文章探讨了政治新闻对个人情绪的影响，作者以自身经历为例，说明过度关注政治新闻和参与愤怒社交会带来负面影响，包括情绪低落、人际关系紧张和思维模式消极。作者建议人们要主动摆脱这种愤怒社交，保持独立思考，避免被政治新闻操控情绪。

😠 作者以自身经历为例，说明过度关注政治新闻和参与愤怒社交会带来负面影响。作者在2016年特朗普竞选期间，因为过度关注政治新闻和参与与朋友的愤怒社交，导致情绪低落、人际关系紧张和思维模式消极。

🤔 作者建议人们要主动摆脱这种愤怒社交，保持独立思考，避免被政治新闻操控情绪。作者采取了以下措施：不再关注政治新闻、避免参与愤怒社交、主动引导话题、必要时离开社交场合。

💪 作者认为，即使面对普遍的愤怒社交氛围，个人也可以通过主动选择和改变行为模式，来摆脱负面影响，保持健康的情绪状态。

🌎 作者的观点具有普遍意义，提醒人们在面对信息爆炸和社会动荡的时代，要保持理性思考，避免被情绪操控，注重个人情绪健康和人际关系的维护。

💡 作者的文章也提醒我们，要学会识别和避免负面社交环境，并主动寻求健康积极的社交互动，为自身创造一个积极健康的社交氛围。

Published on August 9, 2024 1:46 PM GMT

I stopped following the news back when Trump (first?)^[1] got elected. The amount of attention put on a foreign^[2] election was staggering, with normal media saccades replaced by Monk-level single-mindedness. Trump was the permanent spotlight for months.

The media’s fixation on Trump had interesting downstream effects. My peer groups — normally a dynamic bunch — turned into a bunch of snide gossipmongers. Every day was Trump-day, with shared outrage being the primary source of connection. People scored points by retelling outrageous news, parroting hot takes and sharing edgy memes.

Focusing on judgment and outrage was unhealthy for me. I got addicted to the drama, allowing outrage to outcompete healthy forms of relating. I felt disconnected from my friends, got irritated more often, and had an increase in pessimistic thought patterns.

Around this time, I had a coworker who was always grumpy — always complaining about this or that. He was also quite old. I used to wonder if he had once been happier — but then practised grumpiness a lot. It takes some repetition to get to his level of mastery.

One day, the situation got too much for me. I decided that I didn’t want to become a bitter old man — and that I needed to disengage from the outrage-bonding going on in my social circles.

Having stopped following the news, the next step wasn’t hard — I made a hard commitment to not put energy into outrage-bonding. Whenever people started complaining together, I responded by:

Zoning out, ignoring the topicAsking the group to shift the focus, explaining that I didn’t like the way outrage shaped my beingWalking away

At first, people didn’t like it. Bringing up the negative consequences of other people’s unhealthy habits is generally frowned upon — even if it’s done indirectly. If done in a judgemental way, it can be seen as a social manoeuvring move — a subtle claim that I’m better (more healthy) than others.

Luckily, I care little for social signalling games. I forged ahead — and managed to shift the group dynamics I interacted with. Sometimes, a strong-headed minority can have a lot of impact.

Now, shit is about to hit the fan. The US elections are scheduled for November, and the drama is already building. The news will turn increasingly single-minded, and you are likely to find yourself in outrage-oriented social contexts. You can choose to hand over your attention and mood to a drama-oriented culture war — or you can do your best to break free.

Come join me living under a rock, it’s cosy here.

1. ^{^}

   I’m joking! I know Trump hasn’t been reelected, yet. I get news through conversations with friends, and know most important things early on — like covid, the Ukraine invasion, the Gaza conflict, etc.

2. ^{^}

   I live in Sweden, even though my online life is weirdly US-centric.

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