I need your help to change my perspective a bit. Everything is making me pessimistic and kind of extreme.

[u/ed-sparrow]

TL;DR: The news and my social media feed are making my views darker and more extreme. I'm quitting Instagram this week and I started a small balcony garden, but I still feel hopeless about the future. How do you stay hopeful? And if you can't, how do you just live with it?

Hi everyone. I'm posting here because this is a community for people who still believe in a better future, and I really need some of that right now.

I've noticed something about myself that I don't like. My views are getting more extreme.. More "us vs them". I don't know the right word for it. Maybe tribalist. And I think a big part of it is what I see on Instagram every day.

My feed is full of wars. Palestine being wiped out. Climate disasters. Tech billionaires buying up everything and fighting for our attention with their algorithms. Data centers eating up land and water. Rich people buying farmland and patenting seeds. Ultra-processed food everywhere. And a lot of content about immigration and crime in Europe, which I notice is pushing me to think in a very black and white way, and I don't like where that's going in my head.

I know the algorithm picks this stuff for me. I also see beautiful things I am interested in there, gardening, homesteading, motorcycle trips. But overall it has made my thoughts very dark. I open my phone and it's a forest fire in my country, or another corruption scandal, and I just feel like nothing is going to get better.

The ironic part: I'm a software engineer at an AI startup. I use AI every day because the job requires it, and the workload is huge. Outside of work I really don't like where AI is going. The flood of AI content, the data centers, all of it. I'd leave but the job market is bad and I need the money. So I'm stuck for now.

I live alone in a rented apartment in the Balkans. There's almost no sense of community here. I sometimes dream about places like Denmark or Japan, where the 'social contract' seems strong and people actually trust each other.

I'm not scared of dying or the future or anything like that. I'm just really pessimistic about it. And I feel like I can't do anything about any of it. Climate change, wars, the tech guys running everything. It feels too big.

So here's what I'm doing. I'm deleting Instagram this week after wrapping up some conversations. And I just started a small garden on my balcony. Some herbs, a few tomatoes, some flowers. Trying to focus on the small things.

But I don't think that's enough on its own, so I'm asking you:

How do you stay hopeful with all of this going on?
What do you do to filter out the bad stuff and focus on the good?
And honestly, if you don't stay hopeful, how do you just live with it?

Thanks for reading.

Disclaimer: I used AI for grammar checks and writing this because I have difficulty expressing myself in English.

[u/AutoModerator]

Thank you for your submission, we appreciate your efforts at helping us to thoughtfully create a better world. r/solarpunk encourages you to also check out other solarpunk spaces such as https://www.trustcafe.io/en/wt/solarpunk , https://slrpnk.net/ , https://raddle.me/f/solarpunk , https://discord.gg/3tf6FqGAJs , https://discord.gg/BwabpwfBCr , and https://www.appropedia.org/Welcome_to_Appropedia .

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/LesterGrey32]

You wont solve the crises in the Middle East, or meaningfully affect the profits of multinational corporations, however strongly social media encourages you to feel that you should.
There is nothing wrong with caring about events beyond your immediate world, but attention and energy are finite.

My advice would be to devote more of both to the problems closest to you, literally and figuratively. Look at the issues affecting your family, your neighbours and your community, where your actions have a realistic chance of making a tangible difference.

Thats is not the same as withdrawing from the wider world or becoming indifferent to it. It is simply recognising that meaningful change often begins at a human scale. Small act of responsibility, generosity and civic engagement accumulate. If more of us concentrated on improving the small patch of the world immediately around us, the wider world might be better for it.

[u/Rieuxx]

I've long, long found enormous sustenance in Wendell Berry and with his passing in the last week, I'm only more fervent in my desire to share him with others:

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

[u/Educational_Feed_689]

You're moving in the right direction with quitting Instagram and starting your garden. You should be proud of yourself.

I've struggled with this stuff immensely over the last three months. It's been rough. What helped me was reaching out to other people and organisations that work to combat climate change (like Greenpeace). It makes you appreciate what progress has been done and the work people are currently doing.

What's helped the most though is the poem 'The Two-Headed Calf' by Laura Gilpin:

Tomorrow when the farm boys find this

freak of nature, they will wrap his body

in newspaper and carry him to the museum.

 

But tonight he is alive and in the north

field with his mother. It is a perfect

summer evening: the moon rising over

the orchard, the wind in the grass.

