It's actually fine to not look at the news.
Ignore the news for a day, a week, a month or as long as you need to. It's completely fine.
You might feel a sense of responsibility as an informed citizen to keep up to date on current events. But subjecting yourself to constant exposure to upsetting minutiae about things that are far away that you have no influence or control over can be traumatic. And avoiding that painful experience is not the same as avoiding a direct personal problem that you need to face and deal with. It's actually a healthy, sensible choice to make.
Read a book, take a walk, bake some bread, call a friend, whatever.
Just don't look at the news if you don't feel up to it.
The world will be fine if you are not up to date on the latest shameless palaver. You might instead focus on some of the many really important and nice things that you actually can manage and negotiate that are much closer to home.
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@praxeology thanks. I would go further and say avoid the news as much as you can day-to-day. I find that if something momentous/notable happens then someone will tell you about it. 'Behind The News' podcast offers good analysis for those who want it :)
Another viewpoint here: https://margiolis.net/w/news/
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@praxeology I have no TV so it’s not hard for me. Although I read news, but the material is on my terms.
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It's important to protect the people around you, to find the ways in which you specifically can best lend aid. As part of that it's helpful to know the broad strokes of what's going on, to know when someone might be targetted (always support the poor and the unhoused, those under GRSM and others in nontraditional family structures, the immigrants whether or not they're officially-approved; but nobody has unlimited support to give so everyone needs to figure out where their skills are best put to use, and part of that involves looking at who's most at risk and also who's not covered by community resources).
That doesn't mean you have to dedicate all your time to that. Like @praxeology@post.lurk.org said, read a book, take a walk, be sure you have a stable foundation to build that support on. Put your own mask on before helping others, and all that.
It definitely doesn't mean you have to have up-to-the-minute news awareness. A good portion of declining perceived quality of life is legitimate, but another good portion is simply media whipping us into a frenzy over people we'll never meet, issues which never scratch below the surface, fears that never come to pass. A good portion of that frenzy is to distract people from the systemic issues which actually matter. Knowing the broad strokes of what's going on doesn't need a constant subscription; most of it can be gathered from just paying attention to what people are talking about in the background of a much more fulfilling day.
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@praxeology I started playing Dark Souls III again for a ray of light! 🤣
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@praxeology And, you know, "the news" is not the only way to stay informed.
You could join a Citizens Committee, share out the emotional work, and decide on things to do.
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