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While completely unplugging from social or mainstream media for a while is one strategy to keep outrage levels at bay, you can also choose a strategy of quality
by devnull255 6y ago
While completely unplugging from social or mainstream media for a while is one strategy to keep outrage levels at bay, you can also choose a strategy of quality over quantity for consuming information about the world.
This is also a strategy that involves depth over breadth of information sources. Choose longer and more thoughtful articles in respected journals instead of headline news bursts. Read books that provide deeper analysis and context of topics given insufficient context in headline news.
Watch shows like Last Week Tonight with John Oliver or The Daily Show that make you laugh while often giving you more thoughtful reporting and analyses of current events than traditional news sources. I might have included Real Time with Bill Maher, but lately I've found that show dials up my outrage against the host. In any event, you should tailor this strategy to your own outrage triggers.
Finally, while excess outrage can be harmful to your mental health, it also provides input about what is important to you. Or at least, what you think is important to you. For this reason, it's probably also useful to take the opportunity to be mindful of what it is that is triggering the outrage and determine if there is a deeper issue provoking the outrage. Doing this might actually help you regulate your own emotions while processing difficult information.