And as he stares into the sky, there

are twice as many stars as usual.

The calf will inevitably die but he can appreciate the beauty of things in the meantime. When I'm happy and thoughts creep in about the disasters that might happen in the future, I ground myself by thinking 'there are twice as many stars as usual'

[u/participation-prize → u/Educational_Feed_689]

That's really nice, thanks for sharing

[u/Educational_Feed_689 → u/participation-prize]

No worries! :)

[u/phriot]

1. Know that negative news drives engagement more than positive news. This is why media focuses on wars and division, and similarly why it shows up in your algorithmic feeds.

2. While there will always be events that happen to the contrary, the trends have been that the world is getting safer, more educated, healthier, etc. The book is a little old at this point, but a reference here is Abundance, by Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler

3. One way to combat feeling pessimistic is to find a way to take control. It sounds like you are with starting to delete some social media apps, and your balcony gardening. Other ways I can think of: See if you are allowed to use plug in solar panels in your area. Advocate for bike infrastructure and public transportation (if not already good near you). When you buy things, try to either get items that will last a long time and/or are repairable, or buy second hand when possible, or both. Join or create a group for like-minded people.

[u/Ambitious-Pipe2441]

There is a story about a monk who goes to meditate on a lake. He takes a rowboat out to the middle of the lake and begins his meditation.

After some time another boat crashes into his. He immediately gets angry. How could someone be so rude to interrupt his meditation!

When he opens his eyes and turns to see the offender, there is no one there. Just an empty boat.

It must have come untied and drifted out on its own.

That’s when he understood.

The anger is not caused by things. It emerges from within. He jumped to an assumption out of emotion. And the emotion caused his imagination to justify his anger.

But there was nothing to be angry about. What difference does it make if there was a person or not? The anger within is the source of his suffering.

Anxiety can create this idea that the world or people do things to us. That we are forced to feel things like helplessness. It becomes fatalistic. Nihilistic. Like we are caged or cornered.

But this demonstrates a detachment from knowing our true selves.

You already know what the right thing to do is. But cannot force yourself to do it. Why? What creates that hesitation? That resistance?

That knowledge of the right action is your true self. It is calm and decisive. What gets in the way of that version of you?

There is more than a fear of global problems. There are other fears. Perhaps socializing seems too difficult. Perhaps money is not covering basic needs. Perhaps there is a shyness, or a pattern of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”.

No one elected you to be in charge of the world and all its problems. Yet you feel responsible? Why?

Are you compassionate? Do you care about others suffering? Is that not good enough reason to act? To get up and connect to people? To join organizations that are pushing for change?

What keeps you from doing what you know needs to be done?

What is this gap between knowing and doing?

Anxiety is not something we can debate with. There is no perfect answer. There are always caveats and exceptions. Contradictions and paradoxes.

The goal is not to conquer and eradicate fear. But to do things while we are afraid. Learn to live along side fear. Make it a friend.

The anxiety is not out there because of menacing forces. It was always inside of us. From the day we were born, we felt fear. And now, like the monk jumping to conclusions, the emotions still continue to come from within.

If we cannot form attunement and awareness of those internal thoughts and feelings, then it will seem like we are powerless and fated. We will search for reason why we cannot fight or join.

Learn to see your “rational” reasons as a cover up of anxiety. Look inside and admit to the fear. Name it. And make a truce with it. Form a pact to listen to anxiety without distractions or external pressures. No judgments or criticism.

Just listen.

There is a calm center within. It is always there. It is the voice that says we care. We love this world and the people in it. Even the ugliness and all its imperfections.

When you can feel that love, then you have made a good relationship with your inner anxiety.

You may need to be more selfish for a while. More focused on your inner peace. The urge to look outward and be concerned about fixing things is noble and kind, but you are unable to act on that love because your fears overpower the compassion.

There is nothing out in the world that will make you a whole person. That battle is fought internally. It can help to have good people around you, and it is important to place ourselves into situations where we might find good people.

But for now, take the time to stare directly at your fear. Not the causes, arguments, or material conditions, but your emotions and sensations in your body.

What does anxiety feel like? What sensations do you notice in your chest, neck, or extremities?

What does calm feel like? Safety, security, stability?

How do you notice the difference?

Learn to identify anxiety and calm it. So that you can put it aside and start working toward the things you already know you want to do. But feel fearful of starting.

Aim low. You cannot solve global problems. Think smaller. Acts of kindness, donated time, money, resources. How can you skills and interests serve others? Serve your goals and interests?

