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Ask HN: How are you coping with all the (mostly bad) news around you?

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71–80 of 121 posts

Re: Ask HN: How are you coping with all the (mostly bad) news around you?

#71
post #3

I simply don't watch, listen or expose myself to any type of news (except HN). I've essentially blocked every single mainstream news outlet (TV, Press, Radio) on twitter, I'm not on facebook so I would suggest you suspend your account if you have one (but keep messenger if you use it), don't be tempted to google anything related to that "toilet paper virus". This has two main benefits IMO: 1. you short circuit the ma…

Thanks, nice advice. I avoid TV and watch my usual Youtube feeds. And I benefit from free classical concerts and virtual museum visits.

Re: Ask HN: How are you coping with all the (mostly bad) news around you?

#72
I mean, the worst case outcome is my stock's value goes down by about $10k more. ( I don't count 401k, since short term changes to that are meaningless)

That is largely within the delta of what I chalk up to luck of the draw, when I got my job anyways. So, it is well within expected variance.

I am young, so health is no big deal. I am following protocol, but not worried for myself. Honestly, not that much has changed. People are panicking due to mass hysteria. But, this isn't that bad.

Maybe I used to it. My country has had just as massive dengue, swine flu and bird flu epidemics over the last decade. People died in huge numbers just the same. Just that, the ones at risk were mostly really poor people in a 3rd world country, so no one cared enough to force such a response.

My friend jokes that the only reason this pandemic is so serious, is because it's the only one that seriously affects white boomers. I'm not sure if he is entirely wrong.

Re: Ask HN: How are you coping with all the (mostly bad) news around you?

#73
post #63
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be the good news, but the bad news is that a lot of people will run out of money for basic necessities like food and shelter. It might have been different if every country had evolved to allow people to survive economically during recessions with something like a basic income but that's generally not the case.

Which tells you how sick our economy is. A virus is spreading which causes people to, no fault of their own, to lose their jobs, homes and go into starvation. Governments around the world are spending billions and trillions to prop up failing stock markets but almost nothing to provide for real people in real need.

Without an economy there is no tax money and without tax money there is no way for the government to help people in need. So then the government prints money which drives up inflation. Eventually society effectively collapses and no one is helped. It's happened before.

So by your own logic of greater good trumps all the economy trumps helping people.

Re: Ask HN: How are you coping with all the (mostly bad) news around you?

#74
Finally getting around to coding that side project that kept getting pushed to the back burner.

This is a specific instance of the general strategy I call "PARSE" which is an acronym for Positive Actions Reasoned Service Experiments. Positivity comes first because negativity is a terrible and ever present trap, actions are fundamentally different from plans and rumination, reason because it is always worth stepping back to make sure what you are doing actually makes sense, service because being fully human means helping others, and experiments because ultimately anything you can do is just an attempt to try something out that will lead to examination of results and honing of observations, methods, ideas, and so on.

Re: Ask HN: How are you coping with all the (mostly bad) news around you?

#75
Deleted BBC News, Facebook, and Reddit (unfortunately), just skimming HN for cool tech content every now and again.

I'm feeling a lot better. Leaving my apartment, looking at the blue sky and the bustling people on their way to work. Life feels much better, I'm also not checking my phone as often.

Re: Ask HN: How are you coping with all the (mostly bad) news around you?

#76
post #18

Leaning on friends, talking about my issues. Being open about my problems to management. And being OK (as in accepting) that I am not doing OK (as in not doing very well). A lot of my friends also have free time. So a lot of doing stuff together remotely. Some of doing stuff together physically in small groups. And mostly, just a lot more contact with people on WhatsApp. I read some advice that said, only check the n…

> I read some advice that said, only check the news on e.g. 2 set moments in the day.

This is really healthy advice. My approach has been to establish some routine for checking news. At first it was whenever possible, to figure out what to do in a country that was being misguided by its own government (US). Then, when our family made its decisions about how to respond (isolate), we read news off and on throughout the day, and spent much of our time contacting people we have decent relationships with, trying to help them understand to take things seriously. Now that we're mostly in our own house and just waiting it out, we're starting to just check things a couple times a day. I've found it's healthy for me to not check news just before bed. Check in the evening, then have time to digest what's happening and let go of it enough to get a good night's sleep and try to stay healthy.

Reminder for everyone in an area where peak caseload is still in front of you, we want to stay healthy and uninjured not just to avoid coronavirus, but also because an overwhelmed health care system won't respond well to any other injuries or illnesses either. So now, 9yo son, you can't build a tower to the ceiling and climb up on it because there's a small chance you'll fall and break your arm and we don't want you trying to mend a broken arm in an entirely stressed health care situation. I am normally a much bigger fan of natural consequences than I am right now.

Stay safe everyone, and give yourself space to let go when you can.

Re: Ask HN: How are you coping with all the (mostly bad) news around you?

