Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

scientificamerican.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

441–450 of 980 posts

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#441

Post by lazyeye »

HEmanZ wrote: post #417
lazyeye wrote: post #403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but quoting the NYTimes as evidence would be no different from a Republican quoting Fox News as evidence to you. Here's an old quote from the author, the esteemable Paul Krugman “The growth of the Internet will slow drastically, as the flaw in ‘Metcalfe’s law’—which states that the number of potential connections in a network is proportional to the square of the number of participants—becomes apparent: most peo…

I linked this article because it summarizes why the data is weird and links to multiple sources, and frames the problem in a way that can be engaged with in a relatively short format. I find it telling that instead of arguing with data, points presented, or any source of counter argument, you act like the only argument in this article is “it’s right because I say so.” Much easier to dismiss a position as “can’t be ri…

Clearly the American people did see a problem with inflation and voted accordingly. And no matter how they try to spin it to support a particular political narrative, that won't change. There are so many ways to spin the numbers to make them support an argument. I'm not an economist so am in no position to assess (and I'm guessing neither are you). But given the track record (bias) of the NYT, I'm always going to be a bit suspicious.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#442

Post by 0xbadcafebee »

I've always found sports to be moronic. People sit glued to their TV staring at big men in tights pass a pigskin around. All people who like sports talk about is how those men passed that ball around, or who they think is gonna pass the ball around next. Let's trade stats and figures about the big men in tights. Ooh, did you see what the big man in tights did?

Politics is now just sports where people in business suits pass moronic comments around. Same pointless drama, same fans commenting about the pointless action, glued to their TVs.

I quit all news the first time Trump was in office. I didn't miss anything. Important information filters through culture, you can't avoid it. But you'll notice soon you have absolutely no idea who it is people are talking about constantly. And it turns out, nothing in your life changes now that you're "uninformed", except you have more free time and you're less stressed out.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#443

Post by localghost3000 »

xorvoid wrote: post #213
localghost3000 wrote: post #76

After November I totally stopped looking at any and all news and social media with the exception of HN. My reasoning being that you are not actually getting informed by any of those sources. They are geared towards engagement which makes them entertainment. Also, I have absolutely no power to change anything happening right now so knowing about it is just going to make me upset. It's a lose lose IMO. A lot of folks h…

I think I did something similar. I decided to severely control my information diet after November and switch to only RSS feeds that I have selected manually and HN. It’s gone better than I expected and I feel very little urge to go back. At the same time, I’m definitely less informed. Though I’m quite surprised how much still permeates despite me not “going looking”. Generally, I think it’s more healthy to focus on w…

Well said. Something that occurred to me after writing the parent comment is that this is also an act of protest. Really the only one at my disposal. By depriving these news outlets of my eyeballs I am no longer participating in the incentive structure that created them. Furthermore, our current president is a well-known attention seeker who doesn't care what you think as long as it's about him. The biggest middle finger I can give that asshole is my total lack of interest or attention in anything he's doing.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#444

Post by johnnyanmac »

Glyptodon wrote: post #290

I don't have outrage fatigue. Outrages are outrages and they are what they are. Are there many exaggerations and fake outrages? Sure. But things like the USA's current constitutional crisis are real. What I struggle with isn't fatigue at outrage, it's knowing what to do about it. I think violence is going to become more common, but I don't particularly think it will be effective. So less so than outrage, it's the fee…

>I think violence is going to become more common, but I don't particularly think it will be effective.

depends on where the violence is directed. Riots on the street and attacking fellow citizens will not change anything. Some old president suddenly falling ill would change a lot (not necessarily "everything". But a lot).

>I would like to do something... But what?

how much do you want to scale it?

Short term

keep pressure on congress, and call your representatives. Your 2 senates (both their local and DC Office each), and your Rep's office. Everyday is ideal but unlikely. Don't flood them with every issue; pick one or 2 and talk about that. They barely take email/letters/online forms into account, and Republicans call much more often than Democrats (yes, that is an issue to look into as well).

If you want to protest and there's something local, that's your choice. But I understand wanting to protect yourself. Stay as low tech as possible if you want to mitigate identification. Smart phone and other tech at home, use a burner phone if you need it.

