Despite not subscribing to political communities and having a large number of content filters based on keywords, my feed here is still for a large part all negative articles and ragebait. Elon Musk this and Israel that. Microsoft ruining windows, AI ruining internet, right wingers and capitalism ruining the world, police being racist and shooting innocent people, companies demanding workers into offices, privacy being under constant attack from all sides… And all this despite the effort I go thru to block that from my view. I can only imagine what the unfiltered feed is like.
I get that this is all important stuff but holy shit it’s depressing when that’s all I read here every day. Sure, some of it is legitimately news worthy but lets be real here; much of it isn’t. It’s just to get you riled up and engaging with the post. It’s the exact same thing all major social media recommendation algorithms are doing; feeding you content that causes outrage to keep you on the platform for as long as possible. Do we really need to know about every stupid thing Elon says or every police shooting where the victim is black?
It’s no wonder so many people, especially younger ones feel absolutely miserable from day to day. It can’t be healthy to live like this. I feel like this kind of media diet is pretty much equivalent to eating fast food every single day.
“Welcome to the desert of the real” --Morpheus, “The Matrix”
But I agree, it would be nice if Lemmy could be a haven of intelligence, logic, and reason. But the cockroaches simply move from one infestation site to another, impossible to eradicate.
The only way you will get what you want is to unplug. Stop browsing the internet, get outside, and enjoy the sunshine.
Many of us long for the internet of the 90s – even with its slow dialup speeds and loud modem sounds. It was fresh, exciting, fun, and unencumbered by the weight of millions of trolls who either hadn’t yet discovered it, or hadn’t yet been born. Now, it is littered with such trolls who have what they perceive as their intelligence spoon-fed to them by the very few major news outlets – and mistakenly think that their confirmation bias found in their search results is somehow proof of their intelligence. Critical thought is all but gone, replaced by a terrible version of the telephone game, where facts get lost, or worse, purposefully outright removed.
I mean I remember doing this as far as I can remember even before the World Wide Web. Funnily I got little healthier when I discovered Reddit.
My real life teenage company was definitely this of depressed rebellion sinking in litres of vodka and drugs every other day.
Reddit made me see better people than the shit company of assholes and total cunts from this eastern block post soviet brutalist architecture neighbourhood.
This is how my primary and middle school looked like
Does that look like a fucking happy place?
Some classes were more… normal than others ours was possibly the worst. They figured out it would be a fun idea to put delinquent misfits and mildly intellectually challenged and like 3 average students together into one class and call it integration or smh.
It went about as well as any sane person could expect. The troubled ones terrorised the hell out of the challenged ones. It was like fallout vault experiment.
This class sucked so much that they tried to enroll me into some math competition contest because no one else could do basic stuff or gave a fuck.
All and probably most Local feeds are negative. If you’re looking for a more positive experience, you should change the way you interact with Lemmy and the Fediverse.
First, you should investigate different instances (or consider hosting your own) and find one that sounds like it has a better vibe. Then use the Local feeds instead of All.
Second, look for better communities. Many people complain about there being different iterations of communities but this is where that’s a strength of Lemmy’s structure. If the news community you’re frequenting is too full of downers, then look into different news communities. Or- again- if you’re feeling up to it, make your own and advertise it as a light-hearted community, then moderate it as such.
I try to remind myself that social media, and yes, that includes Lemmy, does not reflect the rest of the aspects of my life - which is overall positive.
Subscribe to the communities you like, and stick to your subscriptions’ newsfeed. Much, much better experience.
Subscribe on https://goodnews.eu/en/ Get a weekly uplifting email.
I think it’s because a lot of things are bad (and many are getting worse) yet the only power most people have to do anything about them is to raise awareness of the issues, which means engaging with negative news. Sometimes it can be hard to tell what’s real news and what’s rage bait; sometimes non-news can seem like news when it’s part of an ongoing pattern (such as “Elon’s dumb take of the day”). I think there’s also some degree of trying to maintain one’s sense of reality. To the previous example, despite being a massive fuckwit, Elon is still among the wealthiest people in the world, is incredibly influential, and has maintained some degree of fanboy army; posting/reading/discussing/upvoting an article about what dumb thing he said today is grounding for some folks because it reinforces reality by demonstrating that yes, he is still a fuckwit, even though somehow everything still hasn’t come crashing down around him like it karmically should.
That’s why I post pictures of opossums, bats, and raccoons…
And weed…
Ty for doing that
And suddenly I found several more communities to sub to.
