Reading about people’s problems

[AnotherLongDay]

I’m spending too much time on MN at the moment and also struggling with general anxiety triggered by work pressures. I’m wondering if reading about people’s problems and stressful situations makes my anxiety levels worse, has anyone else found this?

Definitely. I often delete MN because it becomes too sad and stressful. This also helps with the work pressures as you have more headspace!

There’s a lot of terrible things happening in the world. I find it helps to remember the good things too. Spring: birdsong, blossom, daffodils. And I remember the random acts of kindness from strangers that I’ve experienced in my life. There aren’t many but they were wonderful.

I find the opposite. Sounds awful, but reading about others' problems makes mine not seem as bad iyswim? I tend to stay off gloomy (war) threads though, as they can start me worrying.

For me it can work both ways, but I'm selective with what I read on MN. Generally I find it quite affirming - it reminds me that I'm not unreasonable to have standards, & to assert my authority when someone tries to belittle me.

I think if you've realised that spending too much time doing something might be raising your anxiety levels, the responsible and self respecting thing to do would be to try stopping/cutting back.

Why do you think that reading about whether other people's anxiety is affected by MN is a good way to use your time? Your anxiety is yours, you are responsible for it. Do all you can to minimise it.