To only care what happens in my metaphorical backyard?

[ExercicenformedeZ]

Just that. Inspired by lots of threads and lots of people in my real life bemoaning the state of the world. I'm past caring. I worry about me, my immediate family, and my local community. The rest I am largely ceasing to even read about, let alone try to do anything about.
YANBU. That's all anyone can be expected to do.
YABU. That is short sighted, and everyone should be trying to make a difference not just to their own friends and neighbours, but to the wider world.

Its all very well but that wider world might start to impact you whether you like it or not

I follow the exact same approach. I stay in my lane, take care of me and mine, and don't worry about anything else. I won't waste my life fretting over things I cannot control! It's so freeing! 🙂

I wonder if something dreadful happened in your backyard you might be pleased that people elsewhere were concerned and trying to do something about it. Or would you rather nobody cared and just left you to be oppressed/ invaded/ diseased/ enslaved/ on fire/ drowned?

I think it's ok to try to avoid the news a bit for the sake of your mental health, but aren't you worried about being a bit out of touch? Don't you need to be abreast of current affairs at least a little bit? How do you decide how to vote otherwise? Or generally take part in conversations? Decide which charities to support?

Yep increasingly I am with you OP. No guilt at all. 50 odd years of overcaring for very little makes that happen x

I can see both sides. I used to think it was my moral duty to be well-informed and pro-active about what's happening in the world, and I do still believe that - in order to make informed choices in elections etc.

But in previous eras we wouldn't have been aware of what was happening even in the next town, most of the time - never mind on the other side of the world. Human history is one horror after another but people far away didn't hear about it. The distressing information coming at us now is unprecedented and I don't think we're designed to cope with it on this scale. No wonder so many people feel powerless, miserable and hopeless.

You cannot solve the world's problems - you can only do what you can do. I try to do the right thing as far as my life is concerned - I'm mindful of the environment/climate change, I donate to charities, I volunteer and I use my vote as best I can.

Other than that, I try to get on with my life. I'm haunted frequently by things I hear and see on the news , so I avoid TV news now and use the app.

For example, I remember seeing young (late teenage) Ukrainian men lining up to join the arm just before Putin's invasion. They spoke of their hopes for the future and what they were planning to study when they got to university.

I wonder how many of those boys are still alive. And that's not the worst by any means of the things I hear and worry about.

It would be nice to shut the world out but we have teens wanting to go further than our local community so we need to help them navigate life.

Plus we are all connected oranges don’t grow in the UK, being aware of other country’s food standards is advisable.

Still if you are happy just staying within a small boundary and your family all happy staying close you don’t need to know much about much.

I just get on with me myself and i.
The world can fuck off.
I dont care what others do or say.
The older i`ve got the less i give shit.

You sound very naive if you think what happens on the other side of the world doesn’t affect us.

Not much point in worrying about something you cannot control and currently isn’t affecting you.

What can the random Brit do about Russia in Ukraine or Isreal v Iran. Nothing. We can’t actually do anything as an individual.

Sure there are charities you can donate to and you could write a letter to your mp I guess but other than that? A big fat nothing. So what is the point in worrying about it deeply.

I'm interested in what's happening in the rest of the world and like to feel like a rounded, well-informed and non-ignorant person. I'm not a doom and gloom merchant though. I don't tend to dwell much on the news or have big emotional reactions to it.

I would need a third voting option, which would be, I
try my best, but it often feels so doomed and overwhelming in the moment that I have to take time out and just focus on what’s close around me, before them being able to care about the wider world again.

actually, it’s not stopping caring, it’s more of a retreat to keep my sanity.

I pretty much stopped watching the news during Covid, having always previously been fairly politically aware and active. I'm now too old to care or cope with the state of the world when as an individual my actions have zero effect.

I don't want to hear/read about Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, Donald Trump, WW3, rape, trans rights, murder, immigrants or the starving millions in Africa (other continents also apply). I don't actually want to know about miserable shit locally.

I find my MH is so much better when I stay away from topics like this. As a 'Cold War' baby I grew up with the constant threat of nuclear war and have now adopted the ostrich/head in the sand approach. I just don't want the constant anger and anguish and worry.

I can't cope with the world nowadays.

My colleague and I were just saying today that if everyone did this, the world would probably be a more peaceful place.

I’m with you Op. I’ve been doing this for the last year and am much happier 😃

I think that the proliferation of news - live feeds, dramatic pictures etc - actually has an effect on world events to a much greater extent than in, say, the 20th century. People see dramatic news stories and react to them, sometimes impulsively. And not just Jo and Joanna Public - leaders like Trump and Putin are very driven by the news in a knee-jerk, impulsive way. And SM is really dangerous in this context - look at what happened at Southport.

So terrible news sometimes creates and feeds more horrible news and events.

Also - and I think there's another thread on this - why do we need live feeds on 'developing news' in various war and disaster zones?? Why not just report intermittently, as used to be the case. It's voyeurism and sensationalist - it invites us to use tragic events as entertainment - like watching a disaster movie. But of course it's driving clicks and money, money, money.

It's not healthy for us, or for the world.

And what difference would caring or worrying about it ahead of time make?

Yup. Keeping my world very small here too OP 🙈🙉

I don't think any and every individual needs to keep up with world affairs, but if nobody does that's a bit of a problem! You also need to take care not to become TOO insular, or rather to recognise the limits of it. You don't want to be one of those people who lived next door to Auschwitz and 'didnt see a thing'. Crass example, and I'm not saying you're on a slippery slope to that, just that you need to be aware of where the tipping point is beyond which good people should no longer say nothing.

UK isn't at that point, but the US might well be.

None at all, IMO. I get so tired of the threads on here saying that we're 'entering WWIII'. No, we aren't. It's just fearmongering.

I do hear that, and I think you're right. I'm coming at this from the position of someone who used to be very politically engaged and active. I don't know if I've just become jaded, or whether I am really and genuinely seeing how little ordinary people can really achieve.

I kind of agree with the opening poster. I would say that prior to November last year, I was quite well informed on politics, domestic and otherwise.

Since the orange big baby was elected in America, I avoid most current affairs news apart for headlines.

I care deeply was is happening in Gaza, for example, but there is so very little I can do apart from sending my monthly pittance to Doctors Without Borders.

Same with domestic politics. I am appalled that disabled people are being asked to pay the price foisted on us. But my pathetic letters to my MP will make no dent in what is proposed. So I continue sending my donation to Trsessel Trust.

Short of that, as my adult child says, we live in our bubble, grow as much of our food as we can and try to be kind to each other.

It's terrible but as you get older you definitely get more jaded . There seems to always have been trouble and conflict and no solution has ever seemed permanent. And as a woman I feel so helpless not being able to significantly make any difference at all. The constant images almost seem unreal or similar to all the graphic fictionalised films , TV etc. Nazi Germany is still seen as the ultimate evil but modern day warfare and inhumanity has definitely exceeded this . I don't remember any Western countries get involved in the Khmer Rouge regime or if so hearing about it .

The world is my metaphorical backyard.

How exactly? If no one cared about anyone else apart from their family and 'community', we'd have no national/international charities, development projects or welfare. I donate to causes and volunteer to help strangers.