I’m 43, almost 44, years old and went through a bought of alcoholism during the early part of the pandemic. I went through treatment and have been fine since. However, I can’t help but feel that all the news in the last few months is just the worst. Between the AI bullshit, the wars, the effects of capitalism, and the political situation in general it’s just the worst. Is it just me or have other folks noticed the same trend?
Edit: I should have also mentioned the enshitification of everything tech related.
Edit 2: Thanks for all the thoughtful replies. For some more context, yes I’m American and live in a state that’s about to ban the wearing of masks in public. I haven’t had a drink in over year and have been in therapy for 3 years. I don’t watch any news sources and rarely read media websites. But yet, that information seeps into my life somehow. I donate blood, I make charitable donations, and try to live a good life. I have 2 amazing kids and a great wife. It’s just hard to not end up in a doomer mindset at times. A Bitcoin company bought a power plant up here that has an existing lease to use a lake as cooling water, and it’s heated up the lake to the point that it’s killing fish.
I find it easy to have this mindset too. Sometimes it’s outright depressing.
But I think a lot of this is a result of the media having given up on reporting good news.
Try ignoring the news for a while and you may feel better.
I have to agree. It seems like media in general is trying to get as many views/ clicks as possible and sadly negative information tends to garner more attention.
In addition to ignoring the news, it also helps to sift through what type of content we consume.
But personally, I found that a key factor is balance - being physically active, while constraining media time down to an hour or less. I don’t just mean exercise here, but rather anything physical, like doing the dishes or doing a puzzle as a hobby.
Anything analogue can clear your mind and improve your general mood.