Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

After November I totally stopped looking at any and all news and social media with the exception of HN. My reasoning being that you are not actually getting informed by any of those sources. They are geared towards engagement which makes them entertainment. Also, I have absolutely no power to change anything happening right now so knowing about it is just going to make me upset. It's a lose lose IMO. A lot of folks have gotten upset with me about this which I find a bit baffling. Like, what does knowing every minute detail do for me?

The net effect of my news/social media fast has been fairly dramatic. I suddenly have an attention span again. When a persons opinion differs from mine, I generally don't immediately assume they are part of the third reich (although if they keep talking a while I might get there lol).

To be clear I absolutely despise whats happening in the US right now. Enough information makes it to me through friends and family (and HN) that I feel a deep sense of despair. I am just not sure what minute by minute updates on the fuckery happening right now gets me.

This exactly, even before November.

I finally saw the futility when there were 10,000 articles about Trump tweeting "covfefe".

I think I did something similar. I decided to severely control my information diet after November and switch to only RSS feeds that I have selected manually and HN. It’s gone better than I expected and I feel very little urge to go back.

At the same time, I’m definitely less informed. Though I’m quite surprised how much still permeates despite me not “going looking”.

Generally, I think it’s more healthy to focus on what you can control and what you have agency over. You can choose what to be outraged over national/global events (and do nothing) or you can instead focus that energy on Doing Something closer to home that’s important to you. Which is the better trade?

I’m somewhat conflicted on being less informed esp with big changes happening. And even more conflicted about what kind of world we’d have if everyone chose this strategy. But, it’s not unprincipled. The principle is Focus on What You Can Control/Do and put all your energy into that.

Well said. Something that occurred to me after writing the parent comment is that this is also an act of protest. Really the only one at my disposal. By depriving these news outlets of my eyeballs I am no longer participating in the incentive structure that created them. Furthermore, our current president is a well-known attention seeker who doesn't care what you think as long as it's about him. The biggest middle finger I can give that asshole is my total lack of interest or attention in anything he's doing.