Coping with news

Hi there my name is stephen I have got ausim and worrying what is happening in space i know nothing is going to happen as i want to stop looking and stop worrying any ideas 

Yes, it does affect our psyches, drip drip drip of constant negativity is not good for us. I also began feeling less anxious when he stopped watching the news in the morning, it made a big difference to our lives cutting out the morning anxiety.

I often read the Good News Network which has positive stories of what people and companies and governments are doing. It's a site to bring balance to us.

JT said:

journalism's most attention-grabbing catastrophes

UK if not also world press. Watching a car crashed as you pass it = modern news = news crash.

Wish my family would listen, my parent's response was "we wish you'd let us make up our own minds." But I can see that it has made them much more anxious and they always tell us of the horrors of the days' news even if we don't want to know!

I worked in news for 9 years, all the big names. Journalists have meetings each morning where they discuss the stories of the day, then, realising that they have only covered disasters or similar negative 'news' they bolt a so-called 'positive story' onto the end.

So it's not really a holistic overview of world events that we are being fed, merely a playlist of journalism's most attention-grabbing catastrophes

Avoidance = relief.

Also stop your partner/ family watching the news in the morning. My husband used to switch on the news first thing every day and we'd get bombarded by the horrors. I asked and asked him to stop but he wouldn't, then we realised it was affecting our primary age daughter. She was getting very anxious and having meltdowns so at last my husband paid attention. Now he watches Antiques Roadshow and things like that in the morning.

I agree. Avoiding news, in all forms, as much as possible is the best thing I've done for my mental health.

I now just check it once a week, on a Saturday morning when I feel positive and full of energy. Seem to absorb it better in that way and it causes much less anxiety

Let me know how you get on.  It's always good finding things that work. Best of luck.

That all sounds really good. How do you cope with like headlines in papers when your in the supermarket? Thats a big one for me.

I have replaced twitter with instagram because on there I can choose to only follow the pictures of things that help me and calm me down 

Music is a big one for me too. I have to listen to German pop to stim and calm me down when I have a meltdown. I suppose I could always make sure my headphones are with me so I can put it on and calm down 

Concentrate on your own world, I like that.

Its like the world outside might be dark but your world can still be light and colourful, thats how I try to think of it 

Good point

Ive never heard of that, I will have a look at it.

I agree though, only bad news sells. They will always twist headlines to make them look bad

Luckily for me, I lose interest in things after a while. I used to respond to all the social media prompts and baiting but now I just have a private account on Twitter with a few friends there. I got bored of all the shite and now I try to make friends in real life. Try to anyway! haha.

Along with the Pavlovian red circle with a number inside of it SM is an effective means of control.

Also, I think the news apps websites have got you because often the news is different each time you check.  It's the same with social media. I saw on tv once they were likening social media to gambling. You win some, you lose some (you get an update,  you don't get an update) and its this which keeps you addicted. If it was win everytime we might lose interest.  I think it's the same with the news. So what did I do. I ended up coming on here more as a substitute....

If your feeling this way I'd suggest not looking at the news for a few days

It's so depressing which is why I stopped looking in the end

Hi Billy,

I understand what you mean about the triggering aspect of the news and for me it's social media platforms too.  All I can say is to try to stick with less anxiety inducing methods of learning about news updates.  I find reading about it less triggering than watching or someone telling me negative news stories.  I would also have mobile coping strategies to take with you when you unexpectedly feel a meltdown beginning.  My personal coping techniques are intricate focus/breathing/stimming/finding a safe space.  An example is when I've been food shopping which is triggering for me. I sit in my car, close my eyes and focus on the stillness of the car (intricate focus) or blast some music and sing along depending on what kind of distraction I need.  Music is usually my go to and dancing to the music in my car is my disguised and 'socially acceptable' stim....  I guess learning what your triggers are and knowing your own personal coping strategies is the key to success.

Best wishes,

H :-)

I am the same! Now I don't watch any news or have any news related apps on my phone. Best thing I ever did.  If anything is really important then I hear about it from other people.  It will only be difficult for about a week. But if you do it out of habit then you need to replace it with something else.  I didn't want to read long things so I replaced my news app with quote of the day and joke of the day apps instead.  That way I filled the void.  I suggest doing that or you may get tempted again. 

A few people have said that it's awful and that I am ignorant, but I just told them that I have enough problems coping with my small world than adding all of this negative stuff. I say  do what you are doing, get rid of it all. The news is 99% negative and if you struggle to cope then bin it  and focus on positive things :-) I have been doing it for 2 years now. If I want to know about covid stuff which is essential I just look at the Gov website which doesn't scare me with contradicting/misleading/accurate facts and figures. Oh and I don't do much social media but anyone who posts stuff about covid etc get silenced and now nothing comes up in my News Feeds because I don't click on anything news related for it to come up in my algorithms.  So I barely see anything now and life is much easier to deal with. People are use to me not watching or reading the news now and don't even comment on it. 

I hope that you find a way that works for you. 

I thought it was normal to focus on family, when mine were born that was it. Maybe it is an ASC trait.

It's funny, people said 'oh you'll get much more caring and worried about things once you have kids.' Not likely. I shut down the other worrying or my head would have exploded. Adults can look after themselves. My job is to look after my own children who can't look after themselves.