Midterm (no, literally. Miderms)

- form or donate to coalitions. It may feel like an eternity, but 2026 will come in a blink and you want to make sure to try and turn as much of congress as possible. Those efforts start now, not next year. Keep who's in and helping in, and shift those who's condoning it out. Keep awareness up

- attend your local meetings with mayors/govenors/reps. Change starts from the locals, and surprise: most of the people who attend these tend to be older folk with no traditional workweek. Because they are doing meetings during the rep's workweek. Again, voice your concerns to people who have a chance to change it.

- if you're the type to post: don't let this gish gallop be ignored. Post every medium-large update in communities. You won't change many minds per post, but some will start to realize what's going on and shift. I've seen a few already. A few a day adds up to thousands over 2 years. And these are still slim margin congress.

From there there's a laundry list of long-term actions, but those really depend on Midterms. The theme is that there are people to talk to and not enough people get their voices heard. Don't underestimate the power you hold over who is elected in office.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#445

Post by [deleted] »

polishdude20 wrote: post #220
joshdavham wrote: post #42

One thing to consider for those of us who are more sensitive to online outrage is to just quit social media all together. I’m technically gen z and I’ve been off of social media (aside from HN, WhatsApp and discord) for years and you wouldn’t believe how great it’s been for my overall state of mind. Reddit, instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads, etc are all the equivalent of digital junk food and I’d argu…

Is WhatsApp really considered social media? I mainly use it as my sms alternative.

[deleted]

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#446

Post by nmfisher »

tacticalturtle wrote: post #424
boringg wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

User groups you would be interested in get hijacked by whatever the overall sentiment of Reddit is. Threads that aren't political suddenly get political for no reason. It's completely dead in there - content quality is brutally low.

The wave of X bans was so frustrating. Particularly for sports subreddits where that’s where all of the breaking news and team announcements happen. In fact NFL teams are specifically banned from having bluesky accounts as an official media channel, and r/nfl still banned X/Twitter. sigh

Why are NFL teams banned from having an official account on Bluesky?

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#447

Post by johnnyanmac »

yostrovs wrote: post #440
LeoPanthera wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I decided that other people are far more organized than I am and can respond more effectively, so I'm outsourcing political action in the form of donations. I've earmarked 3% of my income every month for a list of selected charities that currently includes the ACLU, the HRC, and a short list of smaller ones. I encourage you to do the same!

[flagged]

Depends on his funds. if they are in a tight spot, 3% is more than 0%. if they are wealthy, that 3% will go father than many people's 10%.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#448

Post by boznz »

xorvoid wrote: post #149
sporkydistance wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you exclude HN from your list? It is literally social media, but with the dial turned down a little. Yet, you don't have to dig to deeply to see flamewars, outrage, and trolling. I mean, look at many of the garbage comments in this very thread that are on par with /.,xchan.

Yes, but it’s the old skool version of social media and the conversations here are generally higher quality and more genuine. I strongly disagree that it’s “on par with /.,xchan” HN also doesn’t seem to be as susceptible to rage-baiting / outrage-attention-seeking behavior. Not sure exactly what by this is the case but I’d venture a guess it has a lot to do with (1) “dang”s moderation, and (2) not having a personaliz…

There is still a lot of taboo subjects and comments you can make on HN, just look through your comment history on all the things downvoted to hell that you still believe are true. Like a good sheep I now refuse to defend anything that will leave me open to this.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#449

Post by johnnyanmac »

karaterobot wrote: post #17

Avoid following the news constantly. Check in every once in a while—a couple times a week at most. Get your news from long articles, not tweets. Actually read the articles, don't just learn about the world from hot takes. > ... people have found that, actually, outrage can be useful. It actually can help you identify a problem and react to it. But it can also be harmful if you’re experiencing it all the time and beco…

>I'm reading that as meaning something more like identify a problem and act on it.

we can't always act on it the way we want to. The Treasury is 3000 miles away. I know complaining at my rep isn't the solution people want, but it's all I can do.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#450

Post by johnnyanmac »

snapcaster wrote: post #179

I think "being informed" is very overrated in general. Often it means being informed about palace intrigue and intelligence service/corporate narratives. I would say that in general media consumption or "staying informed" should be seen as a vice not a virtue

So what's your alternative? Living in ignorance until it's too late?
Post reply on HN