to stop following politics or watching the news for a while at least?

[tabbycatty]

I have always been pretty politically engaged, active even since my teen years. The past couple of years haven't been the smoothest with wider family issues and I've recently been very unwell with a life threatening illness. I am now out of hospital and the woods but still recovering. I didn't really follow much news or politics for a while when I was very ill and spent my initial recovery listening to audiobooks and watching movies in bed.

The last few days I've tried to re-engage in current affairs and I am just finding it too much, the horror of what is happening in Gaza and Israel, the reaction around the globe, going back on to twitter and seeing the sheer nastiness and vulgarity I just feel done with it. I am a Labour party member and have been active in the past but I just don't like the party very much anymore to many broken promises from Starmer and a betrayal of women. I'm also dismayed by the very black and white attitude towards differing views in politics in general.

Would I be unreasonable to just step back from it all and just not engage for a while? I've been thinking of ending my membership of the labour party for a while now although I'd probably still vote for them in a General Election. Also the news, I feel guilty not staying informed when I always have but I just don't have the bandwidth for it at the moment, its a luxury position I know but I'm so sick of it all. I think even after I'd need to find healthier ways to engage with the material compared to how I've consumed media in the past.

For now all I want to do is cosy in, watch old films, read old novels, knit, bake and cook nice food and perhaps get out and enjoy some nice autumn, early winter weather and spend time with people I love. Is that so unreasonable?

Today annoys me. Bloody oligarch's bitch Amol Rajan slurring his words and so on.

@Oyen I have seen repeats of yes minister and watched other older shows like Mrs America or even JFK and time and time again the same issues seems to come up, it is quite amazing! I have head the FT is very good so will perhaps try that also.

@EasternStandard I will check out the Briefing Room!

Oh I didn't know that about Amol, I remember when he was first on the Today programme and said "oh my bad" about something and I was a bit shocked!

Both reasonable and entirely rational.

Read Rolf Dobelli's book: Stop Reading the News

It's absolutely fine. I'm avoiding the news at the moment. There's simply nothing I can do about the problems in the world and it's horrible to see.
Obviously I still see snippets from scrolling through social media. I know what's going on - but I don't need all the graphic images in my head.

@tabbycatty I always used to get The Guardian/Observer but now I really rate the FT. It has some excellent writers and it covers stories that not everyone does and it's good to have your thinking challenged - something The Guardian in particular is quite poor at ime. Plus the weekend supplement has the same ridiculous lifestyle features that they all do, but on a truly grand scale - it's incredible, quite literally 🤣

I don't blame you, OP. If we spent our time keeping up to date with all the awful things going on the world, it doesn't leave much time for the good stuff and it's absolutely fair enough to have a news fast for the sake of your mental health.

To be honest, right now I've got enough going on. I'm not that long out of a nervous breakdown; my mother died last year and my father is fast on the way to dying himself; I'm wondering where I'll find the energy to carry on working until 67, plus fretting about how expensive everything is. Adding in reading up on hideous war crimes going on all over the planet doesn't help anyone.

It is your choice and a valid one - you do not need to ask permission.

@CranfordScones Thanks I will take a look at the book you mention!

@Oyen You've convinced me I will try a copy or two!

@SallyWD I've seen enough graphic things in my own life lately I don't need more from the screen!

@CupofTeaAndsomeToast Yeah I've definitely spent too much time in the past invested in the news and politics and its never changed a damn thing. If I'd even spent that energy on doing something more practical to help people it would have been better I think. Sorry to hear you've been having a difficult time too, mid life can be so cruel with the strain and the losses 💐

Exactly, that casual disrespectful manner he has is grating.

I listen to Radio 3 in the mornings and am slightly in love with Petroch Trelawny. He genuinely kept me (and the handful of other R3 listeners lol) sane during covid. He does choose the odd bit of music that reflects what's going on but not in a clunky or intrusive way - he'll just drop in, for eg, that a piece of music was recorded somewhere that's been on the news, and then go on with the programme. And he is a big champion of women composers! He also did a wee bit of typically low key activism around the BBC's proposed cuts to choral music funding - there was a headline about how musicians had signed a petition about it and he spent several minutes reading aloud - in a voice of restrained fury - every single signatory. Then he cued in a Bach mass haha. They've restored the funding now. You don't fuck with Petroch.

@tabbycatty mid-life can be a real stinker of a time, as I'm finding. It's exhausting and we need to be able to let ourselves stand back without feeling guilty. More power to us both.

The below is a comment I read elsewhere. It makes a lot of sense to me.

