How to stop doomscrolling news and social media

[C C]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/artic...ial-media/

INTRO: Reading through their social media feeds, Americans are likely to encounter anguished accounts of political turmoil, the coronavirus pandemic and continued fallout from cyberattacks, among other less than cheerful topics. And yet many can’t stop scrolling even more, perhaps hoping to distract themselves from thinking too hard about any one of these ongoing problems. The practice has earned a suitably apocalyptic nickname: doomscrolling.

In spring 2020, at the start of the global pandemic, Karen K. Ho, a global finance and economics reporter at the news site Quartz, began tweeting regular reminders to step away from the screen and do something that will actually make a doomscroller feel better—such as getting a drink of water, stretching or simply going to bed on time. “Those first couple of months I was basically talking out loud to myself,” she says. But her alerts drew attention from mainstream news outlets as well as fellow social media users, and in the year that followed, Ho’s Twitter following doubled to more than 44,000. “It was helping people feel less alone about a practice that they knew to be harmful, and me trying to offer a solution in a way that isn’t antagonistic or judgmental,” she explains. “I think the thing that was really surprising to people was how consistent I was because right now nothing’s really consistent. It’s all really chaotic. And they felt like somebody was looking out for them.”

Scientific American asked Ho what her project has taught her about why people doomscroll—and how they can stop. “What doomscrolling does is rob future you of the energy you need to really focus on important things,” she says, “and also to take better care of yourself." (MORE - interview)

QUESTIONS: Doomscrolling makes us feel bad—so why do we do it? ..... What can we do to prevent ourselves from endlessly scrolling? ..... Is there any way to snap yourself out of a scrolling session once you start? ..... What are some other things to know about doomscrolling?

[Yazata]

INTRO: Reading through their social media feeds, Americans are likely to encounter anguished accounts of political turmoil, the coronavirus pandemic and continued fallout from cyberattacks, among other less than cheerful topics.

That's why I devote much of my time and interest these days to watching Elon's Starbase developments. That, and the little community of like-minded people gathered around it, are one of the last remaining psychologically healthy parts of contemporary society, a place where people can be excited and inspired without having to divide up in hatred according to their race, gender or politics. Conventional media (that includes Scientific American these days) seems interested mostly in making people who disagree with their politics angry. I don't enjoy being angry so I have been tuning that shit out for half a decade at least. I'm very selective about where I direct my attention these days.

And yet many can’t stop scrolling even more, perhaps hoping to distract themselves from thinking too hard about any one of these ongoing problems.

I think that it's because the "news"/propaganda these days is so thoroughly politicized. During the Trump years, outlets like Quartz published non-stop stories about how terrible things were under Trump. The seemingly good economic news in those years had to be deconstructed through the lens of race/gender. Karen Ho was herself a willing participant in writing those kind of stories.

Today Biden is in office and things seem to be going to hell in a handbasket. Inflation is soaring, crime is exploding, civil liberties are crumbling, the post-covid recovery has stalled out, the virus itself is nowhere near "under control" which is what Biden repeatedly promised. Borders are wide open and literally millions of unvaccinated people have crossed illegally in the last year, totally unvetted, to compete with the poorest and most vulnerable Americans for entry-level jobs. Economic inequality has never been larger.

So, suddenly, "doomscrolling" was invented and turned into a problem. Where prior to the election, outlets like Quartz were a torrent of often fanciful bad news, now after the election we aren't supposed to pay attention to all the real bad news and need to turn our little snow-flake awareness away from it, lest it infuence our votes in upcoming elections.

It's ironic since the word "doomscrolling" itself is a new coinage that appeared on social media, among the kind of people who get their news by scrolling on their cellphones. If your life doesn't revolve around your phone, you are unlikely to have seen it. (This thread is the first time I encountered the word.) So the only way to know what "doomscrolling" is, is to partake in doomscrolling by doing precisely what Karen Ho (perhaps correctly) counsels her readers not to do. It's the only sort of place where the idea lives.

[Magical Realist]

I didn't know it had that name, but I doomscroll every morning on Facebook. I have gotten used to the usual bad news and tend to overlook it in favor of funny pics, memes, poems and artwork that I can post on my facebook page. I also post a quote everyday that I have hunted down on the internet. It's important to keep our love for the literary alive by reminding ourselves how good writing can be sometimes.

[confused2]

I fall into the doomscroller category - I don't plan it that way - it's more like mission creep. I start by looking at the weather site to see what the weather is (so much less effort than looking out of the window) and before I know what's happening I'm sucked into a story about premature death among herrings as a result of microplastics in the ocean.
I'm impressed by Yazata's solution - stick with what you like and what interests you and ignore the rest. I may add a few more things over time - I'm starting off with space and rats.

[Syne]

People should be more selective in what they view. Don't rely on social media to curate your news, as that tends to be the most sensational...usually in the direction of fearmongering. People should find one or more sources they generally trust and go directly to those sources. Granted, if your preferred sources are bad actors, you're still going to be fed a stead diet of doom, but that's on you to sort out.

Most people would feel better if they avoided the news altogether. What little news that impacts your life directly also often offers very little you can do about it, aside from waiting for the next election.