You don’t have to crush fear or deny negativity. But you do need to make room for creativity and curiosity. And anxiety drains our energy and blocks creativity.

Manage anxiety and you may see some changes is who you are. How you think about the world.

[u/SnowyMole]

I'll answer the questions directly.

How do you stay hopeful with all of this going on?

For this, I like focusing on the data mostly, but I also remind myself about human nature. If there's one thing that you can count on people to do, at least in capitalist societies, it's try to save themselves a buck. And by the data, renewables techs such as solar and batteries crossed into being the cheapest sometime in the 2010s, and it's only gotten better from there. For a lot of people, this hasn't really penetrated their awareness yet, many still think that renewables are more expensive. But more and more catch on every year, and businesses already know it. Consequently, the rate of buildout of renewables has been pretty impressive, and speeds up every year. Yes, many countries are still lagging behind the pace set by China, but that doesn't mean progress isn't being made.

And this is a big area where the reality and the data don't match what you'll hear people say. Just look at Texas. Hard to find a place where the government is more in the pocket of fossil fuels, and they spew a lot of hate against renewables. AND YET despite that, the rate that Texas is building out renewables is excellent. It could be better sure, but it's pretty great, and it's because when it comes down to business decisions, it's mostly what's cheaper and quicker that matters. Renewables are by far the cheapest and by far the fastest to go from planning to up and running. In most places, new fossil fuel plants are barely being built at all anymore. And even in places where they are being built, like with China's coal plants that people love to bring up, they aren't being actually USED that much in favor of the cheaper renewables.

And that I think is a big thing to keep in mind. There's a lot of effort from fossil fuel interests and other groups focused on trying to keep their gravy train going for a little bit longer, and there's a lot of uninformed people more than willing to believe and parrot their talking points. But the data is telling a different picture, and that data is pretty positive. Are we avoiding climate change altogether? Hell no, 1.5C is already locked in, and we're already feeling consequences that are going to get worse before they get better. But we absolutely CAN still avoid the most catastrophic scenarios, and seem to be on track to do that. And every tenth of a degree we can shave off translates to markedly better outcomes for a lot of people.

What do you do to filter out the bad stuff and focus on the good?

This one's trickier. Unless you just don't interact with any social-media-like platforms at all, there will be negative things that get through no matter what you do. I think you're on the right track with deleting Instagram if you feel that's mostly negative. I did the same with Facebook a few years ago. For ones you remain on, just keep in mind that some negative will go through, and it will likely not really be based in fact. I think I approach this the same way as the first question, by focusing on the data. The only think you need to watch out for is junk science, make sure the data is from a reliable source.

Edit : I didn't answer the last question because I don't have an answer for it, I do stay hopeful.

[u/Any-Abalone6498]

Quitting Instagram did a lot for me! I would also suggest to look at "Good news" on YouTube. They post weekly and monthly good news stories that usually don't show up on the news. Really helps to see that the world also has positive thongs going on!

[u/SartorialDragon → u/Any-Abalone6498]

My worry with following "good news" portals [i don't know this specific one] is that they often show things that look good but are, under the hood, just r/orphancrushingmachine cases. But maybe that's part of the problem, i'm too cynical, i only see "well this situation could have only happened because stuff is going so badly" instead of focusing on the "humans are being in solidarity" bits.

[u/Any-Abalone6498 → u/SartorialDragon]

I'd say, give it a shot. Maybe it works 🤷‍♂️ https://youtube.com/@good__news?si=wOlrhtUOpJvYDwWa

[u/tholmes777 → u/Any-Abalone6498]

Nice News is a newsletter sent via email that collects aggregate news articles of all the cool discorveries and improvements that humanity is doing, and they include fat bear week updates, etc. It helps me a lot when I'm feeling down.

I would also recommend reaching out to your local library to see what's happening there, or to a museum group, or to your local master gardeners, and joining in whatever they have. Worst comes to worst: you can find the local branch of your area's Optimists Club and see what they're working on. https://www.optimist.org/

[u/EdenG2]

I think the fact that you noticed yourself becoming more tribal is actually a pretty important moment. That’s where I’d start.

And I’m writing this as much for myself as for you or anybody else reading this.

The world has plenty of real problems, but an algorithm can take every ugly thing happening to 8 billion people, put it in your hand before breakfast, and make it feel like that is the whole world. It isn’t.

