Any advice for disconnecting from political news?

[WillyBrandt]

I know I am asking the wrong crowd! But spending hours clicking around politics twitter, Kos, DU, etc., especially past minute 30. . . well, it's not the best use of the dog days of Covid quarantine.

I got this stack of books to get through and instead am glued to my iPhone, full crackhead, doom-scrolling through the latest travesties or latest Twitter fights.

Anybody else so stuck? Anyone else recover: and any advice? Do you just turn off your phone, use a special app to lock yourself out, etc.?

Thanks for any tips!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. It's called doom-surfing - sifting through the Internet for all the awful shit

Trump and his minions have got up to. And I do too much of it, but it's kind of like driving by a bad car wreck; you can't help staring at the mess.

[WillyBrandt]

2. There's lots off material . . .

. . . but honestly after half an hour I'm caught up. (And it's quite a car wreck, I grant you think). But I just keep doing it past the point of diminishing returns. . .

I'm going to try to shut the phone off as a habit, see if that helps.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. Pretend your phone is a TV and locate the off button.

Seriously, just put it down.

I guess I'm lucky that I don't use my phone that way. I get on the internet via my computer. Plus, I don't have a regular TV although I watch plenty of stuff over the internet.

It helps that I am an inveterate reader, and I'm getting a bit more reading done these days.

People are spending far too much time watching news, which is generally a repeat of just two or three stories for a while, then on to another two or three. Personally, I refuse to watch or listen to Trump, which is very easy since I control my access to news rather tightly. But it's no wonder so many people report being angry or depressed or angry and depressed. Just walk away from the wall-to-wall coverage and you'll be much better off.

However I definitely am on DU far too much.

[Sherman A1]

4. This is the correct answer

Turn the phone off, leave it in a desk drawer and read, take a walk, catch up on some things on that "Get Around To It" List

[Lulu KC]

5. I have found that

If I just read Heather Cox Richardson’s Letter from an American I would know enough. I look at 15 sites in the morning, and could live without 14.

[Binkie The Clown]

6. Does your TV have a remote control? Look for the button labled "Power". nt

[csziggy]

7. I watch dogs surfing on the internet

Well, that is what my husband calls it. I come to The Lounge and watch the animal videos posted here. Or go to YouTube, often on my TV with a Roku and watch wildllife live cams - during the day, the Cornell University birdcams are fun; at night, I watch Africam videos.

I also find wood turning or woodworking videos very relaxing so long as the person doing the work doesn't talk too much. There is a guy name Matt Cremona that does what I call wood porn - he has a portable sawmill and cuts massive logs, stopping to talk about the interesting slabs.

If you don't mind talking, the Slo-Mo Guys do fun stuff. And of course, the cooking videos are fun.

There is also a channel that makes long (8 hours or so) videos for cats to watch of British birds and squirrels, with the natural background sound.

Watching YouTube videos on the TV keep me from watching the talking heads on the so-called news channels.

And there really are videos of dogs surfing:

[electric_blue68]

8. After I've woken up I look at fb friends & fam, skip...

...skipping the polititical stuff. Look at on line kittens, puppies. Watch some tv shows, or movies. Listen to music. Look at nature photos. So I have a few hours now usually before I start looking at polititical stuff and DU.

I joined DU bc I didn't have enough polititical stuff, but after 2 months better for me not to stop in DU first thing. I still spend 2 hrs+ or so, but not first quarter, or third of the day.

And also have reading, art and crafts to pursue as well.

[canetoad]

9. I had to check

When you signed up because this seems like such a noob question.

So, you're not a noob and have been here longer than I have.

Here's my advice: Get outdoors and walk around. Whether you are in a rural area or a city, make it you aim to become an expert in the square kilometre or so that is your home turf. Flora, fauna, industry, demographics, infrastructure.... pick one or pick them all.

Use the internet to follow up your observations; find sources and further information. Allow it to become an obsession.

Think globally, act locally.

Good luck.

[FakeNoose]

10. Good advice! Also get a dog

When you have a dog, you really have to take several walks a day and that's a good excuse to put the phone down for a while. I don't use my phone for surfing the internet - on purpose - because I already do too much of that on my desktop computer.

My TV stays off during the day, or else I turn to the music channels. I only turn on the news at night and after that I watch sports or entertainment. Since I retired 2 years ago I'm happy to say that I've found a lot more time for reading now. It's not that I don't care about the news (meaning the political stuff) but I've learned to dial it back a little bit.

[hunter]

11. I have a flip phone and an e-reader with electronic paper.

Neither works well for casual web browsing.

The television in our house plays DVDs and Netflix. That's all it does. No cable, no satellite, no broadcast. I think television is a useless medium for news and opinion. I read all my news and subscribe to several newspapers and magazines; most of them electronically.

My wife and I are both avid readers. We have thousands of books in our house and hundreds of DVDs. Mostly we read eBooks now.

DU is my only social media site. I have "Trump" on my DU trash-by-keyword list. I send money to DU so I have a star and don't see ads.

Trump's words have no more meaning than the quacking of an angry duck. He's a meat puppet, just as Ronald Reagan was a meat puppet. Trump's handlers are corrupt. The Republican Party is corrupt. It needs to die. Television made Trump and it needs to die as well.

We won't ever find the time or energy to clean up that shit if we are constantly wallowing in it.

[Ohio Joe]

12. Smoke some weed...

I suggest a good sativa... Fire up the PS4 and spread some eletronic death for a few hours.

[Hotler]

13. Here is a distraction that works for me at times.

https://www.radio.com/comedy-now/listen

[Harker]

14. The eight best years of my life were

the ones where I ignored "news" almost completely.

Once you get out of the chlorinated pool for a dip in a mountain lake you'll be struck by the artificiality of the former.