Thank you sir…
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This is the way. I personally don’t really resonate with OPs problem but the solution is definitely to become the poster you want to see on Lemmy. Most of us are here for scrolling and maybe dropping a comment here or there, theres tonnnnns of space for more link posting.
Your work is appreciated
Thank you for your posts. I love them in my feed.
Thank you for your service!
Tenth person to say it… but thank you :)
I was going to say subscribe to more creative or hobbiest communities, but then there’s still news about Adobe or something fucking shit up in those spaces too… 😅😢
- You’re using an app that has filtering
- You know how to use the filtering feature
- You have not installed an elon, trump, israel and a gaza filter
- You see lots of elon, trump, israel and a gaza content
- You wonder what to do next
I think I see a way out of this.
You can figure it out, I believe in you.
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This doesn’t relate to my question though.
Politics are dumb but very, very important. I’m exhausted, but I can’t let that stop me.
The problem with politics on lemmy is that it isn’t a discussion at all, but a one-sided circle jerk. Almost every post is some flavor of Right Wing Bad, and any attempt at nuance or calling out hypocrisy results in a sea of downvotes and what appears to be shadow bans. There are no dissenting opinions allowed. If you spend your time consuming heavily moderated and filters content, it’s going to produce anxiety. But more importantly, it isn’t even reality.
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If you aren’t informed, your choices are more likely to cause harm
Personal insecurity comes from lack of understanding of systems that impact you.
Everyone has different needs and wants out of their society, but we all have the same axioms. Learning how to connect your axioms to your political identity is a very strong way to feel more connected to your community and the people you care about. Learning how the world works can help guide choices and support others who may also be struggling. Understanding how politics and sociology work gives you a window into how people are motivated and you will make better decisions.
And more than anything, the MOST important part of learning how the world functions and how science, politics, religion, emotion and relationships are all tied to each other, is that it defends you against bullshit and lies.
You and I are very vulnerable to the way others can trigger emotional responses and then use those feelings to explain an agenda. People do this all day long, every day, on every side of the political spectrum, and it’s VERY easy to get pulled into these clubs and communities, most of which are either scams or grifts trying to sell you something or trying to get you to become a walking advertisement for what they’re selling.
Politics are dumb but very, very important
I know that saying well.
And I agree. You are not learning to understand politics because you think you’re going to run for office and change the world, you learn so you understand what’s actually going on and so you can help educate others.
Seriously, everyone out there who rather just block out anything to do with politics and society and are overwhelmed by the idea of finding the path to least harm, you are only going to make your insecurity and anxiety around politics worse by ignoring it or condemning it when you see it. Forming strong values around your axioms is politics, and when you find a confident stance like “Do good things, don’t do bad things” and learn what consequences are of different attitudes and actions, you become a LOT more complete and confident and less likely to be absolutely railroaded by the very real forces out there who will exploit your apathy. It doesn’t mean you have to preach or lecture anyone, just know how things work.
Sitting it out, ignoring it, hiding from it… that feels like you’re escaping, but you are just playing into the plans of those who need you to be apathetic. You don’t get out of taking a side here, so start learning.
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Of course we’re fucking tired of the constant negativity! But that’s because the reality is negative, so WTF is the alternative? Are you suggesting we should be delusional instead?
This is mostly a you problem though. The world has always been fucked and will always be fucked. That’s life, but not your life. You need to worry more about you, your happiness, your mental well being. You need to let go of the thought that your happiness depends on the world. You could literally be living in a warzone and be happy. People do that. Sure there will be rough days, maybe more than happy days, but people will find happiness no matter what. They find it in themselves or in eachother or in the work they do. You need to find the things that matter to you.
A controversial character that shall remain unnamed once said:
Clean up your own room before you go out fixing the world.
“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
― George Bernard ShawWell yes, but you don’t have to feel shit while doing it, is what I’m trying to say. If you are capable of doing something to change the world, than that fits into the “you” perspective. If you aren’t capable to do anything, it doesn’t fit in the “you” perspective. But if you feel personally involved with the world problems and are not able to influence it. You need to change something so you either get some influence somehow or feel less involved, if not, you’re gonna feel a lot of shittyness for nothing.
And it foesn’t really matter which side you go. Both will have a positive effect on your wellbeing.
Well yes, but you don’t have to feel shit while doing it, is what I’m trying to say.
I don’t, though. Not everybody reacts to the negativity in the same way, in terms of letting it affect their mood.
being delusional is better than being mentally ill.
What does being mentally ill have to do with anything? That’s a false dichotomy.
