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.
It’s something I struggle with a lot, too. I stay away from feeds and aggregates for the most part because they tend to have the most attention grabbing (ragebaut, despairbait, what have you) and just browse a handful of news sites when I want to get an idea of what’s happening at home and around the world.
To keep from doomscrolling/binge reading despair, I limit my browsing to just an hour or two in the morning (or on lunch break, downtime at work) ever couple of days or so, unless there’s a specific event that I want to follow (like Eurovision, Ukraine war update, my local election results, wildfire update etc).
I use Ground.news to see sources’ factuality/credibility and biases, and scope out topics and sources of interest.
Grist.org focuses on environmental news and are pretty consistent about having some kind of meaningful, forward -facing conclusion in their articles. Usually in the form of ways everyday folks like you or me can contribute/participate, steps toward long term solutions, that kind of thing. Personally find these additions to be helpful in lessening the aftertaste of despair I’m usually left with whenevet I read the news…
I guess my advice is 1. moderation and 2. quality sources. Easier said than done, I know, but… Good luck 🐝