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Your brain was never designed for this much bad news (www.sciencedaily.com)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/science@lemmy.world
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Humans evolved to pay close attention to danger, but today that instinct is being overwhelmed by an endless supply of bad news from around the world. Researchers say the answer isn’t to stop following current events—it’s to build healthier habits around how, when, and where we get our news.

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[–] 15 points 4 months ago (6 children)

Its wild to see people type “this news isnt good for my mental health”. Like ignoring the planet dying is a price well paid for personal mental wellness. I guess we are doomed as a species. Its really humbling to learn our limits to change things.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago* (4 children)

    The cognitive dissonance on display in this article is crazy. The idea that anyone should be concerned by the mental damaged caused by endless bad news before the impact of life in a world of bad news is just about the same as turning off smoke detectors in a fire to limit the stress they cause constantly going off (sorry I guess here it would be like asking people to build "healthier habits" about when they hear the alarm).

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago* (3 children)

    I think it would be more akin to your smoke detector going off anytime any other smoke detector in the world went off. Personally I probably would unplug my smoke detector if that’s how it operated. Just because it might one day alarm based on smoke in my house I’d have lost my mind and have no discernible way to tell beyond seeing or smelling the smoke myself at that point anyway.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    We are talking about bad news in general. Nothing about this implys bad news world wide that does not effect a person but just bad news in general. So yes the alarm analogy still holds. This whole thing is just saying maybe putting ones head in the sand is better for your mental health, a statement that should be right from a dystopian sci fi novel.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago* (1 child)

    I consciously unplug from the news for a week or two every few months when I can tell it’s getting to me, for my own mental well being. I don’t think that’s burying my head in the sand. I’m no use to anybody if I don’t take care of myself also. The bad news is magnified because it’s at everyone’s finger tips, from all over the world. When I was growing up you’d get most news from a newspaper and the weekend edition would contain more far reaching stuff but for the most part it was local happenings and major national events with the rare content talking about stuff going on around the globe. Now it’s a constant shot in the arm of everything going on everywhere all the time.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    You shutting off is quite literally "putting your head in the sand", but the thing is that is fine for things like a vacation or retreat. Here the idea is that you would control your head in the sand state continuously, effectively siloing your news to only things you want (unhealthy and dangerous) and making a lot of extra work (more stress) for you just to be less informed.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago*

    But the news isn't really like that, though. Like, currently my news feed has multiple items on the aftermath of Trump's Lincoln Reflecting Pool project. That is something on the other side of the continent with no impact on my life and which I cannot do anything about. Every local murder gets a news story, even though most individuals are much more at threat from other things. Apes together strong, but maybe not this together.

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