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
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.
Get involved in direct action in your community. Linking up with an org or group that does real community service and solidarity can help prevent you from feeling helpless and falling into that depressive spiral.
Help at a soup kitchen, provide homeless care kits, work a food/clothing drive, work with a crew to clean up gang tags from walls, pick up litter, build bird boxes, etc.
Seeing your community get a little better can do a lot for your mental health.
Remember that dispite the horrors of our species, we have accomplished some pretty incredible things. Just 200 years ago, we were still putting leaches on people and not washing our hands before performing medical procedures.
Now, we just microscopic lasers to correct blindness, cure certain types or deafness by implanting magnets into skulls, we can deliver and grow infants that are born several months too early to full term with minimal complications, and we can treat scores of diseases that would have been a death sentence just 200 years ago.
The Capitalist scum would have you believe that nobody would have done those things unless they made money doing it, but that’s a lie and projection. They wouldn’t have done that if it didn’t make them money, because they are evil and without empathy.
But they don’t represent the human spirit, what we are truly capable of when we work together for the common good.
The greatest accomplishments of our species aren’t when we compete and fight each other. The greatest accomplishments happen when we cooperate with each other. Don’t let the rich and powerful convince you otherwise.
Act to change it and be at peace mentally knowing that you have dedicated your life to the struggle and you have done all you can.
I just try to channel Gramsci:
“You must realize that I am far from feeling beaten…it seems to me that… a man out to be deeply convinced that the source of his own moral force is in himself — his very energy and will, the iron coherence of ends and means — that he never falls into those vulgar, banal moods, pessimism and optimism. My own state of mind synthesises these two feelings and transcends them: my mind is pessimistic, but my will is optimistic. Whatever the situation, I imagine the worst that could happen in order to summon up all my reserves and will power to overcome every obstacle.”
and this dude was dying in a fascist prison and able to hold this outlook. i find it inspiring
Reading through all the other doomposts I felt obligated to share my view.
I read national/international news every day, and I’m still optimistic about humanity’s future.
First off, I don’t bother with local news at all. That really is just a cesspool of crime reporting. My dad summarized local news pretty well: “someone was murdered today, and heres some footage of blood on the pavement.”
As far as national and international news goes, I read it because I think it’s interesting and it’s good to stay informed, but you can’t use it as a barometer for how the world’s doing, because news is just inherently negative. It doesn’t mean the world is actually doing bad!
Which of the following do you think would get reported as a headline?
“Indonesia enjoys another year without a tsunami”
“Thousand killed as tsunami ravages Indonesian coast”
“Global poverty rate continues slow, steady decline”
“Millions at risk of starvation as African crops fail”
“Good news, no new deadly infectious diseases this year”
“Scientists raise alarm over spread of bird flu”
I think maybe it’s helpful to think of the news not as objective reporting on the state of the world but rather like a police blotter that just logs bad things that have happened. And I think it’s perfectly fine to tune it out and just live your life. If you’re interested in a particular issue, like homelessness or an election maybe look at a less sensational information source like Wikipedia or something.
Also, just a little mini-rant: the two types of people who are most negative about the state of the world are religious missionaries and leftists. Because in order to convince you that the world needs a savior they have to convince you that we aren’t on a path to do it ourselves. So, maybe steer clear of news on Lemmy as well haha
Kinda sad to see the local news comment. I’m not sure if there’s just a really bad local news station by you or there’s some preconceived notions floating there, but you’re more likely to remember the reporting of a death versus Grandma Martha’s award winning plant that got recognition.
If you have other techniques for staying up to date with local and state events please share them, people need to be involved with local more than national (both are important, statistically you impact local more though). I have a couple of local news stations that I follow with their online postings. I feel it’s important to comment and discuss on those because the only vocal people seem to be extremists on there, people need to see that there are like minded people nearby so it’s not so weird to think differently to them.
I’m also confused by your religious missionaries and leftists comment, are you including the right-wing with religious? I can’t argue that everyone doesn’t push the whole savior narrative, just not sure why you singled out those two groups and left everyone else out lol.
Watch the telly. Television tends to keep people somewhat informed but apathetic.
If they’d make people actually feel the horrors of the world, then people would stop watching. They know this so what they do is deliver it all in a way that promotes apathy. They do show you things but structure it so that the implicit message is: don’t worry, do watch but whatever you do, don’t worry, it’s all fine, business as usual. “New report comes out, humanity is destroying the planet faster than ever before, biodiversity is plumetting […] (jingle) there’s a genocide going on and we are supporting it […] (jingle) in other news: a baby panda was born at this zoo. […] (jingle) now for the weather. . […] (jingle) thank you for watching, see you tomorrow.”
