Today, my girlfriend told me that she hasn't been able to calm down recently. I analyzed whether it was because of the hot weather or lack of sleep, but she said it wasn't. After thinking for a while, she told me that it might be because she has been consuming too much information lately, especially the trending topics and various information on Weibo (a Chinese social media platform). The overwhelming amount of information generated by social media has caused her psychological anxiety. She said she wants to quit using the internet.
Immediately I remembered an article I read on GoodRx Health titled "Doomscrolling: Why Too Much News Can Be Bad for Your Mental Health." Why is too much news detrimental to our mental health?
The source of anxiety
Keeping up with news and current affairs in a timely manner can help broaden our horizons, increase our knowledge, and keep us engaged and informed about social trends. However, news can also be categorized as positive or negative. Negative news often brings us greater stress.
One of the influencing factors is negativity bias. Negativity bias refers to the tendency for people to pay more attention to negative events or information while ignoring positive or constructive content. The formation of this bias can be seen as a protective mechanism.
The impact of excessive consumption of news
The impact brought is all too obvious.
Physiologically, headaches, fatigue, weight changes, and sexual problems can eventually lead to diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, and diabetes.
From a psychological perspective, it often leads to increased stress, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and so on.
Extend thinking
I am thinking that not only news, but any information posted by netizens on the internet alone, could potentially trigger psychological anxiety.
In recent years, the rise of social media platforms has enabled everyone to express their opinions online. Taking Sina Weibo as an example, fabricating rumors to cause gender opposition, magnifying the normal private lives of celebrities, and becoming "keyboard warriors" to cyberbully others... If the platform is not effectively regulated, it will only exacerbate social conflicts and provoke conflicts.
The Cyberspace Administration of China recently issued a notice on strengthening the management of "self-media," requiring enhanced management of information authenticity and standardized labeling of information sources. Sometimes, the spread of false information can have immeasurable impacts, while debunking it often requires significant effort.
The quality of information is indeed mixed, but it is possible to adopt some methods to screen and filter information.
Filtering and screening of information
The article mentioned above also discusses how to establish a healthy and good relationship with news information.
Add more good news. Actively pay attention to positive news, and if you come across something that makes you feel uncomfortable, close it decisively.
Limit your time. Control the amount of time you spend on social media platforms each day, like the girlfriend mentioned at the beginning of the article who wants to quit the internet.
Limit your sources.
When it comes to restricting sources, we have to mention RSS.
By using RSS, we can actively obtain the information we are interested in and exclude content that we do not like or are not interested in. Although it is not very popular at the moment, my understanding is to reject algorithms and actively obtain information. As long as you understand this point, it doesn't matter if you don't understand RSS.
Learn to think independently. I feel that the popularity of short videos is gradually causing people to lose their ability to think independently.
A recent case that has attracted much attention - the case of unauthorized construction of a floating bridge, has sparked various discussions online. There are those who support the court's verdict and those who support the villager named Huang who built the bridge. Initially, I read an article by Mr. Luo Xiang titled "Is it a crime to build a floating bridge?" and thought his analysis made sense, that the facts might be just as he described. However, as I continued to read more and more reports, from various perspectives and with more comprehensive coverage, the situation became much more complex than we initially imagined.
I think we should not easily come to conclusions about things, nor should we judge based solely on one person or one aspect. We should think and analyze more, as the world is too complex and people are even more complex.
Finally, it's better to spend less time on the internet and read more books.