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It seems like it's closing in. Shootings, stabbings, wars, threat of war, hate...... Turn on the TV and every other programme and most trailers involve violence, aggression, or the threat of it. I'm beginning to find it overwhelming. My bike is my escape route, but I have to come back sometime. I don't watch/ listen to the news, but get sucked into checking it on my phone several times a day, and reading through the endlessly refreshed list of doom.
How do you guys deal with it all, what are your coping strategies?
None of it is happening near me. Not my problem. I can't worry about the entire world so I don't.
"I don't watch/ listen to the news"
Do the same with your phone. You are being targeted by algorithms and the more you keep looking the more they target and send crap your way.
Keep riding the bike and be happier 🙂
I stopped listening to the news, if I'm honest. I used to listen to R4 on the way into work as a catch-up on what was going on in the world, but it was all too much; Immigration, Reform, Hotel protests, Israel/Gaza/Palestine, Ukraine, Trump, ICE, failing NHS blaaaaahhhhh!!
Too much. Turned the news off - much better. I still try to keep on top of things, but do it under my terms rather than having it fed into my eyes or ears when I don't want it.
Maybe ask yourself why you feel the need to 'check'?
Seems to me quite a few people on here seem to need the chaos and rage it produces and purposefully immerse themselves, probably to drown out the noise in their own heads.
and reading through the endlessly refreshed list of doom.
...you need to watch more funny reels on Instagram - some of them genuinely make me laugh out loud. The more you watch the more they feed you.
X is the worst for doom-media so delete that!
Yeah, I find the 'news' somewhat overwhelming at times, so made the conscious decision not to watch it, and only occasionally have the briefest of scans of The Guardian.
Its partly about making that decision / willpower. Partly replacing it with something else. I'm trying to listen to more interesting podcasts instead. Or if just wasting time 'scrolling', IG is serving me up quite a few classic British comedy clips at the minute eg Not the Nine O'clock News / Blackadder / Fawlty Towers etc.
Edit: double-post
I really limit my exposure to news broadcasting. I'll read current affairs, I have no problem with journalism, or investigative work, or even books on pretty much any subject. But the scrolling 24 hr news broadcast has, I think, skewed to an enormous extent folks' paranoia/fear etc (for want of a better expression)
Your information/action ratio is skewed.
Reliable news used to arrive slowly, and accuracy was often suspect. Now we instantly know what is happening all over the world, yet we still cannot affect it.
Involve yourself in local issues, where you can have a positive influence, however small. Join a local litter picking group; volunteer to take less able people out for one or two mornings a month; join a local campaigning group; do a shift at a homeless shelter; help cook or clear up a meal at a community larder; start a group taking kids out for guided off-road bike rides, and to build local trails ...
You can make the world a better place. Even if it is only little things you can make people happier/safer/healthier than they would be otherwise. It's easier to say in than do it, but basically focus on things you can do rather than worry about things you cannot affect.
There is no escape, burying your head in the sand will only work for so long. I find that it’s better to try and understand why things have become the way they are.
None of it is happening near me. Not my problem. I can't worry about the entire world so I don't.
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
Some brilliant thoughts and suggestions guys. Definitely food for thought. Thank you! More would be very welcome 🙂
I'm a news junkie - mainly international though, reading the Economist, newspapers etc. But in the last 6 months I've definitely had to reduce my intake, both from proper sources (BBC radio, newspapers etc) and social media.
BBC radio news has become more and more unlistenable, in all honesty - "news" counts as "Nigel Farage says", "Israel has claimed" and "in other news, a small pig got stuck up a tree"; and commercial radio news is worse.
The Economist has traditionally been very good at going past the headline du jour to actually explain what matters in the world; but in the last year or so seem to be trying to cosy up with Trump, and their Middle East coverage seems to come straight from the IDF press office. And social media's good at uncovering different points of view (good and bad) and more local news (ditto, but does have better coverage of what's going on in Ireland) - but is just depressing.
