How to manage the mental somersaults, avoiding brain damage and brain rewiring from reading news?

[antcollinet]

I deleted ny twitter account. It was mainly due to the ethics of the owner rather than the content - but the content was largely toxic.

My life has been generally better as a result.

From the news point of view I've largely disengaged from politics and culture wars (which seem to be merging). My perception is that over on this side of the pond it is nowhere near as bad as USAnians have it - but it is still pretty depressing.

Oddly though I can keep up with the USAnian "situation" without it being too stressful. I guess being partly insulated from any consequences helps. Having said that - we seem to be no more than a decade behind USA, and the gap is narrowing.


Oh - and cycling as close to daily as possible. There is nothing better for mental health than gentle exercise in the countryside.

 

[Brian Hall]

No sex for children then. What about violence?

I don't think they should be exposed to graphic violence.

 

[Tatr76]

Most news outlets are ad shells so are chasing eyeballs so sensationalism and race/gender/ect baiting rife. When I go on holiday for a few weeks and don't keep up or to places with less or different news, the world is still turning and they have just moved on to new "Most Important Crisis". Think about all the worrying news of past is it still a thing? In life things seem bad in the moment but thinking back most things I was worried about 5 years ago don't matter now. On side note read old old news, my favourite is what drug alcohol was going to ruin the youth/population in UK over the last few hundred years. From gin riots, opium, pot to alcohol pops and ecstasy, what I trying to say is most things potter on the actors just change.

 

[ZolaIII]

Take magnesium, avoid doing things that upsets you, find something meaningful to do. Physical work also helps (like gardening for example).

 

[Doodski]

Take magnesium, avoid doing things that upsets you, find something meaningful to do. Physical work also helps (like gardening for example).

I want to walk it off. I live in a cold place and am waiting for the wind to subside and the temps to warm up a bit so I can get walking.

 

[Axo1989]

I don't think they should be exposed to graphic violence.

Yes, I think that's sensible too. What about certain ideological material, for example religious extremism or Nazism that advocates genocide of other ethnic groups?

 

[Doodski]

Yes, I think that's sensible too. What about certain ideological material, for example religious extremism or Nazism that advocates genocide of other ethnic groups?

erm... This stuff going to get my thread closed! I have specific controversial news issues that I am seriously adamant about too but I am keeping them out of the ASR public forum.... If you want to discuss religious stuff and politics stuff in private that is another matter and you can fly at that. I might want to be included as a contributor if it is a private discussion LoL. Otherwise keep this thread about the unhealthy toxic news stuff without specific news articles or specific news subjects being included. Thanks....

 

[Blumlein 88]

No sex for children then. What about violence?

If you leave children alone they create their own violence.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Yes, I think that's sensible too. What about certain ideological material, for example religious extremism or Nazism that advocates genocide of other ethnic groups?

I think this and sex and excessive violence all fit the same category. As children grow up they will and need to be gradually exposed to it. So where you draw the line or where you think exposure is good varies with age and even with each individual child. They don't need to know about any of this stuff at 4 years old. They don't need to know about much of it at 10 years old. Nothing political or otherwise needed to figure this out. Things that are stressful, difficult, puzzling and a problem as adults need to be introduced gradually over their life growing up.

 

[Axo1989]

erm... This stuff going to get my thread closed! I have specific controversial news issues that I am seriously adamant about too but I am keeping them out of the ASR public forum.... If you want to discuss religious stuff and politics stuff in private that is another matter and you can fly at that. I might want to be included as a contributor if it is a private discussion LoL. Otherwise keep this thread about the unhealthy toxic news stuff without specific news articles or specific news subjects being included. Thanks....

Haha no I don't wish to discuss that actual content at all, or close your thread !! I was curious about a libertarian approach that @Brian Hall raised wrt children's media consumption and current systems like film ratings etc. That requires some finesse: to discuss frameworks without veering into subject matter. I think @Blumlein 88's comment is straightforward.

 

[Doodski]

If you leave children alone they create their own violence.

