Information overload, especially during lockdown, is a real thing. The political turmoils, updates on Coronavirus and general dickheadery can really wear a person out.
I don’t use too much social-media,1 but I do rely on Twitter primarily (plus Discord for D&D and other gaming), but even through that one social-media service, I got a bad case of burn out recently, so I just logged out and deleted the app. I don’t intend to close my account, but the daily, often hourly rants about COVID-19, what the president has done wrong this time, or crazy conspiracies floating around weren’t doing much to help my mental well-being, plus the exhaustion of retweeting stuff or posting my own rants which in hindsight, weren’t really worth it.
It’s been nice. I quickly got out of the habit of reaching for my phone to check Twitter in about 2-3 days (I now check about weekly) and don’t miss it as much as I thought I would.
That said, I still check the news pretty often and that is still a source of stress, but it’s much easier to close a news website than it is to close Twitter since I can just skim a headline and move on.
Sometimes it feels like I am just putting my head in the sand, rather than facing issues that are going on, but on the other hand, I have little control over most of those issues anyway, so how much good does it do to fret over them either? Instead, I want to focus on things I can control around me, such as how I interact with the family, people in my community, etc. This includes wearing face masks every single time, voting in the election when the time comes, being an ally to those around me who need it, and making small efforts to keep the air and water clean. Light one corner of the world, as they say.
In a more general sense, don’t act like a dickhead. You’d be surprised how many people forget this one. 😅 It’s not about being “woke” it’s about caring for others.
P.S. Black Lives really do Matter. ❤️
1 Deleted my Facebook account years ago, never looked back.
Gleanings in Buddha-Fields 