So yeah, consciously stepping away from the more populist news coverage cause I'll get the gist by osmosis anyway; and picking and choosing what to pay attention to internationally; while focusing on the fact I live somewhere quite safe that's being misgoverned in generally incompetent (rather than malicious) ways. It makes me feel heartless, but keeps me sane.
Avoid the news as it pushes doom and gloom, I even avoid a lot of topics on here as they can be depressing with pointless arguing.
Maybe ask yourself why you feel the need to 'check'?
Seems to me quite a few people on here seem to need the chaos and rage it produces and purposefully immerse themselves, probably to drown out the noise in their own heads.
It's just the way some people are. I've always been like this. When I was 13 I used to constantly get bollocked by the newsagent where I did my paper round (and make myself late for school) because I spent so much time reading the papers, just because I was interested and wanted to know what was going on.
That said I do think the 24 hour news cycle is a problem and I'm trying to wean myself off that. Every time you go on a news site there's about 3 stories saying LIVE!! BREAKING!!! and they're full of conjecture, half-understood facts and hot takes. And you're far better off waiting until the story has actually unfolded, and reading a proper report on it later, which should have all the facts and some context. If you can find it, buried under the next BREAKING story, that is...
I've weaned myself off most stuff that brings me down. Came away from Twitter, don't watch the news, or Newsnight, or Question Time (used to regular) and to be honest watch very little TV. Try to keep my other social media on the fun side of things and ignore any bait.
I do read the Guardian website and listen to the Rest is Politics but don't find either raise my blood pressure too much. I feel much better for getting away from the constant negativity that seems to be forced upon us the last few years.
I used to be a real news junky, addicted to Today (20 minutes of news compressed into three hours...) and the like. Pre-iPlayer, I used a bit of software that created MP3 files from the BBC's streaming content, some of which I wouldn't listen to until six months later - and it gradually struck me that, barring black swan events - nothing changed!
Quick scan of what's going on in the morning, focus in on important stuff if required, no social media, the rest can get in the sea. Build up a stockpile of two months food, go ride your bike.
I'm impressed by the strategies people have. I feel the need to have some idea of what's going on, whether I like it or not, particularly since I retired and no longer have the daily social interaction at work which kept me in the loop. The more cynical side of me thinks that the constant stream of scary/depressing/worrying news we are subjected to suits the purposes of those who govern us as it "keeps our heads down". A bit like how religion was/is used as a means of control. I guess there has always been massive shite going on in the world, we're just aware of it more quickly and graphically now. The problem, for me, is how to process it other than by detaching myself from reality.
Some really good points made though 🤔
Stopped watching/listening to the news since Covid. The news on my phone, if I happen to swipe it on-screen gets scrolled past unless its about music, rugby or bikes, even then I don't read a lot of it.
I sometimes have BBC Breakfast on in the mornings to check the weather, but luckily the 2 main presenters on there are like children's TV presenter utter goons, so easy to just laugh at. (Jon Kay is it, I mean, who put that twerp on the TV?!)
Any really important news can be picked up (or ignored) from threads on here with selective reading.
I just use STW as my news filter/aggregator. A quick look at the title, decide if I'm going to delve further, read a few comments, await the inevitable contrary viewpoint that's always worth considering, look away when the trolls arrive.
If you can find it, buried under the next BREAKING story, that is...
That is definitely tricky. Cant find it now but a couple of days after the stabbings on the LNER there was a bluesky post comparing the newspaper frontpages after that vs the frontpages from after a similar scale mass stabbing in the 70s. Todays papers had it dominating the front page vs the old ones where only one had it on the front page and even then a secondary story.
Don't you hibernate anyway this time of year?
I actually like Jon Kaye, he's likeable and is quite funny.
In the mornings I watch BBC breakfast (a good Piece with Sir Chris Hoy and Lady Sarra Hoy earlier). That's it. The only social media is this place and certain 'informative' facebook groups. I only ever google NHS medical stuff and have a few groups on Whatsapp. Amazingly I can barely use my phone.
It's bad enough coping with family members that loathe me, I don't need strangers on the interweb to join in as well, with their false rubbish.
a couple of days after the stabbings on the LNER there was a bluesky post comparing the newspaper frontpages after that vs the frontpages from after a similar scale mass stabbing in the 70s. Todays papers had it dominating the front page vs the old ones where only one had it on the front page and even then a secondary story.
