Rage quit everything? gabz.micro.blog

@Gaby You know, you can convert that rage and anger and helplessness into something positive. You now know about this incredibly important issue and don’t need to keep reading a million takes about it. Instead ask your partner what she thinks and listen to her answer. Your girls are too young now for discussions, but you can talk with your partner about how you’re raising your kids. What will they need to know as they get older? How will you help keep them safe and loved and supported when they’re older? What if this becomes an issue for them or their friends when they’re older? What organisations could you support now — with money or some other way?

@Gaby When I feel this way, I log off social media and choose one news outlet to check daily, once or twice a day. I basically pretend with respect to media consumption that it’s 1995. I usually go with NPR. This way I’m connected and aware, but not absorbed. What works for you may be something different. Step away as you need to and, when you’re ready, you can do as @Miraz suggests and channel your rage into action. If you don’t know what action to take, I’m happy to filter the things I’m seeing on social media and share a couple of possibilities with you.

@pratik @KimberlyHirsh @Miraz definitely stepping away a bit, it is very easy to get overwhelmed. And definitely looking at ways to turn that anger and powerlessness into something more positive.

@Gaby 👍

@Gaby You can be angry. Given yesterday’s news, you should be angry. It’s what we do with that anger that matters. Also, why read the opinion of someone that you don’t even know or will ever know and get angrier (doomscrolling)?

@pratik @Gaby @KimberlyHirsh @Miraz I have really been trying to lower my awareness of the world in general for a bit for mental happiness reasons so I completely missed what happened until my wife mentioned something about it tonight. I know there are people in this country whose entire lives have been dedicated to this one issue and forcing women back into the Stone Age but still it’s like a punch to the gut for it to actually happen. Now I don’t know how much ignoring reality works because it’s coming for all of us no matter what we do.

And we really, really need to start acting like opposition to these guys is all I can say… the people with (afaict) a minority view in this country are really getting all the wins, in the most terrible way.

I don’t know what the correct response is or what any useful actions and responses look like, but I do know that we do have to respond and we do have to take actions and not all of them might be approved of by everyone. Doing the polite thing is effectively standing by and watching it happen.

@scottaw I had a similar experience, didn’t hear about it until my husband told me. (I’ve tasked him with telling me anything important I miss on social.) This is why when I’m deliberately avoiding social media I try to still have a news source. One advantage I’m seeing from Twitter is information about action to take.

@Gaby I can understand how you feel, and I know for myself that when what I’m feeling is impotent rage, then taking a step back is the right decision for me. Sometimes giving myself that extra bit of distance, for a while, is what helps me work out how I can turn it into a more productive kind of rage instead. I also second (or third?) the idea that taking a little break from social media and restricting what I read about an issue to, like, one trustworthy source can help make it manageable. (I also like how Mastodon users tend to CW their takes on the big issues everyone is talking about – that helps keep it manageable too!)