Blog Post No. 711

I think you’ll agree (or maybe you’re just better at being a human than I am) that there are certain things that you have to learn the hard way. You could have been told, shown, or read about but for some reason it doesn’t sink in until you experience it yourself. Surely the thing that’s nearly universal doesn’t apply to me because I’m a special boy.

I think I caught myself doom scrolling. There is so much garbage going on with politics, the economy, the environment, and just, like, all the things, that it’s so easy to jump onto a social media platform and mindlessly consume. The sad thing is I’m not doing it to escape, I’m looking for more and more headlines on these things.

It’s exhausting, and I’m doing it to myself. It’s hard to not worry, even when so many of the headlines are hyperbole or click-bate. Things are genuinely not awesome, and it’s likely going to get worse before it gets any better.

I do my best to remain critical, poke holes in the bubble, and fact-check. I learned long ago that the algorithms (on those platforms and in real life) feed you more of what you want to see and hear. It’s so easy to get caught up or rage-baited into a foment when you’re only getting one side of a story, or all the other comments and replies are from people who feel similarly to you.

I’ve been cutting back a bit. I don’t spend all that much time on social media, but it’s hard to not keep checking, and it’s easy to get caught scrolling when you do check. It’s the time in bed when the alarm goes off when I should just get up and get on with my day, or when I’m watching a TV show and need to just move my phone a little farther away so I’m less tempted.

Staying informed is important and there is so much misinformation out there now, so it’s not unreasonable to do some internet-ing or social media-ing, but too much is as bad (or maybe worse) than being uniformed. And I can spend that time on other things that won’t make me feel anxious, stressed out, or angry.

Maybe I should subscribe to an old fashioned newspaper, if there’s one still worth subscribing to.