How do you cope with living in this depressing era

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Posting here for traffic.

I know the news is always negative and every decade has its bad moments but the 2020s seem particularly shit. I'm in my 30s and I can't remember ever living in such a depressing time like this.

Epstein files, rise of the far right globally, ICE, student debt, rising house prices, billionaire oligarchs controlling media and governments, climate change, the list goes on...

This is the world we have to live in right now. How do you deal with it and not despair? I guess limiting news consumption is an idea but isn't that just burying your head in the sand?

It feels like we're all in some kind of pressure cooker of hatred, divisikn and angst and its not healthy. A friend suffered a racist attack last week. It was caught on video and yhe perpetrator had 0 shame, he was like a man possessed. It's really shook me how emboldened ignorant racists have become thanks to the likes of Trump/ Reform etc

I look for old fashioned things to do.

I write handwritten letters to my penfriend.
I do jigsaws of old fashioned scenes like 'May Day' and 'Harvest Festival.'
I look out for community events like fetes, fayres, carnivals and barn dances.
I go to amateur theatre productions in church halls, to community coffee mornings- that sort of thing.
I do country walks with my friend with a dog.
I visit gardens which open for charity in Summer.
I ring church bells, and there's a whole life associated with that if you want it, at very low cost.

My post is getting too long, but there is a lot more to say!

I loved being a kid in the 70s but I think my parents had it hard. Living hand to mouth, losing one set of grandparents, Mum running their business when they were sick, and losing my cousin to cancer. I recall my Mum being "ill" - she had a lot on her plate.

In the 80s I also had a lucky break with work but my brother lost his job 3 times as last in first out. Employment opportunities were dreadful
We were worried about nuclear war.

So, it is horrible now. I definitely agree. And misinformation and AI just chucked into the mix messing with our heads. Not sure if it's worse or not. I do think I feel more open to international issues given the Internet. And I do feel like we've had the best of times.

Of course things are happening but I can do nothing to influence them so I take only a passing notice.

I see the news but don't live by it and instead live the best & happiest life I can. I certainly don't go to SM for my "news", instead MN and a couple of FB groups are about as social media as I get.

I am an old codger now (just turned 60) and think the 70's were about as grim as it got but luckily I had a great childhood with wonderful parents who also did not dwell on things they could not change (they watched, listened & read the news but did not pass on any negative vibes to us).

I am retired now and between us, we are making the best of the time left to us. We take our responsibilities seriously of course but beyond that, we are perfectly happy in our bubble.

Be the change.

If you are busy making the world better, it's not hopeless.

I try to stay grounded in my own life and reality. Focus on myself, family and friends and try to not get too involved in the news. Even the BBC news is somewhat sensationalist these days, and it doesn’t do me any good to read it.

There's never been a better time to be alive. We can have hot showers every day, we have employees rights, our children will be educated, we have a choice and range of food our grandparents couldn't have dreamt of! The list is Endless ...

Definitely. I remember waking up my 1 yr old form her afternoon nap and seeing the twin towers collapse. I thought it was the start of WW3. Said DD is now 25 and doing great and the world still turns… just!

Absolutely. I think the problem really escalated with the advent of the smart phone, allowing the Internet on phones which, being a child of the 70s, I feel should never have been allowed. Kids are denied a proper childhood now. Those of us born back in the 70s and 80s were lucky in many ways.

But it is happening in the real world.

Did you not read what happened to OP's friend last week? Can't get more real world than that.

My DM was regularly running whilst holding g my grandmother’s hand to the underground during bombing raids in London aged 3-4. One day they came out to find their home( 2 rooms in a town house) had been flattened. I often recall this when I think I am in a tough situation.

Thinking about it for most of human history the average person wouldn't have had a lot of access to news from other parts of the world. While I think we can learn a lot and really broaden our minds with this worldwide perspective I don't think we are equipped to constantly hear about suffering and bad news from people we that have no means to meaningfully help. We need to accept our limits with this and take breaks when necessary.

Yes when I'm looking for reliable sources of definitely true stories, my first port of call is always Mumsnet.

I put boundaries on my news access. I listen to The Today Programme for a hour in the morning. I have a subscription to Private Eye. And that's it. I don't do social media other than MN if that counts, and Instagram, which I have managed to keep as friends, family, art and music. I think this keeps me informed enough, but allows me headspace to think about other things.

I subscribe to the belief astrologers have, which is essentially that the big pillars of life as we know it (war, money, male domination, famous and powerful people run things) are due to fall because they are do not work and we need to move past them.

So when the police are released to be dangerous, politicians are at the end of their useful life / we cannot trust them, the famous and royal are shown to be corrupt and not worth it / no better - these are the pillars being shown to be insufficient and inappropriate.

My problem with this theory is that, me being 51, that is all I am going to see and I'll be dead before any meaningful change is seen.

