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Turn off the TV. Turn off all social media. Turn off any negative influences. Eat as healthy as you possibly can. Exercise, yoga, tai chi, or anything that gets

by 97s 8y ago

Turn off the TV. Turn off all social media. Turn off any negative influences. Eat as healthy as you possibly can. Exercise, yoga, tai chi, or anything that gets you moving. Enjoy the benefits of all the time you thought you didn't have while having really good mental power because of your healthy diet and exercise. Live a good life.

pavel_lishin 8y ago
> Turn off all social media. Turn off Hacker News.
- 97s 8y ago
  I don't read hacker news much. Thankfully I have a friend who reads it and sends me all the best articles! Thanks Jesse.
dmode 8y ago
I am really curious how you did that. The negativity on social media and politics today is really affecting my mental health and I don't know how to switch it off
- majos 8y ago
  I stopped using Twitter and switched to the weekly print copy of The Economist for news. It means you're slightly behind, but anything you learn you learn more deeply. And a lot of up-to-the-minute stuff is just needless button-pushing anyway.
- IanSanders 8y ago
  What worked for me was to switch off all notifications, remove all bookmarks/shortcuts and gradually stop checking.
- wildmindwriting 8y ago
  This too was a problem for me (and sometimes continues to be). I've been using `hosts` (https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts) to block all of the social sites so I have to rethink my decision to visit one. It's enough of a hiccup to stop the mindlessness of it. Thankfully, Hacker News still feels valuable and worth the time I spend on it.
- 97s 8y ago
  It took some time and effort. We started with TV about a year ago. I was talking to my wife and I mentioned how today I watched some news and some shows and after I finished I couldn't remember what I had watched but that I was in a negative mood. I told her I was going to turn off the TV and save the money per year. She said okay, and I did. For a few weeks I would sit down to watch shows etc, and then realized I couldn't. I started doing more important things and deep working more often. Eventually, I said hey, we should do this with our son. So we did, he had the same problem, took about 2 months before he started drawing, building, tinkering. After getting all this free time back I decided to cut off all notifications on my phone except phone calls and text messages. It was hard giving up my Instagram account, which I had grown to over 500 followers for my pottery side work, but even though I wasn't much of an Instagram person, I still would find myself checking it randomly when I was bored. Each thing I cut off helped with the next thing. Once I got all this stuff cut off, I realized that the important things I wanted to know about in the world I could just directly check their website once a week and be good to go. So I usually start my Monday off with my deep work in the morning, then I read things that are important to me. What is amazing is when you cut it all off, how much you still think about it. You reach for your phone then realize you uninstalled all addictive apps. It has been a long time now, and sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night, I still reach for my phone before realizing the only thing on my phone is my email and I only get email from personal people as I have unsubscribed from everything that isn't positively influencing my life. This includes marketing stuff because they are just really good at making me want things that I don't need. I know I sound absolutely crazy, but this AskHN question really sparked my interest. I tell people all the time who ask me why I am so happy, positive, etc, and I tell them, "I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, I do some sort of exercise daily(mostly gardening right now), and I am not on any social media, negative news, and I have no TV." People will look at you like your absolutely nuts, but let them, I feel 1000x better than I have ever felt in my entire life. If you want a place to start, just take your phone, uninstall anything that you feel you need to check that doesn't: 1. Make you money 2. Brighten your day 100% of the time when you open it 3. Isn't a huge time suck for no mental or physical gain Once you do this, DON'T go back. Surround yourself with things you love, eat good food, exercise and spend time in the sunlight. Any politics you feel strongly about, find their website and check it when you start your week or end your week. Last of all, you can do it!
karmelapple 8y ago
Side note related to negativity: stay at least a little engaged with developments in areas you care about, so if things happen against your values, you can give your resources to help groups that share your vision and values.
- 97s 8y ago
  I do this through a local website that will post important updates. I am also involved in my community through my son's karate and my church. I get any important information through those avenues which are much easier to control than a feed on facebook.
MattyRad 8y ago
I've distinctly noticed a sharp rise in toxicity in media (mostly, but not limited to, politics). But even if you cut that toxic part out of your own life, we don't live in a vacuum; friends, co-workers, and family will relay toxic news and media, despite effectively all of it being irrelevant to our everyday lives. This actually affects my demeanor not in that I just heard toxic news, but that I can see this person in my life is actively being needlessly poisoned by irrelevant negativity. I don't have an answer to this though. Thoughts on how to improve the situation would be appreciated.
- randcraw 8y ago
  The next killer app: a media filter for toxic content.
- 97s 8y ago
  The best thing I can tell you is to just shrug off the bad news they tell you. My father is notorious for this. Everything is the end of world situation with him. I just say okay, okay and he gets the point, I am not interested in it. It is hard to get people to understand that you really don't care about all the garbage in the world. There are things worth caring about and there are things you can do about the garbage. Change doesn't start with complaining to random strangers, it starts with voting and making people aware by giving them the key to start changing the problem. I am no expert on this and I really don't vote enough, but over the years I have made people around me aware that I am not interested in negative information unless it directly can be changed by something I can do.

by 97s 8y ago

pavel_lishin 8y ago

> Turn off all social media. Turn off Hacker News.

