balancing media intake

[arfie]

during the psychotic breaks of my early recovery (70's), political rants/crusades were such a dominant symptom that i was guided toward, "media fasting." my intake of newspapers, magazines and books was staggering. my reading speeds were equal to staggering amounts of reading and i preferred reading over socializing. my studious love of research gave me extra fuel for the prostelytizing extra oomph fo creative crusades. my soapbox was outfitted with a speaker system and neon lights.

limiting my media intake did, indeed, help settle the manic tirades. is it worse now than it was in those pre-internet days? dunno. . . there was a staggering array of printed material on most every coffee/side table which contributed subjects i wouldn't have found on my own. yea, the internet puts the world's diversity at my fingertips, but who shares digital content? printed media offers far more clues on a neighbor's interests than the back of a cel phone or a socially distant media stream.

balance in all things. . .

during the 2024 election i had to ask, "who is this kamala harris?" the answer made me think that, perhaps, the limiting of my media take had reached an apathy level over the five years of adapting to my second parenting career. in the six months or so since that ah-ha moment, i have been checking news sources nearly every day and monitoring my mental health for impacts. for certain the intrusive thoughts have increased but seem to be responding well to therapy tools.

thoughts on what i should be monitoring for? how do you know if your media intake is well balanced?

 

[Sideways]

thoughts on what i should be monitoring for? how do you know if your media intake is well balanced?

For me, I have a window of time. Over breakfast. If I need to know, they’ll mention it.

I’ve got 2 different news sources that are quite different, that (from experience and some experimenting with a fairly broad variety) don’t make me distressed, depressed, or leave anger about something lingering.

That’s it for ‘news’ content. I don’t do social media at all.

So, my measure is: can I walk away and leave that content where it is? Or does it show up in my thoughts throughout the day?

I’ve filled my life with things that I value. Things that bring meaning to my life. If my mulling over news content starts intruding beyond that window of time that I allow it? Then I need to make adjustments. Because being on top of what’s happening in the world, and the media’s opinions of that, doesn’t make my life more meaningful day to day, or improve my well-being.

We have an election coming up. I’ll do a bit of research on my candidates: what are their policies? What have they supported and achieved in the past? Beyond that, the media hype is not helpful to me.

I have a degree in political science, and have been politically active in the past. So I understand the need for citizens to be informed and active for democracy to be successful. But I don’t need excessive amounts of media to achieve that, and the tradeoff dysfunction that media (and political media in particular) creates for me personally makes it an unhelpful source of political information in particular.

Last year I got really distressed about the housing crisis that we have going on here. Mostly because I needed to secure housing for myself. Media was unhelpful in keeping me informed - it just perpetuated hysteria. I made the decision to switch off the news, and volunteer with a homeless outreach charity instead. Much more helpful for me - it value added to my life, and I’m now waaaay better informed than the media would ever leave me.

 

[arfie]

So, my measure is: can I walk away and leave that content where it is? Or does it show up in my thoughts throughout the day?

i like that measure, sideways. thank you. i love simplicity. i am quite prone to proselytizing. i might add that to the measuring stick. attempting to convert others to my political platform is a waste of precious time and energy,

side question
does a website such as this one count as social media? i don't do facebook or the like, but i often wonder if forums such as this one are just my highbrow equivalent.

 

[No More]

I try and keep my media consumption to topics that I’m interested in or are highly relevant to my job. (Sport, specifically women and girls, and oh boy has the media been delivering on that one). It’s never a good look to be caught short by someone asking a question and I either haven’t heard about it or they’re spouting some misinformed nonsense that I can easily disprove with some research papers.

More generally, I like to take a broad look every couple days, to get a general idea of the landscape. I think getting into doomscrolling or deep diving on topics likely to get you hot and bothered but with no real relevance to you personally are a one way street to a poor outcome. Media writes the crap to get you riled up and clicks.

And fact check. Because frankly I haven’t ever seen so much nonsense coming out the news machine.

 

[Lost in the Woods]

I like to stay informed but not over do it. There is so much BS being spewed I don’t believe anything anymore. When I read a fortune cookie fortune I always ad “in bed” to the fortune. When I read a news story I ad “interesting if true”. My wife is in the public eye and there are news stories about her almost on a daily basis. Much of the time the reporters just make stuff up. Sometimes they talk about me since I am her husband. Nobody ever asks me questions but I have been surprised to be called a “Passionate big game hunter” or the latest piece of fiction “An expert on computer animation and special effects”. They just make stuff up. I can barely use a cell phone and I know nothing about computer animation and special effects.

 

[Sideways]

but i often wonder if forums such as this one are just my highbrow equivalent.