Reminds me of the coverage of the mass shooting at Glastonbury 1994. It wasn't even the main story in the article that covered it!
https://www.theguardian.com/music/1994/jun/27/glastonbury2003.glastonbury
Mr Eavis, aged 59, said that the shooting was drugs-related. But, he added, 'I'm not going to stop the show because there's one crazy guy with a pistol.
Just imagine that now!
Don't you hibernate anyway this time of year?
The only thing stopping me doing that is losing what little fitness I have. I think I've reached an age where, when it's gone, it's gone. And won't be coming back.
Stop looking at the news. Not just news sites but social media as well.
I look at BBC News once per day. I also have worked hard on my social media feeds for it be almost exclusively running, cycling, cricket and dogs. If any news based stuff sneaks in it gets ignored and/or told I'm not interested.
My view is that gives me a daily brief on what's going on, and if there's anything super important it'll find me along the way.
You also have to remember that the reason everything seems bad is that you know about it. It's not that long ago that the only way of consuming the news was at 6pm or 10pm on the TV or in the morning papers. 24 hour news and social media means you can find about about everything, where previously you only found out about the stuff that'd fit in a 30 minute TV programme or a broadsheet newspaper. Just because you see more stuff doesn't mean there is more stuff to see.
I think its important to recognise that the way news is broadcast now is so completely different to how it used to be. In the 1980's I'm fairly sure the incident that happened in Bondi Beach would have been a dry and factual text report in a hard-copy newspaper and probably only half a page, printed in the evening.
Now, it is a visceral real-time event reported minute by minute via multiple camera angles and then followed up by weeks of reports into the minutiae of every single person involved- along with thousands of comments on social media at every step.
Personally, the fundamental facts are enough for me and I won't be spending much time digging into any of it any further, I don't need to see multiple videos of every angle or know the entire life history of the perpetrators as told by their next door neighbour from 20 years ago.
I understand one of the major issues facing news editors at the moment is fatigue of the public and general numbness to it. I'm not surprised- I mean seriously what do they expect. Some of my colleagues have news alerts on their phones which seems bonkers to me. I mean, unless you're a politician how quickly do you seriously need to know.
I grew up in Essex in the 70s and 80s. Nights out always carried with them the risk of getting caught up in a fight. Racism and homophobia were endemic. Stabbings etc were not uncommon. Mod/Rockers would still occasionally have battles on the beach and we all thought that nuclear annihilation was more a matter of when than if (see Threads, When the Wind Blows etc).
Maybe the world has gone backwards a bit over the last ten years, but locally and even internationally it is still a lot safer than I expected it to be back then.
All in all, more time outdoors (bike obvs, or walking in the woods is a real antidote / escape), more books. Less apps and digital stuff generally, good podcasts aside. Comedy too.
"Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively, there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves.
... Here's Tom with the Weather."
- Bill Hicks
There was an old fella who was a janitor at an old place of mine where i worked, I used to work late a lot at that company and anyway we ended up becoming quite good friends putting the world to rights, having a good laugh etc, I was in my mid 20s and he was 2 years from retirement, dead interesting bloke, used to be a roadie for sabbath and a few other big bands, quit when his heroin addiction got too much and ended up on a completely different path but anyway I'm waffling, he told me something one day that stuck with me when I was asking him a similar question and he said "You never see a miserable gardener" so I asked what he meant, he said "well, come rain or shine, they're always happy. They grow their plants, tend to their crop, feed the bees, the birds, the worms. They've basically engineered their own little world that they have mostly full control over. War, famine, corruption, the injustices of the world can't touch them when their too busy focusing on giving back to their own little eco system"
Proper stuck with me and I've reflected on it a lot over the years, similar to what @irc said but expanded a bit more, care about whats worth caring about, what affects you and you actively have control over. Another way of saying it would be why lay awake at 3am worried about work, when you can't do anything to fix it until 9am in the morning?
I get all of the above buuuuut...
