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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.