Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

If you're outraged by anything that does not directly impact your life you're doing life wrong. We all have limited time and energy. I have never been able to understand people who get emotional over things they read online that have no impact on their day to day life.

I know, but what do I do about global warming and microplastics? Our leaders don't seem to care.

> If you're outraged by anything that does not directly impact your life you're doing life wrong.

This is a pointless truism. Everything relies on "does not directly impact your life", and there's no useful guidance on that point.

> I have never been able to understand people who get emotional over things they read online that have no impact on their day to day life.

Maybe they have more empathy for the plight of others?

Also, it is often the case that the events of today which don't directly affect you, if not stopped, will affect you before you know it, at which point it is too late to do anything about.

It's not pointless at all- it's the core idea behind Stoic philosophy aka "the dichotomy of control," and has proven very effective at improving people's mental health through modern therapy methods like CBT and ACT.

One can still do everything in their power to prepare for, and mitigate things outside their control, while still keeping in mind what is in your control and isn't so you don't become emotionally dependent on outcomes outside your control, which is ruinous for mental health.

Having empathy, and caring about doing the right thing actually work better when you stop obsessing over and wasting all of your energy on things you cannot control.

Assuming this is not a joke, do whatever makes you feel best knowing that you as an individual have negligible impact on the outcome. Personally I don't worry one bit about these two issues because (1) they do not seem to effect my daily life except when I need to drink through a crappy cardboard straw (2) I do not expect them to impact my daily life in the foreseeable future (3) most important I as an individual can not change the way things are and I find I am happiest when I don't worry about things I can't control so I choose not to worry and some how despite my indolent individual choice the world goes on and the sky doesn't fall. (4) I personally believe the harms of these two things have been greatly exaggerated by people with an interest in doing so. (5) my time on earth is limited why waste it being manipulated by words and pictures I see on a screen to be pointlessly anxious or outraged for someone else's benefit at the cost of my own happiness?

You do have influence. How much is up to your ingenuity and effort. You may choose not to exercise it.

Of course you do, that's the whole point: to focus on what you actually can control- your own actions, which absolutely includes using your own ingenuity and effort to influence things for the better.