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How to get away from doomerism in my media feeds? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 3 days ago by Derp@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Looking through my media feeds, including Lemmy, YouTube, News Outlets (Reuters, Financial Times) as well as news related to my profession, I would estimate that 85% of what I see is doom and gloom, i.e. reports about something that's going wrong in the world or might go wrong in the future.

I try to limit what I follow to educational and unopininated sources (as far as that's possible anyways) and some satire or a meme here and there. I don't like suggestion algorithms and don't use social media, because I don't want to be trapped in a self-reinforcing bubble. On YouTube for example, I use third party apps which show me only videos from channels I explicitly follow.

Still, it's mostly depressing information: how bad the job market and economy is, geopolitical threats, AI risks, symptoms of late stage capitalism. I am aware, thanks. But I didn't ask to hear these things over and over and over again, and it's negatively affecting my outlook on life. I've given up on reading the news entirely because I just get triggered by the enshittification of society, politics, the environment and daily life where I live. At this point I'd rather not hear about it anymore.

What I want to ask is whether you are having the same experience? Am I doing something fundamentally wrong? I don't want to be blind to what's happening in my/the world, but I want to have a positive and optimistic outlook on the future. How can I make that happen? How can I get away from an engagement economy constantly bombarding me with bad news without giving up on learning about the things that I am interested in?

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[–] QuarterSwede@lemmy.world 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Yep, great advice. Stop subscribing or following politics and common “news,” add hobbies and things you want to learn helps a lot. You’ll find that the news media is 99% negative and, honestly, lies a lot for clicks and eyeballs.

If you have to have some news then there are services like Allsides that show how liberal or conservative (US) a news article is. That at least gives you better context. I’m sure others exist in other countries. There are certainly more US centric ones.