97s 8y ago
I don't read hacker news much. Thankfully I have a friend who reads it and sends me all the best articles! Thanks Jesse.

dmode 8y ago

I am really curious how you did that. The negativity on social media and politics today is really affecting my mental health and I don't know how to switch it off

majos 8y ago
I stopped using Twitter and switched to the weekly print copy of The Economist for news. It means you're slightly behind, but anything you learn you learn more deeply. And a lot of up-to-the-minute stuff is just needless button-pushing anyway.
IanSanders 8y ago
What worked for me was to switch off all notifications, remove all bookmarks/shortcuts and gradually stop checking.
wildmindwriting 8y ago
This too was a problem for me (and sometimes continues to be). I've been using `hosts` (https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts) to block all of the social sites so I have to rethink my decision to visit one. It's enough of a hiccup to stop the mindlessness of it. Thankfully, Hacker News still feels valuable and worth the time I spend on it.
97s 8y ago
It took some time and effort. We started with TV about a year ago. I was talking to my wife and I mentioned how today I watched some news and some shows and after I finished I couldn't remember what I had watched but that I was in a negative mood. I told her I was going to turn off the TV and save the money per year. She said okay, and I did. For a few weeks I would sit down to watch shows etc, and then realized I couldn't. I started doing more important things and deep working more often. Eventually, I said hey, we should do this with our son. So we did, he had the same problem, took about 2 months before he started drawing, building, tinkering. After getting all this free time back I decided to cut off all notifications on my phone except phone calls and text messages. It was hard giving up my Instagram account, which I had grown to over 500 followers for my pottery side work, but even though I wasn't much of an Instagram person, I still would find myself checking it randomly when I was bored. Each thing I cut off helped with the next thing. Once I got all this stuff cut off, I realized that the important things I wanted to know about in the world I could just directly check their website once a week and be good to go. So I usually start my Monday off with my deep work in the morning, then I read things that are important to me. What is amazing is when you cut it all off, how much you still think about it. You reach for your phone then realize you uninstalled all addictive apps. It has been a long time now, and sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night, I still reach for my phone before realizing the only thing on my phone is my email and I only get email from personal people as I have unsubscribed from everything that isn't positively influencing my life. This includes marketing stuff because they are just really good at making me want things that I don't need. I know I sound absolutely crazy, but this AskHN question really sparked my interest. I tell people all the time who ask me why I am so happy, positive, etc, and I tell them, "I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, I do some sort of exercise daily(mostly gardening right now), and I am not on any social media, negative news, and I have no TV." People will look at you like your absolutely nuts, but let them, I feel 1000x better than I have ever felt in my entire life. If you want a place to start, just take your phone, uninstall anything that you feel you need to check that doesn't: 1. Make you money 2. Brighten your day 100% of the time when you open it 3. Isn't a huge time suck for no mental or physical gain Once you do this, DON'T go back. Surround yourself with things you love, eat good food, exercise and spend time in the sunlight. Any politics you feel strongly about, find their website and check it when you start your week or end your week. Last of all, you can do it!

karmelapple 8y ago

Side note related to negativity: stay at least a little engaged with developments in areas you care about, so if things happen against your values, you can give your resources to help groups that share your vision and values.

97s 8y ago
I do this through a local website that will post important updates. I am also involved in my community through my son's karate and my church. I get any important information through those avenues which are much easier to control than a feed on facebook.

MattyRad 8y ago

I've distinctly noticed a sharp rise in toxicity in media (mostly, but not limited to, politics). But even if you cut that toxic part out of your own life, we don't live in a vacuum; friends, co-workers, and family will relay toxic news and media, despite effectively all of it being irrelevant to our everyday lives. This actually affects my demeanor not in that I just heard toxic news, but that I can see this person in my life is actively being needlessly poisoned by irrelevant negativity. I don't have an answer to this though. Thoughts on how to improve the situation would be appreciated.

randcraw 8y ago
The next killer app: a media filter for toxic content.
97s 8y ago
The best thing I can tell you is to just shrug off the bad news they tell you. My father is notorious for this. Everything is the end of world situation with him. I just say okay, okay and he gets the point, I am not interested in it. It is hard to get people to understand that you really don't care about all the garbage in the world. There are things worth caring about and there are things you can do about the garbage. Change doesn't start with complaining to random strangers, it starts with voting and making people aware by giving them the key to start changing the problem. I am no expert on this and I really don't vote enough, but over the years I have made people around me aware that I am not interested in negative information unless it directly can be changed by something I can do.