I am studying up about how negative news distorts our thinking and makes us sick. The psychological impact produces negativity bias, availability bias, and confirmation bias. It becomes an addictive fixation and worsens mental health. It makes us unable to see the good around us and creates the illusion that the world is plummeting into chaos, even if things are actually improving.
I only read local news and never watch tv news, but I'm still going to bury my bookmarks a bit within multiple folders to make it harder for me to check the news when I'm bored. I'm also going to switch the url so it opens to arts & culture news first. My mental health is worth protecting. Even the Alcoholic stopped watching the news. I think it's a great idea.
I'll still want to stay informed about covid science discoveries, so I'll just keep a link to the CDC and covid page of my city, and maybe a good science blog to stay current.
Social media is the challenge. I don't want to entirely give it up because that will increase feelings of isolation. But until instagram lets me filter keywords, I can't follow most of my politically aroused and social justice warrior friends. It's hard not to want to check what the hot topic of the moment is or how my friends are doing, but you never know what terrible thing you'll be subjected to when you are browsing that you wish you could unsee because before you know it you're sobbing and wallowing in despair and reaching for substances just to make it through the day. It's no way to live.
The news is a business. They want your attention and are very smart about getting it and infiltrating all your friends lists and manipulating them too. It's a quiet battle to curate what I allow my sensitive eyes to see. I won't be in denial that bad things happen. I just don't want to get so swept away in the bad that I stop seeing the good. How many people weren't shot today? How many people displayed humanity and neighborliness and brotherly love and empathy? How many people did the right thing? Most!
From now on I will focus on the right things.
8:11 a.m. - 2021-04-13