Haha, yes. It’s a close call. Depending on how you use the site it could fall either side of the line!

 

[Susan Jane]

during the psychotic breaks of my early recovery (70's), political rants/crusades were such a dominant symptom that i was guided toward, "media fasting." my intake of newspapers, magazines and books was staggering. my reading speeds were equal to staggering amounts of reading and i preferred reading over socializing. my studious love of research gave me extra fuel for the prostelytizing extra oomph fo creative crusades. my soapbox was outfitted with a speaker system and neon lights.

limiting my media intake did, indeed, help settle the manic tirades. is it worse now than it was in those pre-internet days? dunno. . . there was a staggering array of printed material on most every coffee/side table which contributed subjects i wouldn't have found on my own. yea, the internet puts the world's diversity at my fingertips, but who shares digital content? printed media offers far more clues on a neighbor's interests than the back of a cel phone or a socially distant media stream.

balance in all things. . .

during the 2024 election i had to ask, "who is this kamala harris?" the answer made me think that, perhaps, the limiting of my media take had reached an apathy level over the five years of adapting to my second parenting career. in the six months or so since that ah-ha moment, i have been checking news sources nearly every day and monitoring my mental health for impacts. for certain the intrusive thoughts have increased but seem to be responding well to therapy tools.

thoughts on what i should be monitoring for? how do you know if your media intake is well balanced?

Hey Arfie, at the moment, I can‘t handle much intake. I am depleted and the news makes it worse. I read something yesterday by accident and it sent me into panic. It stays in my head and terrifies me even more. My guideline is my day, am I feeling strong or scared. Am I feeling hopeful or lost? Besides that do I need to know ? Is there anything I can do? Mostly the answer is no. I cannot handle cruelty, or seeing someone else in a hopeless situation, it resonates with my own hopelessness from my childhood.

As far as this forum, well mostly it helps. Knowing I am not alone makes me feel less afraid and hopeful. Susan

 

[Susan Jane]

Haha, yes. It’s a close call. Depending on how you use the site it could fall either side of the line!

This forum is not social media for me. I use it to help myself and others navigate through this thing called CPTSD… That said I have days when even that subject is too much for me and I have to take a break. Nevertheless it has been helping me through a very tough time, and I am not sure if I would have coped with my current state without all of you

 

[Movingforward10]

Is it apathy or just survival? I'm not sure I even want to be informed right now as it seems relentless.

Maybe it's the motivation to know that is also something to consider?

 

[mamachick]

I am having a hard time limiting political news here in the US. I have strong opinions about things and they are part of my daily life. Is it having an impact on me? Yes, but I think it should as our future is at stake. Every single day there is more drama going on and it feels very unstable. Its not making me unstable, I feel pretty grounded in what is happening but I see so many suffering, loosing their jobs, having difficulty living paycheck to paycheck and I have a lot of empathy. I am able to separate myself and still enjoy things. It is effecting my decision making to a point, which it should as circumstances effect us all and in planning for the future, or preparing for the worst and hoping for the best says it well. It is a bit depressing so I have to back off from news sometimes and refocus. We have never had such high stakes as we do at the moment. Is it good for me? probably not, but I feel that I have a personal duty to know what is going on.

 

[arfie]

My guideline is my day, am I feeling strong or scared. Am I feeling hopeful or lost? Besides that do I need to know ? Is there anything I can do? Mostly the answer is no.

i like! ! ! thank you. it resonates loudly. on the note of, "is there anything i can do?" i seem to see that the cases where there really is something i can do walk in my door far more often than they pop up on a digital stream.

This forum is not social media for me. I use it to help myself and others navigate through this thing called CPTSD…

ditto and it is, indeed, helpful in my own mental health management. still, as a communications specialist, i tend to look at formats more often content. the format here is not radically different than facebook. beginners to online support groups often treat them like social media until they learn support group protocols.

Is it good for me? probably not, but I feel that I have a personal duty to know what is going on.

early into my recovery, i thought duty required great sacrifice. since the military was my escape from my homeless teen life, i thought so with all the fervor boot camp drill sergeants could instill in me. these days i call that, "my martyr complex." since i have climbed off that cross and planted my feet on the ground, i have come to believe that giving and/or receiving pain is not a standard duty requirement. most often, pain is counter-productive to effective duty performance. just believing. proof irrelevant.

 

[somerandomguy]

I quit reading political news entirely and have instructed my news junkie spouse to only tell me good political news. (She hasn't told me about any news at all in several months due to this restriction, because there just hasn't been any good news.) I learn just enough by being on the internet all day and even knowing that much is probably not great for my mental health at all.

I wish I could be a lot more apathetic than I am. But I can't, so permanent news blackout it is.