What you’ll find is that despite you being somewhat aware of current events, most of the time it all feels like an abstract thing that doesn’t really worry you. Seldom does anything you see on the telly push you to do anything. “Some important news just reached me through the telly, that means that I will now do so and so…”, yeah right. I do nothing, maybe I walk to the fridge to get a soda, since ads do have calls to action. The news has a subliminal call to apathy. So I sit back down and continue to watch my entertainment.
i was deeply depressed before i gained political awareness
Ignorance is bliss - dogs are the happiest people I know. We should all strive to be more like dogs.
The neat part is, you don’t.
It’s tough. Just keeping up with “trying” to be aware is a full-time stressful job (there’s literally only so much time in a day to absorb information, some have less/more). That would be hard even if everything was awesome news all the time in a world so connected.
It helps to realize that it’s always been this way, the world is a busy busy place. Everything going on, all the time, never stopping. It doesn’t pause, you sleep and the world continues on without you. It’s overwhelming, but kinda cool at the same time.
So for me, I take a step back with “mindfulness”. It’s just a word, but what you’re going for is a feeling. For instance, if you’ve been on here a long time, turn off your screen for a minute and look at your surroundings. Don’t let your mind wander back to the screen. Literally give your mind a second to realize you are just existing in a small space. Look at your wall and pick out a detail you haven’t seen before, or a tree (anything to let your mind think about something else).
Take some deep breaths or stretch or feel your toes, there’s lots of different techniques people use. But, you’re going for the disconnected feeling. If you’re breathing and still thinking about what’s online you gotta refocus to your immediate area. That argument or event is not in your vicinity. You are not helping by stressing out over it. Don’t be a fire-fighter who’s in a firehouse worried about all the houses catching on fire.
You can compensate your mind’s news addiction, by realizing you are better prepared to interact and absorb information online if you’re more stable. At some point your cognitive mind is tapped out but you’re still scrolling from habit, or you’re less likely to get your point across with proper communication if you’re not in your best mindset.
By just giving your mind a little room to breathe you’ll start figuring out what you want to do with that time. Local organization, hobbies, chores, your mind will try to fill that void with something and you’ll be able to hopefully choose something that helps your current overwhelming feeling. Fire-fighters check equipment, play games, shoot the shit, etc. They’re still extremely helpful when the time comes.
From recent events I believe online discourse is an important part of society interaction. Look at the media attention over the CEO, instead of just demonizing him, they had to spend time trying to fight all the online support and looked like fools during it.
That’s my secret, I’m always deeply depressed and cynical.
I have a personal petty war against the corposlop extortions in my life, I know it won’t stop them or bring about a revolution or smth, but at least I can be an example to others that they need us more than we need them and it makes me at least feel that I have some control, some things that I can take back from being corrupted.
So far I have:
- Stopped buying all fast fashion and buy far fewer clothes in general mostly off Etsy back in the day or indie online retailers
- Cancelled my subscription to Netflix for me and my gf, replaced with Jellyfin
- Cancelled Amazon Prime and stopped shopping at Amazon altogether alongside getting my friends off Wish, Temu etc.
- Stopped using all food delivery and ride-sharing apps
- Stopped eating fast food and at big chains
- Moved most my grocery shopping to Co-Op
- Eliminated all corporate and/or algorithm driven social media from my life (Insta, FB, Reddit, Discord, LinkedIn, YT (only via self-hosted proxies/ublock/sponsorblock/dearrow).
- Stopped using corpo LLMs, using only my homebrew refine of Mistral 7B sometimes
- Stopped using Chrome, cancelled Google one and my sub to GDrive
- Almost stopped using Windows
- Replaced almost all daily use software with FOSS alternatives
- Almost entirely stopped buying any tech that isn’t used and/or refurbished and/or old/junkyard material
Next steps are:
- Replace ISP router with junkyard rescue gear with FOSS software, mite b getting some from work soon
- Cancel Spotify as my last remaining subscription service (I have personal playlists I need to backup)
- Get rid of Google accs and host my own email
- Ascend past smartphones (already use only old flagships for less than a hundred bucks)
I feel like it’s still all just in the consumption framework and highly individualistic, but it helps me cope, it’s an outlet for anger that has bettered me as a person in every way imaginable.
This is an excellent list, that proves that as an individual there are things you can do to feel right about the world surrendering us. I’ll add, tho I’m pretty sure you are probably doing it already, that I don’t buy anything from Nestlé, Coca Cola, etc like you’re avoiding amazon. Not buying from megacorps goes hand-to-hand to not using meta/google/apple/microsoft services I think.
Do something about it. I run an LGBT center and help homeless trans people get housing. You will be surprised how you can get stuff like this going just by talking to people (a lot, like every day, zealously). You don’t need to be rich.
I’m surrounded by people that give a shit every day. We’ve made a bubble that can’t pop.
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We are each just one person. We can’t save the world, and it would be unreasonable to carry that burden.
But we each can save a small piece of it. A kind word here, a forgiving of slights there, and work in some patience & understanding for others.
Little things can make waves. And if Six Degrees of Separation remains true, your little deeds affect more people than you realize.
