Hey beehaw. I’m here after years of being on Twitter, and I know a lot of y’all are on Lemmy/the fediverse after spending a lot of time on there or reddit.

I’m wondering: does anyone have any tips for coping with the lack of ambient awareness of what’s going on in the world after you lose your main information source? I used to get a vague idea of what was going on on Twitter, with on the ground reports on things like protests from people who were there. Now that is, for the most part, gone.

I’m both looking for tips on dealing with having less information-- the fact is that I don’t need to know as much as I did-- and help with finding emotionally healthy ways to keep up with news, some of the time. I’m also happy to hear about other people’s experiences with this kind of thing happening in the past; I’m sure some of y’all have been through this before.

  • Chimaeratorian@beehaw.orgEnglish
    13·
    1 year ago

    I think you hit the nail on the head - we don’t need to know as much as we did. The internet had explosive growth and now with a phone in your hand, information overload is easier than ever before, because it used to just be the television while you were at home. Now you can be out with friends and glued to a device feeding you data every waking moment.

    What I’m trying to do in the absence of those constant data streams is be more intentional with my time. Your serotonin doesn’t need to come from hitting refresh on a post for upvotes/likes, though that is what modern social media conditioned us to do. Consume media that doesn’t demand emotional labor. Create. Play. Read. Travel. The world outside has changed a little bit, everything is more expensive, but nature is still (mostly) free.

    At the end of the day you aren’t missing much, despite what your fomo is telling you. And your phone is still a p2p communicator. Hopefully when something consequential happens, a friend or loved one will relay the message. I hope this helps a little.

  • ExoMonk@beehaw.orgEnglish
    6·
    1 year ago

    I ended up setting up rss feeds and am reading more articles now. I come here for the comment socializing and occasionally I still use reddit in Google searches when I need more specific information.

    • thumbtack@beehaw.orgEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      this is what i was going to suggest. while i haven’t set up an rss feed myself (yet), i think it sounds like that would likely be a great option for OP in this situation.

      • ExoMonk@beehaw.orgEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I mostly downloaded an app, Feedly and then Inoreader (I like this one better). Then I just used their interface to subscribe to all the sites I was interested in. It was as easy as subscribing to subs on reddit. I get a lot of repeat articles as I have a lot of crossover, but overall it’s been pretty good.

  • whelmer@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I get much of my news from podcasts. Democracy Now, Popular Front, Canadaland, the Guardian, stuff like that.

    • the w@beehaw.orgEnglish
      2·
      1 year ago

      I’m a Canadaland supporter for a reason. Gonna check out the others you mentioned