What is doom scrolling?
We all probably engage in the practice sometimes. Reading only the gotcha headlines. Reading only the doom and gloom headlines. Focusing tightly on the horrible at the expense of all else
And right now it feels like there is all sorts of horrible. Between women under attack, and nurses under attack, and the economy under attack. And some people actually being under attack going about their business, for example the bank shooting in Louisville, Kentucky from this morning. The children under attack at schools. Books are under attack. Or the war in Ukraine and the Russia saber rattling.
And the more you engage with it, the worse it gets?
Yeah, that is the algorithm talking to you.
Is it useful to know some of these things?
Yes.
Is is useful to be beaten over the head in repetition with these things?
Absolutely not.
Let’s stop for a bit, can’t we?
It is spring! The snow, where applicable is melting, the flowers are blooming, it’s nearly time to plant the garden.
Let’s just stop for a bit.
The horribleness will be there when our heads are clearer.
Trust me.
Shit like that never goes all the way away.
What prompted this musing is the news of a kitten rescuer that I follow in Washington state. Well, her demons proved to be too much for her and she killed herself last week in her late twenties.
And left a postumous scheduled post to go onto her Instagram page thanking her followers for the years of support and that her battle was over and she was at peace. Do I know her personally? No. Are there scads of other kitten people to follow? Definitely yes. Can I still be sad that she is gone? Yes. It just goes to show that for some their world is very different than yours.
The world doesn’t have to be absolutely light and dark.
Let’s let a little light into our dark spaces sometimes, huh?
And if the dark is just too dark to bear there are resources. Pick up a phone and reach out to someone. Call 988, the national crisis and suicide line. There is always someone to listen, you just have to reach out.
And stop doom scrolling! And filling your echo chamber with only the echoes of what YOU believe. You’ll probably be happier for it.
And with that, I am off to the bookstore.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 