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

571–580 of 980 posts

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#571

Post by andhuman »

Arete314159 wrote: post #532

I have OCD and sadly one of the ways I've dealt with it is to drown it out by being on social media and, before that, just playing NPR nonstop all day. I basically chose a new, louder voice to drown out the other voices in my head. Unfortunately, in this day and age it's like choosing between two different forms of torture. Social media is so toxic and fries the nervous system so much - it's awful. The news is awful.…

Have you tried giving meditation a try? I have no idea if it helps for OCD, but for me it gives space around all the thoughts that’s floating around in my head. That space gives me a bit more freedom to select which thoughts to listen to.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#572

Post by Dalewyn »

xvector wrote: post #568
deathanatos wrote: post #566

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Subreddits like r/pics are packed full of thinly veiled death threats towards the sitting president or Elon Musk. This is just blatant misinformation. Since r/pics is the only example you've chosen to give us, let's evaluate it: I've scrolled through the current first 50 posts in Hot, and 0 of them are death threats, thinly veiled or otherwise. "Packed full", indeed. And here, so it isn't simply my word vs. his; th…

[flagged]

It feels like everyone forgot Reddit's roots as far as its politics are concerned. Namely, the place was Libertarian Central on the internet until 2015 when it got astroturfed basically overnight to swing the other way. I was there to witness it and the whiplash was something fierce.

Reddit has been basically unusable for anything concerning politics since, and nowadays with politics leaking out into every damn sub possible it definitely has a problem.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#573

Post by Eextra953 »

smrtinsert wrote: post #556
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…

The current situation is designed to disregulate all people in the United States and create disengagement and defeatism. The best advice I've heard so far is to prioritize self-regulation BEFORE engaging in reaction/action to the news. Inform yourself to your capacity and lock in when you can, but lock in you must, or the crisis will continue growing.

This is great advice, thanks for this! Whenever I've been in a stressful work situation using this approach has always led to better outcomes.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#574

Post by gitremote »

pugets wrote: post #564
blackeyeblitzar wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

What’s odd is when you read popular Reddit comments, you find the userbase believes that the site is full of pro-Trump bots and shills. My politics are to the left of the American left, but I’d be crazy to believe that the mountains of the anti-Trump posts are organic & the spoonfuls of pro-Trump posts are paid, especially after an election where Trump won the popular vote.

The English speaking world outside of the US is left of Democrats and generally hates Trump, and not everyone on Reddit is USAmerican. Reddit is going to be left of the US and also not representative of the US.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#575

Post by CrimsonRain »

majgr wrote: post #570

Living in Poland ruled by trumpists for 8 years I have these experiences: - Get subscription of high value newspaper or magazine. Professionals work there, so you will get real facts, worthy opinions and less emotions. - It is better to not use social media. You never know if you are discussing with normal person, a political party troll, or Russian troll. - It is not worth discussing with „switched-on” people. They…

Are you sure these high value professionals are fair? I saw this story the other day; don't have much idea about Poland. So verify yourself.

https://notesfrompoland.com/2025/02/03/polish-billionaire-of...

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#576

Post by arvinsim »

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…

I still find value in some of these but just focused to a specific use case for each

Reddit - hobbies

Instagram - catching up with friends

LinkedIn - Job Search

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#577

Post by purplezooey »

CrimsonRain wrote: post #575
majgr wrote: post #570

Living in Poland ruled by trumpists for 8 years I have these experiences: - Get subscription of high value newspaper or magazine. Professionals work there, so you will get real facts, worthy opinions and less emotions. - It is better to not use social media. You never know if you are discussing with normal person, a political party troll, or Russian troll. - It is not worth discussing with „switched-on” people. They…

Are you sure these high value professionals are fair? I saw this story the other day; don't have much idea about Poland. So verify yourself. https://notesfrompoland.com/2025/02/03/polish-billionaire-of...

Digging up a tiny, poorly funded left-wing publication as a whipping post doesn't support the point you are making.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#578

Post by vaylian »

sporkydistance wrote: post #391
switchbak wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but it’s also not a useful distinction. There’s a clear difference of kind between modern social media and the forums/usenet of old.

I really would like to know what exactly you consider a "clear difference" between how Usenet and differ conceptually (e.g., ignoring the GUI, the # of users, and mechanics, [e.g., usenet updates diffused around the globe because we didn't have cloud servers]). Please back that statement up with some facts.

"social" implies that relationships between users are a core part of the platform. I can't follow another user or mark them as a "friend" on HN.

HN users put a lot less emphasis on who says something and we focus more on what they say. There are exceptions of course, because we have our own share of renowned experts posting here. But for the most part, people don't take note of what username writes a post.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#579

Post by ohthehugemanate »

I've been very pleased with my own results by disconnecting from social media and anything with a short (eg 24 hours) news cycle. Weeklies (eg the economist) are still generally worth reading and filter to more important topics. On (geo)politics when I want more information I go to websites of the major think tanks of the relevant country. The bias is explicit and the authors are always deeply knowledgeable, writing for an educated and equally knowledgeable audience. For the Americans, I would recommend the council on foreign relations and RAND for a republican perspective, and center for strategic and international studies and Brookings for the Democrat side.

Hope this helps someone out there.

Post reply on HN