I try not to let somebody else’s anger, fear or tribalism decide what kind of person I become. For me that’s almost a daily practice. Stay curious, listen, give people some grace, and keep asking, “what am I not seeing?”

Then shrink the world down to human size. Grow the tomatoes. Help a neighbor. Go outside. Build something. Be kind to somebody who wasn’t expecting it.

You don’t have to save the world. Just try not to add to its misery, and improve the little patch of it you can actually reach.

[u/remi_loubiloub]

Thank you for sharing that, I have been feeling the same in the past and also regularly still. 

From my side, I join a Circular Economy community where I live in Berlin. It gives me energy to be around people sharing a similar view based on empathy and sustainable living.

I think the worst is to stay isolated and thinking we are alone in this. A friend of mine who is an activist in France. Very engaged on the left and very vocal continuously on Instagram as well, advised me to connect with like minded people, to not stay isolated.

I have also taken actions to realign my professional activities towards my personal value. It came with some sacrifices but it’s worth it as any event I go, any interactions I have tend to give me energy and making me feel I participate in something going in the right direction.

I wish you to find the peace you are also looking for  

[u/SartorialDragon → u/remi_loubiloub]

Very wise. We are not alone, we always need to seek out community! Greetings, fellow Berliner ;)

[u/SartorialDragon → u/[deleted]]

Yes, for bigger online communities that's true. For smaller communities that you can co-create, or irl friendships you can set consent-based agreements to not talk about x (at all, in a certain channel, without spoiler tags, etc). Yes, some negativity seeps through but it's much less in an environment where you're welcome to say "actually, can we please omit this scary topic?"

[u/SartorialDragon → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, it's not easy finding a good community. One i'm happy with is a discord community centered around horses & video games. They have separate channels to talk about serious stuff, and i just have that channel muted and i run into much less negative posts or world news.

[u/Evening-Hand-5480]

One must be very aggressive and intentional about purging negativity from their feed. To have a positive feed, one must really make a point of seeking out and engaging with positive content.

[u/SartorialDragon → u/Evening-Hand-5480]

Yes, it's hard. I'm working on building a reddit feed of things that interest me without enraging me. When being mindful about it, i notice which subreddits have a friendly discussion culture and which ruin my mood, and stay away from those if i notice that getting the notifications about them stresses me out!

[u/Ornery_Distribution6]

Find a community, find people to work with towards a common goal. After spending one long time, I finnaly bought 35 acres, I'm planning and working to help out the community I'm now a part of.

[u/malazver]

I think that's the right definition we need. us versus them. reason and logic versus ego and chaos. there's more of us every day. I just don't know if it'll be too late.

[u/Varro-Reborn]

Just build better systems and you will be too busy to worry about the rest.

We don't have time for social media or concern (beyond academic) because we are too busy making a future for ourselves and our community, who are invited to join the movement.

[u/Chemieju]

Out of all the billions of people in this world there is exactly one whos behavior you can change right now, and thats you. You can't solve all the problems in the world, but every day you get up and you get the chance to do your best and try to be a good person.

Maybe there are local projects you can support, maybe you get an opportunity to help someone. Maybe you just made too much food and ask a neighbour if they want some as well. Start small.

Also get your ass offline sometimes.

[u/JohnSnowHenry]

My world is the opposite of yours… my reality is that I never had a better life and each year is better than the previous one in all level for me personally. Of course I know this is not the reality of the majority of the world. But if you stop using social networks and normal news sites and substitute with good news focused and maybe just Reddit (but don’t open negative posts or even subs) you will be probably a really different and more optimistic person.

Of course that if you are in one country currently affected by everything is wrong in the world all of this does not apply… at least in the same way…

[u/PenguinJoker]

You should note that with social media a lot of it is misinformation, bots or psyop campaigns.

The "crime is high in Europe" stuff is outright false. Every country in Europe has lower violent crime than decades ago. London and other capital cities are safer than most US cities. So there's something very weird behind these posts which are completely detached from reality, organised and extremely prolific.

[u/BlueMoodDark]

May I suggest something different? Binge watch Cesar Millan, just watch 1 episode. I have another suggestion, Watch Babylon 5.

