So I’m trying to kick a bad doomscrolling habit I’ve developed around political news specifically. I’d like to find a balance between “constant low-grade desensitized misery from watching a burning world” (where I’m at now) and “ignorant bliss indifference interspersed with periodic shock followed by deep depression at how bad it’s gotten” (how I ended up when I tried to cut out the news completely in the past).
How do you handle this?
Some ideas I’ve found so far:
- Curate your news sources. What are some sources for US/Global politics that aren’t totally doompilled, but also don’t shy away from scary/inconvenient topics like the collapse of US democracy or the genocide in Gaza?
- Limit news intake. How do you manage this, when every outlet is doing their utmost to make you click on article after article, video after video? And how do you fight the internal impulse to doomscroll?
Any other ideas?
Based on the reference to political doomscrolling, I assume you’re in the USA. Consider NPR.org for fact based journalism with objective analysis. They have the highest journalistic standards. I’m encouraged by the far right calling them woke or biased and the far left calling them “mainstream media” (used as an insult) and accusing them of not covering what’s “really happening”.