fascist wanabe on the right in power said, i counter with a "whatever, here's the latest news on the climate" to drive it down how pathetic and meaningless the red cloth to agitate the bull they're taken for is.
jawfish2@reddit
This local politics depends a lot on where you are. I live in a HCOL blue area. Our reps are quite hard-working and knowledgeable, within the constitutional and pragmatic grounds of elections.
Right now we are working to prevent the oil platforms from being restarted, prevent any new oil operations, make a state law that charges polluters for their pollution, including climate gases, protect immigrants, keep home insurance viable, deal with housing and limited development. These all matter to those who live here, and we have control, to an extent.
You can have an effect locally, that is assuming you have reliable honorable pols. If you are just a bunch of sprawl and fast food, plus big box stores, having sold out to the cheapest developers, then hobbies look pretty good.
NyriasNeo@reddit
"They'll tell you it's not worth stressing over things they can't control"
They are not wrong. Why suffer the stress when you cannot change things? The other strategy is accept, make peace and live as if the world is not going to end, until it does.
I don't avoid climate change news. But it does not bother me anymore. If I am going to die from a heat stroke, I am going to die from a heat stroke. In a world where "drill baby drill" won, I prefer spending time with my loved ones than on futile protests that only make my life worse.
And yes, if everyone thinks like that, we are doomed. But most do think like that because it is the inescapable logic of the tragedy of the commons. So there is no escape. Again, may as well accept and make peace.
Logical-Race8871@reddit
Being informed is not the same as being organized. Americans are neither informed nor organized. It's complete chaos.
The reactor has blown the fuck up, and this is the mangled screaming ribcage of graphite and steel.
RexCorgi@reddit
Make sure I read the news everyday although I don’t think this article really acknowledges how loss of local news has been a big factor in disinterest. No social media apart from a quick reddit as this is my news aggregator. No notifications, very little online shopping. Pay cash, show up. Living in my community. Not afraid of the future.
yosoylentgreen@reddit
Mission accomplished. Just like everything else they create chaos and anxiety to get people to tune out.
Salt-Bet-7165@reddit
Pretty sure a lot is not watching the news any more is because they figured out most is propaganda
Popular-Mark-2451@reddit
The news isn't really the news anyway.
The average person on the street could tell you how the economy is doing far better than the BBC or CNN ever could.
Reuters will tell you what happened yesterday in the world in terms of war etc.
Other than that, open your eyes, look around you, see things for what they are.
Key_Pace_2496@reddit
Too bad that "anxiety" is what drives people to enact change. Instead, people are checking out. We're screwed lmao.
humanity_go_boom@reddit
Wake me up when more than ~30% of the country thinks Trump and the Republican licking his boots are the worst of two pretty terrible choices.
Ok_Pie3834@reddit
I can't live like that. I need to know what's happen no matter how bleak. At least then you can somewhat prepare even if it's hopeless.
1genuine_ginger@reddit
I think that's what big-brother wants, so I find listening to National Public Radio (NPR) is helpful and sane.
Gnosys00110@reddit
Look away and it’s not happening
deadface008@reddit
During my recent vacation in Cancún, I noticed that none of the locals gave a damn about the news or politics, and they were all much healthier socially
Ready4Rage@reddit
I might watch the news if it was presented by actual journalists and not lyimg propagandists (right wing) or adjective-slinging, both-sides "professional" morons
Less_Subtle_Approach@reddit
Makes sense. There’s no more information one needs to gather at this point. The future is clear. What’s needed is action.
stragedyandy@reddit
I'm one of these people now. Over the last 20 years it seems the news has changed. Their aim isn't to inform our speak truth to power. The aim is to farm engagement by gleefully highlighting the horrors of the world and reinforcing the worldview their viewers and readers already hold. I've had enough. I already know we're cooked. I don't need to know every detail of the recipe. Cooked is cooked. I'll go work in the garden and try to be a better neighbor. I'll enjoy my wife and my friends while I still can.
bizobimba@reddit
Can’t worry about stuff I can’t control but it’s like a horrific car crash or a huge python swallowing a deer whole, how can you turn your back and look away? Humans are curious and nosy and have an innate compulsion to stand there dumbfounded gawking at this slow unwinding of our civilization. Otherwise news media, internet, gossipers would lack any raison d’ etre.
Ze_Wendriner@reddit
I genuinely can't comprehend how adults are just simply not able to act like one and face physical reality
CapnJJaneway@reddit
There's acknowledging reality and there's becoming so wrapped up in the horribleness of the world that you become insufferable to others and your mental health takes a nosedive.
You can be aware of the world while also touching grass.
dresden_k@reddit
Hard when both things are true: we can't do anything about it (individually and apparently as a society), and, that everything is getting worse everywhere all the time with nothing slowing down. We hit the top of the curve and flattening out was the 2000s and 2010s and it's all so extremely downhill from here.
Amateur_TimeTraveler@reddit
Yeah I understand this perspective but wow what a lot of privilege and/or extreme denial inherent in this head in the sand approach. I remember learning that most people's response to a crisis is to ignore the crisis, so this tracks with that I guess
sgm716@reddit
I have moved to more reliable jndependant news sources.
I hate Trump but he's right about ONE thing. The media is one of the biggest problems with this country.
mustachewax@reddit
Don’t look up.
itsatoe@reddit
And furthermore...
🎶Don't looook uuuuupppp!🎶
(says pop culture)
CorvidCorbeau@reddit
Might be a hot take, but I totally understand it, and I don't think it's 'wrong'.
Watching the news will not compel people to rise up in the millions and change the world, that's a fantasy.
Say you hear news about a natural disaster in south east asia, some 10,000km from you. You either don't care, or you feel sad for those people. In neither case will anything meaningfully change for those affected.
Same for any other news. Watching news either does nothing, or makes you depressed...so why do it?
The kind of bad situations that bring a meaningful amount of people to the streets, giving them the willingness to fight back against their government do not need to be on TV. People will feel that in their daily lives, and they won't have anywhere to hide from it. That is when you get change.
If it's something you just read online, or watch on TV, it's not worth watching for anything more than being interested in the topic.
21plankton@reddit
I hate to turn on the news and be confronted by starving Gazans, starving Sudanese and nightly bombing in Ukraine. There is truly NOTHING I can do about these problems caused by evil men, whether for secular power or religious power over the land in question. This in and of itself is not a collapse issue but no matter. I want to fill my consciousness with other more pleasant matters.
StridentNegativity@reddit
These people are a large part of the reason the news is so depressing.