It seems the current technique in politics is to "flood the zone" al a Steve Bannon. And it seems to be having the desired effect. One half of the population seems constantly outraged and one half seems blissfully ignorant. Politicians/the Deep State/Tech Bros/corrupt billionaires get more powerful and rich and everyday life gets worse for most people.
There's a danger to ignoring all this shit. 🤷
I don't have an answer and I'm as guilty as anyone for doom-scrolling BBC and CNN (and STW), though at least I don't use Facebook/Twitter/Instagram. I've had to self-sensor myself from the STW Gaza and Ukraine threads....
I've deleted Twitter which I think has helped me find news a bit less all consuming. Problem is I've always found the news and poliitics in general interesting but I don't think it ever used to be so binary , at least for most people . I listen to alot of podcasts but have shifted to alot more light hearted stuff and I'm also making an effort to put music on instead of the news type podcasts and radio stations.
Not an easy option but I moved to New Zealand 3 years ago and you do feel so far away that it's like there's some distance between you and the world's problems. Not that you dont care anymore but it weighs less heavy. But like I said not something you can do easily .
I'm the type of person that likes to try and understand both sides of an argument but I can't seem to grasp what people who love Farage Trump etc etc are seeing that I'm not , and I feel like I should listen to what these people think but I just can't get past the hate and anger being directed at what I think is the wrong target . I dont want to exist in an echo chamber but not all opinions are valid sometimes. If you listen to journalists who have left the BBC they will tell you how hard it is to both side some issues and present both sides as equally valid
One half of the population seems constantly outraged and one half seems blissfully ignorant
This is our house in a nutshell. MrsLawman absolutely loves the Ch5 Jeremy Vine morning programme, to the extent that she records it (Freeview box) then watches it back late afternoon. Even though half the stuff they talk about is hours out of date by that stage, and the other half is complete bollocks. But "it's an interesting discussion because there's always a balanced left and right guest". All they do, as far as I can see, is overtalk each other and shout a lot. But she gets all wound up about Immigrant this, and NHS that, and Political Party the other.
Me? Ive long decided it's a load of chattery shite, and just pay it no heed.
Guess who's outraged and who's relatively blissful...
Your information/action ratio is skewed.
...
You can make the world a better place. Even if it is only little things you can make people happier/safer/healthier
This, absolutely. Scrolling and social media is 90% sensory onanism. It achieves nothing.
You individually cannot solve Gaza or Ukraine or Sudan or wasteful packaging or climate change or bad busses. But you can do one of two things:
1) pick one big topic and work with other people to change it...like a food bank or a pressure group or a kids football team or anything.
2) pick a small topic and solve it yourself...like picking up rubbish at a kid's playpark or taking care of a public object.
Either way, you will feel that you have helped make the world a better place. You will not feel so helpless. And you will make contact in the real world with real people and the natural environment. Do it for totally selfish, egotistical reasons if you want.
but get sucked into checking it on my phone several times a day, and reading through the endlessly refreshed list of doom.
It’s called doom-scrolling. It’s been happening long enough that it gets referred to all over the place.
The answer is to stop doing it. I do read news articles via Flipboard, but most of the time I don’t look at the majority of social media, I might check out a few Fb pages, but I ignore everything else except to troll assholes on Xitter and never check responses, that way I don’t get dragged into a flaming war with people who have fewer brain cells than an amoeba.
If you still want to have some engagement, use your library card to log into pressreader.
read the economist each week (it’s free through pressreader via your local library)
yes, they have an an opinion, but it’s pretty good journalism, enough local and global news plus science tech and culture.
Don’t check daily. DONT GO ON X OR OTHER SOCIALS
The only thing that really depresses me is strangely what's going on in the US currently, I guess it seems more relevant as it could be a glimpse of what happens over here should politics continue to polarise and if Reform gain power etc.
I end up raging a little watching videos of ICE 'arrests' on Reddit, literally snatch squads of masked gravy seals forcibly kidnapping people from the street based largely on their ethnicity and effectively disappearing them without arrest warrants or any real legal basis apart from the fascist regime over there overseeing it with a corrupt SCOTUS not intervening. It's barely even reported over here on mainstream media. I've stopped watching them of late as it's just too depressing and at this point nothing short of major civil unrest will stop it.