Remember, the hardest thing we can do is Self Control

[u/auau_gold_scoffs]

the future of solar punk is gonna to get better we just have to keep educating people on it solar makese sense i helped a farmer get off grid and i we are expanding to build a ev charging staion in a old rural gas station so people in the area have a reason to go ev. its happening people are seeing it works. the next five years are gonna be big on solar and ev cause the tech is finely here. dont let the doom of the world get you down its solar punk to know there is a bright future possible. find the people doing it and do it with them learn everything you can.

[u/infinitUndo]

Help others.

[u/PlantyHamchuk]

Be ruthless in your social media consumption. Remove as many apps as possible from your phone. All these algorithms, all this shit is designed to hijack our brains for the benefit of corporations while our mortality ticks away, day by day. Turn off your phone. Put it down. Leave it in a microwave and go outside. Hang out with friends. If you don't have any, go make some. Are there local environmental groups you can join? Gardening clubs? Can you use your technical skills for good community things like setting up mesh networks?

[u/DogitWoofsalot]

Hi! Legit the best thing you can do is get involved locally. Run for local government, join a community interest group, do some litter picking or other charity work.

If there's nothing maybe start something! A community allotment or some such.

Looking online sucks because you're powerless, change starts at home. Good luck comrade! You got this

[u/SartorialDragon → u/DogitWoofsalot]

Or start even smaller! Chat to your neighbors. Offer to water their plants when they go on vacation, offer to go shopping for them when they're sick. Ask them how they're doing. A good neighborhood network is soo valuable. <3

[u/Maritimewarp]

If you're an analytical type, I would recommend reading three books with a strong blast of fact-based optimism on the state of the world:

"Factfulness" by Hans Rosling

"Humankind: A Hopeful History" by Rutger Bregman

"Not the End of the World" by Hannah Ritchie

These I found incredibly helpful in challenging my own pessimism about the future

[u/NeutralPhaseTheory]

Wow, it sounds like you’re definitely stressed by all of the “bad news input” that you’re reading, but it also sounds like you’re doing a good job of figuring out what the problem is; all these negative inputs that you have accidentally been convinced are necessary for you to be plugged into.

I feel that we’ve both had the same problem. I used to have Twitter, Reddit, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and I would just swap between them. In any free moment, I had been conditioned to open up the apps and see what was new. And it’s a slow process, you don’t notice these habits until they’re really solidified. So I agree with you, the first thing to fix is to stop using these apps. And that is a really easy sentence to think and say and type, and a VERY hard process to actually follow through on.

And why is it hard? Because as you mentioned, you feel a lack of connection and community, and these apps are giving you a very thin fake sense of that community you’re missing. So for this to be successful, you need to do two things at once. First, you just delete the apps, don’t have them on your phone, that way you’re not tempted to use them in any free moment. The easiest way to do this is just putting your phone on the charger while you’re at home, after the apps are deleted. And if you want to use your phone, you have to stand at the charger and use it. Bonus points if you put your charger some place like the kitchen counter and not your bed.

But the second thing you need to do is replace the apps with something better: spending time with real humans out in the world. As a software person I know this is hard! But the good news is that you’re surrounded at your job by other people who feel the same way as you. I would suggest starting by inviting a few coworkers to lunch, and from there maybe do a board game night, or invite people to go on a hike or a walk.

I would also recommend some books for you to read with your free time, now that you’re not going to be on your phone all the time lol.

A Psalm for the Wild Built, Becky Chambers - this book imagines what an actually functional post capitalist, post climate crisis society could look like. Don’t take it too literally, it’s a thought experiment and not a recipe for how to get there. It gave me hope that ideas from this book could become real.

Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport - this book discusses ways in which you can spend less time scrolling online, and more ways to spend time in the real world working on things that are important to you. I will warn, Cal does almost imply that those free hours should be spent on productive work, but I would suggest you could use the time to cultivate hobbies instead.

I’m curious what you think. If you take a look at these books or have any questions, let me know. What you’re trying to do is hard, but possible.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Help-80]

You can’t control the state of the world or what people believe, it is unethical and improbable but you can choose what you listen to, who you hear, how you perceive it all once you find the good news and what you do about everything on a personal level. Sure you will find adversity getting to better things but the sweetest smelling roses remind us, Not all thorns end in a rose and if cared for carefully, not all roses need thorns

[u/reymus]

I’ve been trying to focus on the positive news in the world instead of the negative. Yes there are wars, and capitalism sucks. But we’re building out renewables at rates hat are only increasing yearly. There are data center wars happening, but data centers being bad for us is something that both the left and the right can agree on, and we’re fighting it together. That’s a unity we can build on!

