DigitalDilemma

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  • 22 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: July 22nd, 2023

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  • I know - it’s exhausting.

    All social and news streams are absolutely being flooded by American politics right now. It’s mad and crazy stuff, but there’s only so much someone can take before it really starts to affect ones mental state.

    And Lemmy partially started as a not-reddit, so I guess it’s normal that people come to vent.

    So - positive stuff you can do!

    Subscribe to more communities that do interest you. Leave less space for the other stuff to come in. You can also block communities from your main feed very easily if you’re being given stuff you don’t want from them.

    Youtube (with adblock) is hardly affected (or if it is, I don’t see it). That brings lots of interesting and creative content.

    Going out into the world if you’re able. Reconnecting with nature, and also being reminded that people, by and large, are usually nice to you if you’re nice to them.

    And I’ve been picking up old games and playing them more. Escapism is not such a bad thing.






  • About ten separate sources. A little bit of right, a little bit of left, some national, some international. I find this really exposes the bias some sources put on stories, and after a while you can tell which source it is just by words used in the headline and even by what news they don’t report.

    Some good suggestions in this thread, I’ll be adding some new feeds.



  • Mostly tiktok scrolling. It’s got a bad rep, but there’s a huge amount of seriously talented people on there doing amazing and creative things. I’m a 50-something year old guy and it quickly figured out I like videos about mine explores and restoring vintage vehicles. Once you learn to downvote stuff you don’t like, it’s quick to learn and aside from the comment bots or obvious trolls (Typically pro-Russian or Pro-Trump, if there’s a difference) it’s generally a positive thing, in moderation.

    I totally get your desire about avoiding socials and have experienced the mood swings it can bring too. That’s made me quite tuned into how the algorithms are steering me. For me (and everyone’s experience is different) - Facebook is mostly bland generic stuff but quite useful for local content - just avoid the drama llamas), and use an advert blocker. Reddit is mixed. I used to be on there a lot and contributed and modded a bunch of stuff, but quit for a year after spez screwed over the app people. I skim it a bit now, but don’t give it much mind. X is awful, won’t go near it. Lemmy is less of a shitpost zone than most but still has too few people to be significant. We’re all helping with that though.

    Lemmy aside, I think most algs will figure you out pretty quick. If you get involved in nasty commenting, it’ll feed you more of that. If you do the odd positive thing (as I try to) then it can be less toxic - but with all things, remember why you’re there. The more you feed it, the bigger to you it becomes. Balance is important, and be aware of how stuff is affecting you.

    Anyway, beyond TT, crosswords, some news sites and the occasional candy crush.

    Good question though, I’m reading other comments as it’s harder to find stuff outside of the main channels now.