Avoiding outrage fatigue while staying informed

One thing to consider for those of us who are more sensitive to online outrage is to just quit social media all together. I’m technically gen z and I’ve been off of social media (aside from HN, WhatsApp and discord) for years and you wouldn’t believe how great it’s been for my overall state of mind.

Reddit, instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Threads, etc are all the equivalent of digital junk food and I’d argue that we’re all a lot more negatively affected by it than we think. There’s a reason ‘brain rot’ was word of the year.

I quit reddit too recently, I still look at it for info but I'm not logged in/scrolling through it

I find myself reaching for something when I have YouTube/chilling at my desk at the end of the day, can't code anymore/make something just on till I sleep. Sometimes have the desire to play a video game (I have a gaming rig too funny how that works)

I've been trying to read HN or IEEE, TechCrunch stuff like that as my "lazy fun"

I will miss posting stuff like "what is this car" or being part of the car talk for a sporty car I drive but idk kind of want to just live too

It's unfortunate people expect you to have social media like a girl asks me if I have Instagram and I'm weird to not have one, I get it they can scope you out too for safety but when I tried using that stuff I felt this pressure to post about something

Anyway my main goal in life right now is getting out of debt/staying fit and work on projects

I checked reddit recently for the first time in a while, and I was shocked by how radicalized its become. An echo chamber of hateful people and perhaps GPTs that are agitating the big subreddits. The contrast is stark with all the "no place for hate" in the rules and endless banning of microaggressions.

I saw dozens of death threats. Even an explicit death threat thread with over 40,000 upvotes before reddit stepped in and shut the whole subreddit down.

It reminded me of Ghostbusters 2 with all the aggressively angry people and the ooze pouring out of the sewers, all building upon itself.

Reddit, by far, is one of the worst echo chambers on the internet. I've seen hundreds of death threats at one political group on there, but if any veiled threat is made against the "reddit approved party" it is instantly removed or accounts suspended. This really peaked during 2020, when open calls for violence stayed up, some with reddit admin approvals.

It used to be a good site, but that was many years ago.

Did people forget the_donald?

What do people think others will do, when they see that the_donald behavior gets rewarded by electoral and political support?

If its not clear, everyone is going to radicalize, because its getting success.

> Subreddits like r/pics are packed full of thinly veiled death threats towards the sitting president or Elon Musk.

This is just blatant misinformation. Since r/pics is the only example you've chosen to give us, let's evaluate it: I've scrolled through the current first 50 posts in Hot, and 0 of them are death threats, thinly veiled or otherwise. "Packed full", indeed.

And here, so it isn't simply my word vs. his; these are the current posts:

  Protest, "Musk Stole Your Tax Data"
  Picture of Nazi being punched after making a Nazi salute
  Protest, "The Whole World is Watching"
  Painting over values at the FBI
  McConnell in a wheelchair
  Flag upside down outside State Dept.
  Kid covering ears with politician in foreground
  "Buy Canadian Instead" sign in CA store
  Protest, no visible message, flag with corp logos instead of stars
  German anti-fascism protest
  UFC fight match post KO [KO'd opponent is a neo-Nazi]
  US Marine holding flag in distress position
  Protestor, "No kings in America", dressed as Cap. America, mouth taped over
  Protest "Nobody voted for Elon"
  Protest "Stop Musk's Takeover"
  Picture of Trudeau
  Protest "Smells like Fascism"

… none of which are death threats. I could scroll all night and not see any examples.

Yeah "packed full" is probably a bit too heavy here. To pick a few examples though:

- The nazi punching thread had several moderated comments ranked near the top which were presumably calls to violence.

- The Mitch McConnal thread has many people looking forward to his death, hoping he goes to hell, and a few deleted comments.

- A musk thread has "eat the rich" and storm the capitol. Not super highly ranked.

I didn't go through all of them but it certainly is a bit odious.

Also note though how there's only 1 non political thread and the remainder are anti trump. This is on a general interest sub and what is likely to be an unremarkable day in the administration!

That helped the issue click into place - NONE of the past 15 days are unremarkable. And again, ITS BEEN 15 Days!

If you stop your thought at just “people are losing their shit”, thats seeing half the world.

I’d say thats disingenuous, because it misses or dismisses the incredibly alarming actions that have precipitated them.

If you genuinely care about it, then you might be interested in knowing why people are responding like this. For example, people generally hate Nazis, and punching Nazis is a popular idea.

DO people expect themselves to be polite when the see a takeover and destruction of their government? “it looks like pre WW2 Germany out there, do pass the salt dear.”

Let me put it another way. Trump is likely to try many outrageous and unexpected things.

As someone who tries to be non partisan, and isn't even american, I am fatigued by all of the claims that the world within the USA is ending. Whenever I take the time to examine any of the claims they tend to be fairly hollow or making slippery slope arguments.

As an international user of reddit, there are many of us I presume, I want the outrage to be saved for Trumps undeniable and worst offenses. In my eyes the memecoin was worse than anything which has happened since he became president and yet it has completely left the collective focus. Everything since then has just been a mix of people allowing trump to dictate the media cycle and the deep state deploying its immune system.