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I’ve Faded From The Media Stream And Don’t Know How To Return

If this sounds confusing, I can assure you it has felt that way to me too these last few months. As someone with a lower threshold for handling stress compared to most other people but a stronger desire to stay informed and in the loop on world events, my life over the last few years has been very stressful when it comes to the news and political dealings of any kind. 

Since inauguration day, I have found it incredibly hard to put up with the constant whirlwind of chaos and hatred that is emanating and corrupting the entirety of the United States Government. The worst part is: this is an intended effect! Trump’s efforts to take power and strip resources away from important channels in the name of “saving money” would most likely not stand to public opinion if there was enough concentrated opinion to be shared on any number of his policies. However, by constantly shifting the focus around to all of the many things that Trump says and does, that criticism cannot take hold generally in society.

Keeping up with him is tiring and most Americans are not invested enough to try and parse the dust storms that he creates. Unfortunately, I have now found myself in this exact situation where I can no longer go on while staying in the media stream. I decided to stop taking in all the news and focus on myself. This feels like greed, it feels wrong to do it, but I haven’t been less stressed out about current events in such a long time. But things are moving faster and faster for the US. I don’t want to miss something I need to know; it's scary to not know.

With AI being taken more and more seriously and doing more and more damage to the environment and to people’s trust in academia and reporting, wars and conflicts raging around the world, and legislation backpedaling over 50 years of progress without any real successful opposition from anyone who has power, the world is looking incredibly bleak and I wouldn’t be surprised if many people finally see how damaging what we have allowed to happen is to this country and to the world. However, this image of bleakness is one I can’t bear to be constantly reminded of when I see news of violence, hate speech, and murder being broadcast on TV, online, and by word of mouth to only be able to stand and say “I can’t stop it.”

That is the real issue with modern technology: it has become harder and harder to avoid a constant stream of information that you can do nothing about. This is a recipe for insanity–if it were any other circumstance, it would be clear how unhealthy this is. Imagine being subjected to watching someone innocent get beat up behind one way and sound proof glass every single day and never be able to stop it. No matter how much they plead, you don’t have the power to help, but you see it as if you are supposed to have that power. That creates hopelessness in everyone. “Why can’t I do anything! Why is the world like this?” These are the thoughts that come to mind when exposed to such a toxic system.

In addition to this issue, the way that algorithms and news companies keep all eyes on them forces them to rely on methods that abuse our brain's tendency to focus on fear, anger, and the negative. It is intentionally manipulative.

So now I’m mostly out of the media stream, and I don’t want to return to the place that I was. The problem is this: how can I get what I need to know, without being torn apart to the point of inaction and depression? I don’t know how to return to the loop, nor do I know how to fix the problems of our media based society when it comes to conveying necessary information. All I do know is that I need to be aware of certain things, but I also need peace of mind. Without peace of mind, I will never be in a place to do anything about the problems we are facing in this world, it's just not in the cards for me.

Sorry that this post is a bit of a downer, and sorry for being away for so long. I have been taking some time to decompress from everything and I still am very scared. For once in my anxious life, I think we all need to be MORE worried about our futures in the coming days. Let’s hope that we can save some sunshine for the horizon.