this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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How did you find a healthy balance between staying informed and not despairing about the world? (beehaw.org)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by Evergreen5970@beehaw.org to c/chat@beehaw.org
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I don't want to be totally uninformed about what's going on, but I also don't want to fall into doomscrolling.

I know that I could very easily just avoid any news sites and only find out about these things secondhand from people I talk to whether in real life or online. I also know that it's not good to bury your head in the sand quite that far.

I could also very easily doomscroll different news sites and actively seek out more depressing news when I'm done scrolling one site. I've been doing more of this option lately, and as a reaction to that I've started doing total avoidance, which I know isn't good.

So how and where did you strike a healthy balance between reading enough news to stay informed, but not enough to be in a constant state of anxiety about the world?

I'm looking for genuine advice here. I don't want to be mean but I'm not too sure else how to say the following: I don't want to come back to a lot of replies about "I didn't find a balance lol I just doomscroll/stick my head in the sand" and "I feel this, same." Not really sure if that's going against the spirit of the chatting community, but seeing a lot of "same problem" and zero advice tends to make me feel more in despair. I already know this is a common problem, so what would usually be the correct social move of saying you relate in order to empathize and let the other know they're not alone isn't helpful for me in this particular instance.

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[–] Evergreen5970@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I especially appreciate the time you spent typing out this response!

I am a little confused about one part.

The balance is finding ways to engage in your local community. Work or volunteer at the library or a non-profit performing arts center, get involved in the bills that are being proposed for your city and fight for them if they’re worth it and fight against them if they’re not. Change starts locally. We may be inspired to hear about the people of Hong Kong, but if we don’t actually do anything about our local problems then why are we cheering them on? Oh good, at least someone somewhere is doing something? Do your schools have funding for arts? Mine do not, so if kinds want to learn music or theater they have to do it as an extracurricular. These places are normally non-profit, heavily volunteer sponsored and are chronically understaffed. If you don’t like kids, senior facilities, hell the entire caregiving field if you don’t like old people either!

I feel the bolded part was leading into something, maybe another thought. As it stands, it’s placed right after a way to help that involves children, far away from the sentences near the start of the paragraph that are ways to help that are less connected to children and the elderly (get involved with local politics, volunteer at/support the library and nonprofit performing arts). So I’m confused about what you’re trying to say with that bolded sentence. Would you mind elaborating?

[–] averyminya@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

Oh haha! I was mostly joking but I think I didn't finish the thought when I was editing it. I was trying to say it's okay to not like kids or old people and it doesn't mean anything about you or that you're unable to help somewhere. My partner works in caregiving and recently had been getting burnt out and has been feeling bad about it, and while those feelings are valid she isn't an awful person for getting burnt out from a taxing field.