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There’s a devastating amount of heavy news these days. This week, Thor Benson speaks to psychology experts who say you need to know your limits—and when to put down the phone.
Putting the doom in doomscrolling
Scrolling through social media can feel like a nightmare these days. You’re reading about the horrors of the Israel-Hamas war, and then you’re reading about the horrors of the war between Ukraine and Russia. You’re learning about the latest devastating climate news. Democracy is under threat in America. It can feel like everything is falling apart.
This, of course, can have a significant effect on your mental health. You start to feel overwhelmed. Not only are you dealing with the regular stresses of daily life—your job, your finances, your personal relationships—but now you’re thinking about the most serious problems the world is facing. Social media algorithms tend to elevate the most contentious content, so these feeds are showing you things that will elicit a visceral response—they’re putting the doom in doomscrolling.
According to psychology experts, this has become a serious problem. People are ingesting too much negative news, and it’s not only affecting them personally but impacting society at large. People can handle some bad news, but what if it’s a lot of bad news? And what if a lot of people are doing this while trying to function in the world together?
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Independent | Curriculum Specialist | Online Learning Design | CTE, UDL, STEAM-STEM (w IEP/TESOL services)
1 年https://youtu.be/mVaKmHbxLLQ?si=J8fV0JOSRmPfI2Je
Independent | Curriculum Specialist | Online Learning Design | CTE, UDL, STEAM-STEM (w IEP/TESOL services)
1 年https://youtu.be/0dszb_mobpE?si=gdABEQCQvKUBIPsP
Business System Consultant IV at Computershare
1 年Funny... after article tease, below the "read more"... If I (doom)scroll to the next story: Get Ahead With These Recommended Reads Sam Altman’s Second Coming Sparks New Fears of the AI Apocalypse
Your Story My Words | Building BRANDS for Million-Dollar Companies and CEOs | Marketing Strategist | Storyteller | Blogger
1 年In my opinion, social media is introduced for the interaction of people and news for being updated about the latest information, so they are useful for us. But people are using them more than enough, which is not good. It is addictive, so we should limit the use of social media so that we will be updated with the latest news and information and it will not be harmful to us as well. WIRED
Providing data-driven recommendations
1 年Scrolling is addictive. I stopped using Instagram and Facebook 3 years ago and have created many positive habits and rituals for myself. With that said I have also been out of the loop of what friends and family are up to. However it makes the in person human interaction that much more important for me. I’ve limited my exposure to YouTube and LinkedIn because after all I am still addicted to scrolling. I still have to be careful with which content I spend most of my time on. My partner is still on social media and is in my social circle so if anything important I usually hear about it and she does learn some clever hacks from time to time on social. So I can’t say social media is bad or good. It’s objective. I am happy I am not on the instagram or Facebook anymore because I have found other things to fill my brain with.