Yeah, I think that’s the move. I’m the same way. I learned at some point that what we do on the internet doesn’t really matter, and I’m just here for things that make me smile, and I try to keep it neutral or positive if I can.

I would argue that doom scrolling is self harm with no productive value.

My household pays for a subscription to a journal we like, which dives deep into topics of interest to us. We learn a LOT more than doom scrollers here know about. For example, doom scrollers will tell you that South Korea’s birthrate is so low because cost of living is so high, which is wrong. What else are they wrong about? I think, probably most things.

But of course doom scrollers are less informed. How would they be informed? They don’t pay for the news with money, they pay for it by consuming exploitative rage bait. And exploitative rage bait’s purpose isn’t to inform you, it’s to convince you to consume more. So the truth isn’t an objective of this content at all. How can you be confident that a person is treating you well by giving you the truth, when they are explicitly relying on a model meant to harm you for more money? It’s like trusting Coca Cola to give you nutrition advice.

And what are the long term effects of trusting rage bait sources? Well, you’ve probably seen it. They lose all faith in humanity, institutions, everything that once gave their lives structure. They become depressed and give up because if the world is so bad, why bother trying to fix it? They become overwhelmed by the long term effects of hopeless media.

If I consumed only rage bait media for a full month, I am confident I would become meaner, less informed, and more combative. And that’s what we all associate with doom scrollers, right? It’s not a coincidence. I totally agree with your point, by the way. It’s like consuming fast food every day. You feel like you’re learning something, but you aren’t.

I get my news intermittently from what I believe to be a reliable source, and then I stop. I block all ragebait on this platform, and I block users who I can tell want me to get angry.

Some will argue I am being irresponsible, but they’re wrong. Blocking toxic people is the responsible thing to do. They aren’t trying to inform me.

One thing that a lot of leftists do, they go on about how all hierarchy is bad and thats why they became leftists, but when someone brings up that animal farming requires hierarchical thinking, suddenly some hierarchy is good.

When you’re a leftist and you get criticized, you’re supposed to learn from it and become a better leftist. But if your first principles are falling apart at the dairy isle, you’re not being real with me saying you’re a leftist, you’re not living according to your principles.

So?

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