what helps me personally (I'm too easily triggered so I've got my work cut out here too) is disconnecting from the news circle and read long form instead. Readi

what helps me personally (I'm too easily triggered so I've got my work cut out here too) is disconnecting from the news circle and read long form instead. Reading more books again (not work related ones) does have the added side-effect of being able to concentrate again and immerse myself (instead of jumping from headline to headline). If you deal with people who suffer (ex veterans, or people who went through trauma) or even working through trauma yourself this is a great read: PTSD and Complex PTSD Symptoms, Syndromes, and Diagnoses https://www.guilford.com/excerpts/wilson5.pdf?t https://www.guilford.com/excerpts/wilson5.pdf?t I strongly believe that we are mostly products of our own suffering (which is unique to every individual but true for all as a collective), so spotting a behavior that might point to a history of trauma allows you to better think of more than just the message but the whole of the person who delivers it. For me this only works irl online it's back to square-1. In the end I have to constantly remind myself that online we're all just randoms on a market square yelling at people totally removed from our own thought process. Online pseudonymous discussions are valuable because people tend to speak their truths which when it is the truth, is often offensive, ugly and raw. On real-name policy sites you get everyone posing and pretending so participation doesn't produce any healthy benefits there for me mentally. With pseudonymous communication I have to be aware that people just spill their thoughts. We constantly pretend that online conversations are real but they aren't so much conversations we would have with people we know. Also they're not 1:1 or 1:5 but 1:many so social media as currently envisioned is always going to outrage. It's a short jump from disagreement to outrage online which doesn't exist irl. Reminding myself that we either a) haven't invented the right technology yet to meaningfully replicate communication into the digital space and/or b) haven't as a society we haven't yet learned that there are major differences in these forms of communication and we need to overcome them the push from industry and society is towards b) to press us into the chaos and just force us to learn how to be better communicators.