I guess this post means I can't visit the US now either, oh well!
One half of the population seems constantly outraged and one half seems blissfully ignorant.
It is possible to be informed and not be outraged.
'If you're not angry, you're not paying attention' - Gahndi, probably
It seems like it's closing in. Shootings, stabbings, wars, threat of war, hate......
I lived in London, working in central London, for two years from August 89. According to wikipedia, in that time there were 16 IRA incidents in London alone, with associated deaths and injuries, several very close to where I worked.
Add in the Gulf War, Rwandan civil war, Somalia, Sierra Leone, etc and there were quite a few wars, not to mention the Cold War, the threat of nuclear war and all that showbiz. I also vividly remember accidentally walking into cardboard city one evening after the pub, and wondering what country on earth could allow something like that.
Away from the media life these days feels fairly sane.
I lived in London, working in central London, for two years from August 89. According to wikipedia, in that time there were 16 IRA incidents in London alone, with associated deaths and injuries, several very close to where I worked.
Add in the Gulf War, Rwandan civil war, Somalia, Sierra Leone, etc and there were quite a few wars, not to mention the Cold War, the threat of nuclear war and all that showbiz. I also vividly remember accidentally walking into cardboard city one evening after the pub, and wondering what country on earth could allow something like that.
Away from the media life these days feels fairly sane.
This. My dad worked in Belfast for a while around 1990 and that felt a whole lot closer to home that what's happening today.
I would echo others on most points, switch off generally and choose for example a Sunday newspaper to catch up on the week.
Subscribe to Positive News, a much more life affirming way to see the world; there are so many good, amazing people doing fantastic things, it’s heartwarming!
Make the world a better place, volunteer for something that has meaning for you 🙂
Something else that always makes me feel like the world is a good place, make an effort to have real conversations with strangers. If I’m feeling a bit down or stressed, chatting with people, hearing their stories always helps, the world is full of lovely people.
Only thing I can recommend is to add a dog as well as the bike. Assuming it's a proper dog and not a granny's hairy armpit extension, that'll get you out before and/or after the bike ride, meaning more time out of the house and away from the miserable news feeds.
If you still have time after that... a guitar.
Reminds me of the coverage of the mass shooting at Glastonbury 1994. It wasn't even the main story in the article that covered it!
What in the actual shit balls, I was at that one and didn't know until, well, just now. Or if I did I've thoroughly forgotten any memory of it
That said, I was there with the wonderful Debs, so didn't really have any awareness of the world beyond her.
As has already been said many times. The Internet is geared to drive engagement, and it just happens that dooming and rage baiting are extremely effective at driving engagement.
Some great thoughts and ideas guys! Lots there I'm going to adopt, thank you 🤗
Interestingly, as @IdleJon and @lunge have alluded to, back in the 70's, when I was a repulsive, self-centric teenager, Armageddon was always lurking in the background while bombings were not unusual in the UK and Eire. Despite that, unless it directly and immediately impacted me, my attitude to it all was "whatever" 🙄. I need to have a word with my younger self.
I've managed to compartmentalise stuff. Stuff that important (it'll affect me) or not important (it won't affect me, or anyone i know) and then if i can do anything about it, or not. So i only give proper headspace to stuff that affects me and i can actually do something about. The rest i either ignore, or give a quick headscratch about and a shrug. Might be a bit mercenary, but if i turn into a gibbering wreck worrying about it all, i'm no good to anyone and won't be able to focus effort of stuff that matters.
Read this.... Uses actual data to show how things are actually getting better.
"Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About The World - And Why Things Are Better Than You Think"
1) pick one big topic and work with other people to change it...like a food bank or a pressure group or a kids football team or anything.
2) pick a small topic and solve it yourself...like picking up rubbish at a kid's playpark or taking care of a public object.
This is great advice and it's something we can control or see results in. I expect the incidentals in both would put a more realistic and warmer perspective on the world for any of us.
