How reading more news has helped my anxiety
Doom scrolling is never good, but there’s a healthy middle ground
Like every federal election I’ve ever voted in, I voted against Donald Trump. Last November, I happened to wake up in the middle of the night just minutes after the race had been called for Trump.
And after seeing that news, I turned off all my news feeds. Not that I had any, but I turned off my habits and fought my urges to search the headlines.
For the first month of the year, I learned about the emerging kakistocracy through the grapevine. Friends mentioned Greenland every once in a while, or asked me to search for the Gulf of Mexico on Google Maps, or expressed genuine fear as they told me they were starting hormone treatments. This news fast I’ve been on has been an insane privilege: I’m a straight white guy chilling in one of the bluest states (Washington) and making six figures with no fear of getting laid off. Trump banning trans folks from the military or Elon Musk’s ridiculous “5 bullets” ask simply don’t affect me. But, of course, “first they came for the socialists…” Then they came for the sick, and for the immigrants… but not yet for the price of eggs.
I avoided the news because I wanted to avoid spin. News companies are companies too, and they make more money when more people click on their articles. Calm headlines don’t rake in the dough. I was sick of CNN making everything out to be the end of days, or Fox apologizing for everything Trump did. As much as I relied on Reuters and The Guardian, I just got sick of all the chaos and became so unsure of what was true it felt much better to stick my head in the sand, popping it out for the occasional casual conversation about Trump deciding to pardon 1500 violent felons who, in their attempt to “Stop the Steal,” basically killed six cops.
And that attempted coup was four years ago, when Trump was barely president.
But not all news is spin. Crazy, I know. But I started reading articles by NOTUS, a new-to-me source that reminded me that not everyone is going wild. And someone recommended an article by Jay Michaelson to me, and it read as very clear-minded. Chilling, but insightful and grounded in reality. Since then I’ve stumbled across Law Dork and others who cite their sources and paint a clear picture of what’s happening without making it look like the country is aflame. The Constitution may be on fire, and that very well may ruin America for a decade or so, but we’re not drowning in lava out here.
Imagine my surprise when I learned that Michaelson works for CNN, the very network I wanted to avoid! “But,” I reminded myself, “it’s the spin that’s the problem, not the network.” And re-reads of Michaelson’s articles didn’t reveal any spins I could detect, so I’ve stayed subscribed.
And I’ve been repeating that mantra to myself.
Not all news is spin.
It’s hard nowadays to know what’s true. I hate that that’s the case. But there are so many things going on, and so many motivations to lie and exaggerate, and so little time to do fact-checking. But there is time to find good news outlets. Ones that avoid spin, focus on the facts, and emphasize what matters. Maybe they’re smaller, maybe they cover fewer topics, but they’re out there. And there are a lot of them!
The best part of good news outlets is that they give me hope. They remind me that people are still focused on finding and reporting the truth. People are still basing claims on the future in relevant precedent from the past. People are still working to reduce the price of eggs, restore respect for the Constitution, reduce health care costs, and save American democracy as we know it. Some of those ideals are lofty, some are immediate, but all of them matter today. Reporters are facing resistance, and of course so are the “good” politicians.
But even in the face of a president who asserts “we are the federal law” and “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law,” we still have governors willing to “see [him] in court” and 90+ groups that have filed legal challenges, and judges on both sides of the political aisle that have (so far) ruled in favor of reason (that is, against Trump). Heck, we’ve got plenty of folks willing to get arrested for civil disobedience.
And we’ve got me. Now you know where I stand, but I want you to also know that I’m happy to discuss. Regardless of who you’ve voted for, feel free to leave your comments in the usual place. I’d love to hear your thoughts! 🤓