#77
post #51

If it your first time WFH, the anxiety due to that will pass with time. News out there exists to induce some heightened emotional response. Either a WOW factor or a FEAR factor. Apparently, news to induce the FEAR factor is usually available. You don't believe me - then count the negative news and positive news articles for a 15-20 days. This stands true even without the Covid-19 fear. When working from home, limit y…

> If it your first time WFH, the anxiety due to that will pass with time.

This is so true. Switching from being in an office (open plan or otherwise) to being in a small room on your own with only your laptop for company can for a lot of people be too jarring.

Not everyone is cut out for WFH, but currently most do not have a choice. Everyone who is not used to it, will go through an initial period of anxiety as your daily routine has been up ended.

From a work point of view, the most common initial WFH anxiety, is 'how will my boss know I'm still working?' quickly followed by 'am I working enough?' - my advice here is: Don't change your work routine. If your office hours were 9am to 6pm, then stick to that, even though you are at home. Don't be tempted to login earlier or work later. Create a division between work and home life.

Do not sit on the couch with your laptop on your lap or the coffee table - this isn't 'WFH Fridays' where barely anyone does any work. You need a proper working environment. If you can designate a desk in your home to be your 'office' then do that. Organise it as you would your real office desk. Try to position things so that you have natural light.

If you find the silence too deafening, there are plenty of 'ambient' sound channels on YouTube that emulate the hustle and bustle of coffee shops and open plan offices, or even waves on a beach and stormy rain-forests if that's your thing.

Use the newly gained free time that used to be lost to commuting on something that helps your wellbeing, i.e. at 6pm, log-off and do some exercise or have a daily bath.

If you are worried about how your work output is perceived, agree with your boss a way to provide timely updates so that he/she is always informed. Do not be afraid to set Slack/Teams/Skype to 'Do not disturb' if you need to - The downside of people not being able to 'see' you is that impromptu IMs increase and can disrupt your flow.

Try to 'get up' everyday. It's easy to just roll out of bed and sit in front of your laptop in your pyjamas, and not shower every day. Don't do this, it will make you depressed and disconnected. Get up, wash, get dressed (as if you are actually going out) - keeping to your normal healthcare routine will help keep you mentally positive.

In the UK at least, we are not currently locked in our houses, so if you can go out for a walk - even during the work-day. You didn't chain yourself to your desk for 8 hours whilst you were in the office, so why do that at home?

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I've been working from home for several years now, and although I don't follow all of my own advice, I have navigated around most of the pitfalls. That said, not everyone is cut-out for WFH, so your mileage may vary.

Re: Ask HN: How are you coping with all the (mostly bad) news around you?

#78

Basically every other generation before you in history faced a much greater threat with far less resources, technology, and desire to cooperate. Cold War, WW2, WW1, American Civil War, Chinese Civil War, Napoleonic Wars, French Revolution, Black Death, Mongol Invasions, etc. since the beginning of time. I personally find it comforting to know that no matter how bad this virus gets, it’s essentially nothing when place…

This is a great perspective. Thanks!

I take the dimmer view: this is not even a real emergency, and we're not doing very well. I'm not down-playing the seriousness of the pandemic, by "real" I mean it's not a dirty nuke, a large-scale bio-chemical act of terrorism, a virus like ebola where death is faster and more graphic, geographical disaster of continental proportion, or an alien invasion (could happen - we think about it, write about it, make lots of movies). The guidance had been generally: stay home for two weeks. There's not a disruption in the manufacturing of toilet paper, 90% of which is made in the US. Yet we have panic buying of everything, markets down in historic marker, everybody acts like they can't make the next payment (not sure if true, everybody acts like it though). We are so under-prepared for anything really serious.

Re: Ask HN: How are you coping with all the (mostly bad) news around you?

#79
post #52
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Word of unsolicited advice from someone who smoked weed daily for a number of years. If you already have some anxiety, prolonged consumption will worsen it.

Please keep your unsolicited advice to yourself, because you literally have no clue what my journey is, or what health issues I have. Here's my word of unsocilited advice. EVERY PERSON'S BODY IS DIFFERENT. When dealing with mental health medication, it's trial and error. What seems to work for one person doesn't work for another. I am under the care of a physician, and the cannabis I consume is prescribed by that doc…

Fortunately you have medication on hand to deal with the stress of unsolicited advice!

Re: Ask HN: How are you coping with all the (mostly bad) news around you?

#80
post #3

I simply don't watch, listen or expose myself to any type of news (except HN). I've essentially blocked every single mainstream news outlet (TV, Press, Radio) on twitter, I'm not on facebook so I would suggest you suspend your account if you have one (but keep messenger if you use it), don't be tempted to google anything related to that "toilet paper virus". This has two main benefits IMO: 1. you short circuit the ma…

> craving for a catastrophic scenario like that to unfold so they can feel part of something greater than themselves This reminds me of a recent piece in the NYT about despair[1]. I thought that a discussion of meaning was conspicuously absent. I think that religion and civic life has so utterly failed to provide any substantive meaning of life for most people in a manifestly secular world, that is isn't the least bi…

This is why I really do believe that family (or the opportunity to have a fam) is all we have.
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