I don’t want to be totally uninformed about what’s going on, but I also don’t want to fall into doomscrolling.

I know that I could very easily just avoid any news sites and only find out about these things secondhand from people I talk to whether in real life or online. I also know that it’s not good to bury your head in the sand quite that far.

I could also very easily doomscroll different news sites and actively seek out more depressing news when I’m done scrolling one site. I’ve been doing more of this option lately, and as a reaction to that I’ve started doing total avoidance, which I know isn’t good.

So how and where did you strike a healthy balance between reading enough news to stay informed, but not enough to be in a constant state of anxiety about the world?

I’m looking for genuine advice here. I don’t want to be mean but I’m not too sure else how to say the following: I don’t want to come back to a lot of replies about “I didn’t find a balance lol I just doomscroll/stick my head in the sand” and “I feel this, same.” Not really sure if that’s going against the spirit of the chatting community, but seeing a lot of “same problem” and zero advice tends to make me feel more in despair. I already know this is a common problem, so what would usually be the correct social move of saying you relate in order to empathize and let the other know they’re not alone isn’t helpful for me in this particular instance.

  • curiousmullet@beehaw.orgEnglish
    3·
    1 year ago

    I also struggled with this in the last years. I felt overwhelmed with what is happening and thinking we need to do something and not seeing it happen left me despaired.

    What helped me most was putting it (whatever it is) into perspective and decoupling what I hear about from what I feel compelled to do about it.

    I am not an omnipotent being that can solve the world’s problems by myself. I can only do what I can do and within the area I can control, I do what I can, using the abilities I have. Sometimes that also means not doing it, because I’m tired/exhausted/etc.

    Only I can judge what I can and cannot do and that’s fine.