But I am quietly raising my fist and thinking 'Yes! Come on Trump! Force everyone to finally stand up to America! And let us stop having 'royals'. Its rubbish. Let us stop having blind loyalty and reverence for the famous etc etc.'

I am not sure how far away real meaningful change is but I have seen today a post on FB saying that, if we the people just decide to stop things / not turn up / not do as we are told, then we remove all power they (thought they) have.

This is very Aquarian (we moved into the age of Aquarius) and ideas like violent eruption if change doesn't happen / every man is equal.

I think those affected by news and feeds probably need to try and reduce their consumption of it. We are constantly bombarded and most of it is total crapology designed to frighten the life out of us most of the time!

I am retraining myself bit by bit. I now only look at the headlines on the BBC and Sky News websites. If there's anything in the headlines that I'm interested in I'll read more about it and maybe follow it up elsewhere. I don't watch TV, don't do radio or SM "news" anymore. It took a while to wean myself off, but it's working most of the time. Of course if there's a big story I'll follow it, but not all day every day.

I've convinced myself that I have no control over national and world events, so there's no point in me getting upset, annoyed, or fretful about it. Doesn't change anything. I am so much calmer and open minded now that I am not being "influenced" much anymore.

Stop reading it then. Most of us filter it and understand it's doom mongering if you can't stop reading it. We aren't at war we live in luxury compared to every generation before us we have choices and opportunities no other generaation has had.

Bad news happen all the time. However, we just hear about it instantly (and repeatedly), rather than only on news programmes, and in the daily newspaper.

I grew up in the 80s. At school we watched videos about possible nuclear attacks and tried to work out what to do if the missiles launched.

i’d say now is about as stressful as the 80s.

i don’t read the news anymore which for me is odd as I used to be really interested in current affairs.

i suspect things are going to be shit for a while now so I focus on my own life and making that and other people’s better.

I use social media but I limit myself on how much I read news wise. I like to have an idea what is going on in the world but unless it directly impacts me or I can realistically influence it, I don’t let myself get too involved. It’s not healthy for me mentally. I focus on trying to use social media for positive things, friends, cat videos etc. Get outside and enjoy the fresh air. Find joy in the little things. Only worry about the things you actually have control over or need to worry about.

It isn't burying your head in the sand to avoid the news. We are exposed to an unnaturally high level of information, especially negative information.

Im sure there are some positive news channels/threads/ account you could follow if you looked for them.

I would also just suggest sending less time online and more time in your community. And maybe go and spend some time in nature and with friends and family.

Yes I remember being terrified that I couldn’t get home in 4 minutes as I got a coach to school and the journey was 45 minutes! Was also scared to visit my grandma in London because of the IRA. I naively thought they wouldn’t bomb us because my grandma was Irish!

for most of history news travelled slow it took 3 days for the news of Wellington's victory at Waterloo to reach London probably 5 days to reach Edinburgh and for most of UK population it would be later still, and even then you read it in newspaper probably discussed it at pub etc
our brains are wired so even if we logically know the 5 deaths we heard about on Morning news are the same 5 deaths each time we hear it, somehow our brain is sort of adding 5's in terms of our response to it
for the vast majority of us in the UK if the events of last week had happened 100 years ago we would not have heard about most of them at all
there was international news but it was one or two items per day in newspapers and news was on the radio 2-3 times a day
our brains and emotions can only cope with so much tradegy ( it is not the same amount for everyone) lots of war correspondents but not all have PTSD and news being 24/7 is harmful so we have to regulate the ingestion of news just like we do alcohol or chocolate, it doesn't mean we denty it's existence or don't stay informed but we limit it
personally I have a news email each moning i follow up things that interest me or I think I need to know more about, I probably check news agian around 6-7pm but never later I do not need the latest on Trump before I sleep

I cope by restricting what I take in. If I go on social media too much or watch too much news, even this site, I can feel my spirits plummet and my sense of doom increase. If I listen to music and watch good tv, read good books, do some crafts - I find my blood pressure and worries decrease. I even try and remove myself from any doom merchants in my life. Rolling news is not good for us.

This is not burying my head in the sand, it’s self preservation. I cannot control the outside, only myself. Too much noise online is amplifying bad times. We are not in a good place globally, but it will pass. When the present old male warmongers die we will have a bit of respite - until the next lot!

Don’t watch the news every day - they have to fill the slots so there will be always be something.

Have an attitude of gratitude, we’re in one of the safest parts of the world with access to almost anything you could want.

Worrying is a waste of time. If everything implodes you’ll wish you had made the most of the good things while you had them.

I actually avoid stressing myself out with the news so I just avoid watching it mostly. Can’t stand to hear Trump, Farage etc etc so I just switch immediately. Not worth the stress.