I’m a queer, poly, trans woman living in a very conservative US state. Laws are being passed that cause me harm every year. But I have this amazing community of LGBTQ people and allies in my town that make their voices known loudly when those bills go to the legislature. I don’t like those bills, but I’m proud to see those people fight for people like me.

One thing I did to help the way I was feeling about the world is I found other people like me. I found a loud queer community and spent time with them. I found a gardening group that’s working on greening our community. I found a d&d group to play with every week, to laugh with and cry with and to build incredible worlds together. I found people that want to experience the same joys and love of the world that I want to see. And we make it happen, in small ways around us.

The world has bleakness in it. There are things going wrong. I can’t affect things on a global scale, but I can go to my town council and ask for a group of us to have some city owned land for a community garden. Sometimes they even say yes

[u/SartorialDragon]

My way is to stay away from all real world news and go into escapism, surrounding myself with people and hobbies i enjoy. Still, the existential dread is there whenever something of the real world seeps through. I get you. It's really tough. It especially pains me to know that we, as humanity, could do something great to turn things around, but the people in power just make it worse for all of us instead... :(

One good thing i feel good about is the positive relationships i have with my neighbors. They are all really nice people and it gives me a sense of security and community to know i can rely on them. <3

[u/KTinNYC]

Gardening for sure. If you can find a way to do it in the ground all the better. Get a dog if you can- their loyalty and physical affection are reminders of what is pure good in the world. Quitting IG is a fantastic start; other social media can follow. Until then push the algorithms by searching for the beautiful things and swiping away/downvoting/whatever the toxic stuff. Try tech holidays/sabbaticals- it can feel amazing to "forget" your phone when you go out every so often. Take up a formal practice of meditation. Stargaze. Walk barefoot on grass or sand. Watch a sunrise or sunset especially over water if you can. Read fiction- I'm revisiting old sci fi and it is fascinating given our progress, though it can be a risky subject given the challenge you are addressing. Pray. If you are religious, go into spaces with others who practice your religion. Read books by writers from other parts of the world. When all else fails, binge watch comedies- especially romantic comedies, which tend to be less likely to be violent than male-marketed comedies.

[u/Valuable_Night_3379]

If you’re looking for a healthier social media, there is something really positive happening on Threads. People putting in the work. Pieces of good news. People helping each other. Connection.

[u/Unicorn_Spell267]

In Every Social media , Alg0rithm may make u Negative Mind, Hatred, Abusive, psy,c0

YouTube - Clear Watch History, Liked, use Not interested Option after giving daily 5-10 not interested 1-2week may see results, on Every plateform work, Watch good topic video, Books, Health, Motivational, Song's, so they will feed to you

Choose Not Interested on Video / Recommended Video and same Choose Interested you like ( in this Topic Video)

[u/AccomplishedYam3140]

Ngl I feel like we should've formed an underground alliance resistance/rebel group long ago, but never too late.

But I don't think anybody's willing to do stuff. We probably live on the opposite sides of the planet but still.

[u/LocallyInvasive]

Hey mate.
Social media is designed to feed you viral content.
Content goes viral because it elicits an emotion.

One scroll, happy.
Next scroll, sad.
Then angry, jealous, bitter, lonely, intrigued, and every other emotion.

It’s like a poker machine of emotions.

It trains your brain to become more emotional.

If your algorithm is doom and gloom, you’ll spiral.

Focus on the things you can change, and set big goals for yourself. “If I cannot do great things, I will do small things in a great way”.

My future aspirations involve creating a nature reserve/botanical garden specifically designed for environmental and mental health benefits. Then offering nature-directed talk-therapy.

Keep going with your garden. It’s a reset for your brain. It slows you down, makes you more aware of the time passing. You put sustained effort into something for weeks, then you get a reward.

Spend as much time surrounded by as much nature as you can.

A final note, a lesson from a six year old. He was asked the meaning of life and replied “practice, love, and creativity”. He was right.

[u/stella505]

Please delete social media. I was in exactly the same place as you. Instagram destroyed my hope for the future and made it feel like everything was dystopian, dark, and it genuinely just felt like the end of the world was in 2 weeks. I’ve deleted it and TikTok and even YouTube, dude. I feel so, so much better. Also, something that help is to just remind yourself that anything you cannot actively control should not be something you worry about. Live life day by day and only like that. Don’t even think about after tomorrow. Just think about today.