"I realized that after decades of diligently keeping up with the news, there was not even one situation where I had to know something that only came from the news headlines in order to protect my own safety or improve my life. Nor was there even one situation where knowing about how bad things were for others helped me to save anyone. The times I had first hand knowledge of something in the news, I saw how skewed the reporting was. As I don't believe politicians sincerely care about my point of view, I don't feel it necessary to develop a personal opinion about all crises so I can instruct politicians on what to do about them. I don't believe that spreading how awful horrific things are is a powerful way to make society better, and as I've learned more about the psychological hooks and addictive nature of emotional-amplifying, mind-controlling social media algorithms, I've stopped taking their recommendations of what I must know about next".

@CupofTeaAndsomeToast that quote is brilliant and so true. I'm sorry to hear about what you have to deal with. I am also mid-sandwich rn and it is stressful. The best we can all do is look after the people around us, our friends and families and, when time allows, our wider neighbourhoods. Tweeting about what goes on far away doesn't do anything.

@tabbycatty Loads of posters suggesting alternative sources for news when it sounds like you need a total break from the news.

And yes, it’s completely ok. Don’t listen to any of it or read any of it for as long as you need. You are in recovery. People who may judge you for disengaging are simply motivated by their self-perceived superiority; it’s preening. Ignore them.

Rest up with as many movies and novels and as much baking and mooching as you need.

I think we are expected to be consumers of news now, so it’s generated accordingly and across every conceivable platform. I used to be highly engaged and am still expected to be at work. But I catch up once or twice a week only.

I still want to be engaged where I can but I’m much more selective now and concentrate on areas I can make a tangible difference. For me that’s SEN education, womens rights and support for mental health. If I can’t act myself I choose small, specific charities and donate after researching them well. I don’t think as humans we can be expected to apply our constant attention daily to every world issue, however dire. It’s too much and it does nothing to help.

I suggested something but not superior

It’s absolutely fine to disengage from it all if preferred

Imo the current form of news media serves to spike anxiety rather than inform

It makes sense to recognise that and take care what you consume

@CupofTeaAndsomeToast Those are very wise words, thank you for sharing them!

@Oyen Perhaps I will give radio 3 a go then!

@AtrociousCircumstance I think I am going to take a complete break until the new year then try to find a new, more balanced way to engage!

@PowerTulle I agree that the way we consume news now is not really for our benefit or for the greater good.

Staying in touch with the news nowadays means something completely different to a generation ago. My parents listened to Today in the car, read the paper (mostly did the crossword) and watched the Six o’clock news. Aside from that, they went about their lives. Now, you could be informed all day, every day, with highly emotive video footage of horrors afoot in the world, and endless input in which people tell you what they think about it, and what you should thin about it. It’s not healthy, changes nothing, and just serves to distract from areas of life in which we have agency.

I am interested in the world around me, but I find (as recommended above) longer, less fevered media such as The Briefing Room, The New Statesman, Guardian long reads, popular science and philosophy publications, much more helpful and healthy to engage with. I enjoy some Podcasts, such as the one Gabriel Gatehouse made about Russia. I like PM on radio 4, it’s shorter and less excitable than Today.

I never, ever engage with Twitter etc. as I don’t really care for other people’s knee jerk reactions. Who knew there were so many furious people in the world?!

Take a bit of time put, engage with books or longer reads, or not at all. The world will still be there when you’ve finished your jigsaw!

@EasternStandard Agree 🙂 I was just commenting on those who may judge the OP. I think suggesting alternatives can come from a good place. Maybe the OP can appreciate those different sources after she’s had the break she needs.

I stopped engaging with the news during covid and tbh, I feel so much better for it. It's all awful and it drags you down!

I'm a politics geek and news junkie, and generally have one or other news channel on throughout the day (I'm wfh). I've been struggling with my MH for a while, following a bereavement, but even with all that going on I still had to have my constant input of news.

But even I've had to back off a bit since the war in Gaza started. It's just too heartbreaking and it makes me feel powerless.

Agree, totally valid for anyone

Oh God, sorry OP, I think it's absolutely fine to not engage with news at all. I was just saying what works for me. I did stop even listening to it completely during Brexit.

If there's something you need to know, someone will tell you.

@Oyen I really appreciated your suggestions and I do want to come back and engage in a new way but I will have total break first I think!

Totally agree @tabbycatty

I've donated to the red cross appeal and turned the news off. I did similar when that little boy Arthur was in the news and donated to the nspcc in his name. It's my way of coping to feel like I've done something without having to see footage of children suffering.