What the “constant negativity” should be doing is galvanizing you into action to try to fucking fix shit!
It is not a false dichotomy though.
Being mentally healthy and well integrated does not require you to live in a perfect, just and balanced universe. It requires you using all the cognitive, psychological and philosophical tools at your disposal to deal with the universe on its own terms.
Keeping yourself depressed for the sake of “not being deluded” is in itself a mental illness symptom, and only has negative consequences for everyone.
What the “constant negativity” should be doing is galvanizing you into action to try to fucking fix shit!
Should. But is it? I don’t think so. It’s just paralyzing and making us all feel miserable.
Hold the door open for a granny. Pick up a trash from the street. Look the cashier into eyes, smile and say thank you. Now you’ve already had a bigger positive impact in the world than a year worth of complaining and doomscrolling online does.
Should. But is it? I don’t think so. It’s just paralyzing and making us all feel miserable.
Speak for yourself. Outside of Lemmy, my biggest hobby is bike/ped/transit and zoning reform activism.
Objectively the world is a much better place than it was even 30 years ago. Child mortality rate, global education, life expectancy, extreme poverty and many more are subjects that have seen drastic improvements and will continue to get better. The reality is, apart from a few cases, that the world is much better than it was and it will keep getting better. And unless a new world war comes in, nothing will stop this progress.
Climate change will destroy our civilisation unless we act quickly enough (and some of the damage is already baked in). So it’s simply not a given that society will continue to get better, that’s really up to governments and their people to make it happen.
Most of those things were built on cheap oil and a stable climate, which means they were borrowed and now the bill is coming due.
We have to pivot to sustainable technologies ASAP – fighting the entrenched business interests all the way, mind you – or all of those advancements will be lost.
He’s suggesting balancing the content. If all you read is terrible, outrage inducing news, yes, you’re life is far worse off. It’s outside our your sphere of influence and reading the same news for the third time won’t make you more informed.
The only thing it will do is make you feel angry, helpless, and less understanding of nuance. Keep it going for longer enough and, congratulations, you’ve radicalized yourself.
Keep it going for longer enough and, congratulations, you’ve radicalized yourself.
That’s some ironically-“negative” spin for “breaking you out of your complacency.”
You’re out of line pal !
I don’t mind the idea of being radicalized, as long as I’m on the right side of history.
🤦♀️
💯👌⚡️
Most things in the world are better than they ever have been and they are still constantly improving. Internet and social media just points a huge spotlight on the things we still need to work on and ironically social media itself is one of those things. We’ll never run out of negative things to pay attention to. Never. Doomscrolling to the point of mental exhaustion and sense of helplessnes is only making things worse. We all need to touch grass. The real world is not like social media tries to convince us.
That’s the problem. Everyone’s like "THIS IS BAAAD! THAT IS GETTING WORSE!! HURR DURR!“ - but no one is actually reflecting multiple sources. No info, just rage.
Contribute positively… By the way, this is not it.
The thing is if you want content, people feeding you it are a small minority doing most of the work.
Help them and maybe they’ll post happier stuff.
This is a great way to contribute. It’s so heartening to me to see so many other people feeling the same way I am about the negativity.
But I’ll take your suggestion and start posting my own content.
One of Lemmy’s most toxic communities are the Linux people. I’m actually a huge fan of Linux, but the simple fact I use Windows as well constantly earns me personal attacks and extremely negative responses.
My solution (to this and many other issues you describe) is honestly to not read the replies any longer… I just say my bit, and I leave.
I’ve also taken to watching comedy shows that touch upon numerous topics of all the crazy shit going on. The Daily show has been a great outlet for me, and I’m not even a Democrat (I’m independent). It’s just nice to see a popular form of media clearly states “yes, this is crazy. You’re not crazy, THIS is just f*king crazy.”
Edit: For example, Trump recently claimed he never said “lock her up” the other day to Hillary. I saw this on Lemmy first. John Stewart’s reaction a day or two later was perfect, and pointed out the gaslighting taking place.
I just feel like you have to find ways to laugh at all this crazy stuff… So comedy shows help. Just keep your guard up whenever consuming politically charged media, of course.
I just don’t see this toxic linux user thing at all.
Every second post is a meme about Linux users telling people they’re idiots for using Windows, but I’ve never seen Linux users abusing Windows users.
I’m sure that it happens to some extent, but it seems entirely possible to be active on lemmy without encountering a toxic Linux user.
Hey you might not read this since it’s a reply, but John Oliver does a pretty good job also! Last Week Tonight on HBO but they also post all their main stories on youtube.