For sure. I grew up in a unincorporated village of ~280 people that increased to ~350 people and the children where very clicky and tribal. We fought with other villages, cities and towns children like it was the Outsiders book. I still have the scars to proove that. We where very violent and tough!

 

[Blumlein 88]

The good thing about the news these days is you can easily find a version that fits with whatever you believe in. Avoid the versions that annoy you

I'm suspicious of that. Not looking to be annoyed, but also don't want to be in a cocoon detached from reality.

 

[Doodski]

I think this and sex and excessive violence all fit the same category. As children grow up they will and need to be gradually exposed to it. So where you draw the line or where you think exposure is good varies with age and even with each individual child. They don't need to know about any of this stuff at 4 years old. They don't need to know about much of it at 10 years old. Nothing political or otherwise needed to figure this out. Things that are stressful, difficult, puzzling and a problem as adults need to be introduced gradually over their life growing up.

How about this. " Hello grade school children... If you tell me your pronoun I have sweet candy for you!" How's that? sigh*

 

[Blumlein 88]

How about this. " Hello grade school children... If you tell me your pronoun I have sweet candy for you!" How's that? sigh*

Trying to keep in the guidelines, but pronouns definitely are a big no for grade school. Again adults have trouble with it, not fit for grade school. Simple way to evaluate it.

 

[Shadrach]

The answer is Chickens! and a bit of growing food, flowers, herbs, whatever gets your hands in the dirt.

 

[Blumlein 88]

The answer is Chickens! and a bit of growing food, flowers, herbs, whatever gets your hands in the dirt.
View attachment 354986View attachment 354985

One of your hens in the bottom picture looks like she has a wandering eye for another rooster.

 

[Shadrach]

One of your hens in the bottom picture looks like she has a wandering eye for another rooster.

That's dad Henry. It's his son Dig is on the roost bar.

 

[Axo1989]

Approaching this from a different angle, some years back (around the time digital terrestrial broadcasting was introduced here) I envisaged a PhD project on semantic patterns in news media, and set up an array of digital recorders to capture the prime-time evening news broadcasts (in Australia we had ABC and SBS being public-funded independent, and three commercial networks). I think also some morning and weekly stuff (I didn't do cable, we had Sky then iirc). I may have done 18 months of that.

After amassing the raw material and diving in to review I found the news cycle quite repetitive thematically and emotionally somewhat draining. I didn't embark on the actual PhD, more the opposite. I stopped consuming any news media at all for several years. I suppose that addresses the thread topic: overdose, then cold turkey.

I eventually recovered. These days I peruse The Guardian and NYT daily, and Le Monde Diplo weekly. And sometimes, Al Jazeera. Restricted a bit as I'm not multi-lingual. No TV, no cable (not a big thing here anyway) and no social media news sources (why would anyone do that to themselves?). As for comments, a while back there was a great Safari extension called Shut Up! which basically blocked comments on web pages. I do miss that.

Edit: and since someone mentioned them, no news aggregator sites.

 

[vert]

The answer is Chickens! and a bit of growing food, flowers, herbs, whatever gets your hands in the dirt.
View attachment 354986View attachment 354985

Those birds look healthy and happy.

 

[Pareto Pragmatic]

There is a big difference between being the target of a fire hose and taking a drink from a water fountain.

I have a browser that drops all cookies and history when closed. I open it and use that to look at google news headlines once a day, which are pretty "neutral" given no browser history to slant things towards.

I don't read the stories, for the most part. I just see what is in the news, then move on. This keeps me up to date on the news of the day, well enough.

I will read an occasional story. I will do an occasional deep dive.

Sometimes when I see something that sounds crazy, and I want to see what is underneath that crazy, I will actually dig. For an almost content free example: a few years ago I read that a place was going to criminalize using the "wrong" pronouns, turns out the issue was landlords not using people's legal names on contracts. Which also led to me adding another name to my "not worth my time to consider" list. Because that level of intellectual dishonesty is not a one time thing.

I avoid opinion pieces like the plague. Almost all political "news" is disguised opinion.

So, overall, my strategy is to use a trickle of news to keep up with the news that is being pushed in a given day, and I use my own preferred sources (which vary by topic) to find out about things in the news if I want more information.