4 ms·

I'm surprised at the number of negative reactions to your take. It just seems like common sense to me: * 8 billion humans on the planet * Bad (and good) thing

I'm surprised at the number of negative reactions to your take. It just seems like common sense to me: * 8 billion humans on the planet * Bad (and good) things are happening to someone on it so frequently that they might as well be infinite * It's far beyond the ability of anyone to care about all of them * Ergo the only actual question is which ones you choose to care about, and if your caring is triggering anxiety or depression, by definition you have a problem with your filter The negative takes are not thinking this through (but maybe this shouldn't be a surprise, since not thinking things through is a hallmark of depressed or anxious thinking)

fsckboy 4y ago
> which ones you choose to care about we are not wired to choose what to care about, that's not how care works.
- safety1st 4y ago
  I'm pretty good at it. I consider it an essential skill for the information age, because the alternative is essentially to let Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk choose for you.
  - fsckboy 4y ago
    I'm good at it too, it's called autism. but that doesn't make it good general purpose advice to give.
    - safety1st 4y ago
      It's called agency. It's not wrong and it's not a disorder. If you can't change your own state of mind, how are you going to change the world?
- escapedmoose 4y ago
  But you can, outside of certain mental disorders, choose what you pay attention to. Presented with distressing news which you care about but can’t realistically change, you can choose to read more about it, or you can choose to occupy yourself in other ways to take your mind off of it.
  - fsckboy 4y ago
    there are multiple subreddits devoted to pictures of cute baby animals, lovable pets, etc. They have rules against posting death mentions for your beloved pet, because it affects some other people too much. I'm just saying, it's not a choice unless you're to give up looking at cute animals which mostly brings joy to your life. I'm not like that, it wouldn't affect me in the least, but we aren't all the same.

fsckboy 4y ago

> which ones you choose to care about we are not wired to choose what to care about, that's not how care works.

safety1st 4y ago
I'm pretty good at it. I consider it an essential skill for the information age, because the alternative is essentially to let Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk choose for you.
- fsckboy 4y ago
  I'm good at it too, it's called autism. but that doesn't make it good general purpose advice to give.
  - safety1st 4y ago
    It's called agency. It's not wrong and it's not a disorder. If you can't change your own state of mind, how are you going to change the world?
escapedmoose 4y ago
But you can, outside of certain mental disorders, choose what you pay attention to. Presented with distressing news which you care about but can’t realistically change, you can choose to read more about it, or you can choose to occupy yourself in other ways to take your mind off of it.
- fsckboy 4y ago
  there are multiple subreddits devoted to pictures of cute baby animals, lovable pets, etc. They have rules against posting death mentions for your beloved pet, because it affects some other people too much. I'm just saying, it's not a choice unless you're to give up looking at cute animals which mostly brings joy to your life. I'm not like that, it wouldn't affect me in the least, but we aren't all the same.