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Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#971

Post by yergi »

mckn1ght wrote: post #229
yergi wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community. > Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. > Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html What’s that saying… “you aren’t stuck in traffic; you are the t…

Well, this "semi-noob" has only been here since 2007. I can see it for what it is. People simply aren't free to speak their minds here any longer due to hivemind bubble. If you think trying to point out a serious issue is "sneering", well, you're just proving my point. People simply can't bare to hear dissenting opinions any longer, and won't due to downvoting anything that impinges on their own sense of cognitive dissonance. This post's topic was "outrage fatigue". I am on topic with my original assertion.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#972

Post by toasterlovin »

esafak wrote: post #909
toasterlovin wrote: post #329

I think it's always worth keeping in mind that every single piece of media you consume was created primarily to benefit its creator and almost always the relationship is parasitic (you're the host). Only rarely does media engage in mutualism.

I don't think people become journalists with that mindset.

And yet the things they write primarily benefit themselves (nobody pays the rent by reading the news). So, then: how does that shape what journalists write?

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#973

Post by lazyeye »

HEmanZ wrote: post #455
lazyeye wrote: post #441

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Honestly I wasn’t even approaching this with right vs left in mind. I spend most of my voice on this subject talking down my liberal friends off a cliff. The right and the left tend to think the economy has never been worse and it’s all X fault. Here’s the same jist from the economist: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/10/17/americas-econom... If you want the thoughtful, smart, very right wing source on it, then…

"What we uncovered shocked us. The bottom line is that, for 20 years or more, including the months prior to the election, voter perception was more reflective of reality than the incumbent statistics. Our research revealed that the data collected by the various agencies is largely accurate. Moreover, the people staffing those agencies are talented and well-intentioned. But the filters used to compute the headline statistics are flawed. As a result, they paint a much rosier picture of reality than bears out on the ground..."

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/02/11/democrats-...

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#974

Post by WesternWind »

chikere232 wrote: post #629
WesternWind wrote: post #466

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh I wouldn't have known a friend died if I didn't occasionally log into FB. I wouldn't have known that my best friend from middle school lost her house. I wouldn't have known that a family member was pregnant. But yeah, I feel like news stuff is better curated elsewhere, because outrage keeps eyeballs viewing, so algorithmic feeds tend to highlight it.

> I wouldn't have known that a family member was pregnant. Wait... how? Your family only communicate via facebook? I'm not judging here, I'm genuinely curious

It was a cousin on my dad's side, they don't live near me and we just don't talk that much directly.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#975

Post by Geezus_42 »

intended wrote: post #582
xvector wrote: post #568

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Reddit? Or the circumstances of Trump’s presidency? Hacker News is radicalizing, and is very likely going to have to decide if it’s going to be pro MAGA or not. What did people think the response was going to be once Trump did everything he said he would? People would lie back and let things happen? In America? The land of the second amendment? I mean people should be happy, after this liberals are going to be proud…

Well Trump is leaning into the Curtis Garvin BS which is apparently quite popular with the Silicon Valley crowd.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#976

Post by myko »

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #853
myko wrote: post #781

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you also consider Musk's nazism odious? There is a reason people are angry and the truth is Musk/trump have gone too far. It's bizarre to say but we are watching the downfall of the USA in real time. The country has been captured by criminals who are working to destroy it–folks are going to be angry about that.

> Do you also consider Musk's nazism odious? Are you for real? Is this seriously a good faith argument? My man, you may be a true believer, and that is no compliment. Course correct. Try to steelman a bit.

The nazi salute is a fact, the question is where do you draw the line. Is his nazism okay because it's a joke? Not that big a deal for other reasons? I admit it's difficult for me to steelman here because the best arguments I can come up with for him are unconvincing.

If you feel the need to defend the salute I would suggest digging into that.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#977

Post by mckn1ght »

yergi wrote: post #971
mckn1ght wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community. > Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading. > Please don't post comments saying that HN is turning into Reddit. It's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html What’s that saying… “you aren’t stuck in traffic; you are the t…

Well, this "semi-noob" has only been here since 2007. I can see it for what it is. People simply aren't free to speak their minds here any longer due to hivemind bubble. If you think trying to point out a serious issue is "sneering", well, you're just proving my point. People simply can't bare to hear dissenting opinions any longer, and won't due to downvoting anything that impinges on their own sense of cognitive di…

https://xkcd.com/1357/

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#978

Post by gergo_b »

PaulHoule wrote: post #267
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…

My take is almost the opposite, that it's important to develop healthy social networking insofar as there is some alternative to the outrage. It takes effort though. I'm going to offer my two accounts as examples https://mastodon.social/@UP8 https://bsky.app/profile/up-8.bsky.social both of these are 'cyborg' accounts in that I have my RSS reader, classifier and autoposter. I am looking to build a lot more automation…

Wow that sounds awesome. I was thinking of doing something like that but never had the time to commit.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#979

Post by gergo_b »

rpastuszak wrote: post #18
yowayb wrote: post #9

Those of us in the west tend to forget that much of what we see is a form of propaganda, whether by governments or businesses, or even a large number of people. When you keep this in mind, everything you see becomes an opinion and your mind can comfortably (or at least not emotionally/hurriedly) form your own opinion over time.

Easier said than done. Bear in mind that the way information is served is meant to trigger strong emotional responses, skip the prefrontal cortex and tickle your amygdala. You can limit how much it impacts you, say, through reducing exposure, but you can't reason your way out of it. (this is a response to the comment, not the article)

You cannot logic someone out of something they didn't logic themselves into. 90% of what we feel is primal in-group survival.

Re: Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

#980

Post by Clubber »

snapcaster wrote: post #953
Clubber wrote: post #846

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most people think being informed is reading the NYT or the WP. That's being half informed. That's like listening to the prosecutor and ignoring the defense. You have to read both sides of the stories and guess where in between the actual facts lie (no pun intended).

See i even go further, i disagree that consuming _more_ propaganda is somehow an antidote to other propaganda you consumed. My strong belief on this is that the more media you consume the less accurate your worldview becomes

I can certainly see that. I try not to consume daily news. If it's actually important, someone will tell me about it.
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