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

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

#101

Post by devchix »

true_religion wrote: post #93
devchix wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

It’s funny when you mention serious, “real” emergencies then go on to list occurrences that have never happened in history. A nuclear attack without any warning would be unprecedented. Usually there is some build up before you wipe out entire cities. That build up let’s people get prepared. A deadlier Ebola by the way would be less serious than actual Ebola. Ebola is already too deadly to make use of its infectiousne…

I don't think my point is that we're not prepared for an alien invasion - obviously a ridiculous example. Someone was saying this experience is comforting, someone else said that's a great perspective. I on the other hand am distressed. This is not a really serious event, and our irrational reactions to it show we are terribly unprepared for a more serious event, any event with more death and trauma immediately visible to more people.

> Usually there is some build up before you wipe out entire cities. That build up let’s people get prepared.

Yes. We have runs on toilet paper and lunch meats now. What then, when people are preparing for a nuclear strike.

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

#103

Post by jmalicki »

true_religion wrote: post #94
mrlala wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>panic buying of everything It's not panic buying when you are basically told to stay in your home for weeks on end. You say two weeks- but in Washington here our schools are closed for SIX WEEKS. People want to be prepared. I have kids, they eat like adults. Do you realize how big of food shopping trips people normally do every 1-2 weeks anyway with full families? And we simply don't know if production is going to s…

I am curious if other people are shifting their buying habits. For my family, we have been buying more staple goods that keep for a long period of time like rice and beans. Typically, we don’t eat either of those, but that’s the only thing that will keep you fed if grocers are empty for a month. I think this shift of buying could be called preparedness, but in another way it’s a panic because it’s a serious change in…

I have been buying fewer Staples and more perishables - because no staples are left on store shelves, and meat and produce are the only food left to buy.

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

#104

Post by forkexec »

Stop looking at or obsessing about news except to gather details. Odds are, you'll be perfectly fine if you prepare and act sensibly, because in reality, all you have or need is you to save yourself.

Keep busy and use time effectively. Practice a skill, write a novel, make something, finish some projects.

I've been through:

- storms with 100 mph/160 kph winds blowing down 200-year-old oak trees, concrete-anchored redwood fences flying through the air like kites and bowing-in glass windows several inches / 10 cm nearly to the point of failure

- Loma Prieta and a myriad of earthquakes too numerous and forgettable

- Enron rolling blackouts

- the Camp Fire

- week-long and longer power outages

- and now a pandemic

I'm probably forgetting some events. All I'm missing on my disaster bucket list T-shirt are volcano, hypercane, locust, GRB, asteroid and tsunami. :)

The current situation is a necessary but major inconvenience is all. Things and life will be better in 6-18 months. It will be OK. There's no point to worrying about things that are absolutely beyond one's own control, while addressing and preparing for things within one's control to eliminate sources of worry.

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

#105

Post by saturday14 »

devchix wrote: post #78
aweiland wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

Yet we have panic buying of everything

Initially, I got irritated with it too. But there seems to be no hurry from the govt in creating a vaccine, testing kits aren't widely available. When they do become available, it will most likely not be free of charge. There is no clear, coherent messaging from the govt. No clear instructions other than the basic "stay home, don't shake hands". The president is trying to buy the vaccine only for his countrymen from Germany...

How hard can it be to release accurate numbers, have consistent/clear messaging on the status, on what to do and what not to do, set up testing centers for free etc?

If this is the level of response for this, what can we expect in the case of much severe scenarios like the one you describe?

People are panic buying because they don't know what else to do.

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

#106

Post by nicbou »

I help.

I run a website that helps people figure out life in Berlin in Germany. It covers important topics in plain language.

These days I maintain an overview of the Coronavirus situation in Berlin, and spread correct information in various communities. The government is doing a poor job at propagating information, and most sources are only in German.

Save a few surprisingly hostile people, the response has been very positive. It feels good to be helpful, even if it's only for a few hundred people.

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

#108

Post by rl3 »

bjourne wrote: post #57
gambiting wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were an alien on a spaceship watching us from orbit - sure. But once things start affecting you it just becomes grim reality. Personally I'm stressed as balls because my mum runs a few retail shops and if the situation doesn't improve rapidly she will literally face bankrupcy. It's hard for me to look at it and say "hey, it's great because it stops overconsumption!". And that's not even considering that she or…

Actually I think you are the one with a privileged word view. We know that in a decade or so climate change will come to affect tens of millions of people who will become refugees. Crop yields will fail and lots of diseases much worse than corona will spread. Tough luck that you can't get fly home but that doesn't affect my main point. International air travel is unsustainable and is KILLING OUR PLANET! We as a speci…

Or we just solve it with any number of engineering fixes, minus the abject human misery a global recession involves.

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

#109

Post by bjourne »

marcinzm wrote: post #90
bjourne wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What? I didn't write that having an economy is a bad thing.I wrote that our current global economy is sick and rotten to the core. It urgently needs to be replaced with something that works for all of us rather than the few before it dooms us all.

Replaced with what? Attempt to replace the economy generally just end with a different few controlling things (the new dictator, the party leaders, the rich, etc.). Saying "tear it all down and replace it with magic pixie dust" just ends in mass death.

Is all your argumentation based on straw men?

There are many ways to improve the economy so that it better serves the needs of the majority rather than just a small wealthy elite. That is a fact and does not imply neither pixie dust nor dictatorship.

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

#110

Post by muzani »

okareaman wrote: post #83
muzani wrote: post #59

I'm enjoying it. As I see it society goes two ways during hard times: people either become selfish survivalists, or they become more compassionate. Lockdowns are great - they keep the assholes away from you and lock you in with the people who will live and die with you (or they can be hell). If you're not with someone, maybe you should find someone? Move in with a friend because loneliness will make you very depresse…

You impress me as a healthy person who is financially secure and/or has a strong safety net of family/friends/governmental support, who finds it not difficult to stay on the sunny side of life. I'm not sure you have much to offer people who are struggling with health problems, overwhelming family responsibilities and/or financial insecurity as we head into a recession. Some people are wondering how they are going to…

Optimism is a skill, and takes a lot of practice. The less you have to be happy about, the harder you have to look for a small thing that gives you happiness. Comics and clowns rarely come from happy environments. Suppressing/blinding yourself to unhappy things is unhealthy and dangerous. It's better to find the beauty or humor in darkness.

Everyone dies. Some of us will die in the next month or lose loved ones, and worse. When things are out of control, that's when it's most important to have control over your emptions.

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