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How do you be aware of major issues in the world and locally without becoming deeply depressed and cynical? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by ComradeMiao@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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As someone in the US it’s so easy to see so many depressing issues from the ravages of capitalism, to war, imperialism, and genocide. How can one care about these issues and hope for change without allowing themselves to be affected mentally?

I’ve been considering this for the past week, connecting it with Buddhist compassion towards the world and a need for mindfulness. But it’s so easy to fall into emotionlessness.

I’ve also thought through the world has always had issues and though some are getting much worse some are getting better.

I have gone to counseling before but they just make it an individual problem when it’s the world.

Edit: doesn’t have to be US centric. Just I’m writing from that pov

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[–] Commiunism@beehaw.org 10 points 4 days ago

Don't fall into doomerism - news companies are companies, and negativity gets people on their platforms for much longer than positivity, it's easy to get addicted to it. Set time limits or limit the amount of news you consume per day/per week.

Recognize that caring about something requires mental energy - if you had 1 friend who asks you to care about their hobby or learn a bit more, then you might agree, but if you have 20 friends with different hobbies asking the same thing, then there's no way you can care about all of them. Similar thing applies to the news, recognize that you can't care about everything and try learning how to stay informed without giving up lots of mental energy stressing about things you can't really influence.

It's admirable wanting to keep up with the news, but it also can be a bit of a trap and does require a degree of skill to not fall into what you describe in your post.