As social media movements progress, there is increasing pressure to be involved in politics—attending protests, signing petitions, reposting information—but this may not be helpful for all involved.

There has been much debate recently about the impact of social media on mental health and on how it has simultaneously increased the availability of social justice. It seems almost paradoxical. One would think that an increase in advocacy would also lead to more positive mental health, but it hasn’t, showing the need for yet another change.

One of the problems causing this reaction is surely representation and inherent bias in news, but others are more likely behavioral. Politics are only getting more and more extreme, as with a traumatized brain. Nonessential processes have been shut down, leaving people closer to the extremes of the animals they try so hard to separate themselves from. 

There are many reasons someone wouldn’t be able to watch the news. Those I have personal experience with (and can therefore discuss) include OCD, psychosis, and hypersensitivity. Graphic depictions of violence can be triggering to any viewer: few people want to see their world collapsing around them. A particular branch of OCD, referred to as scrupulosity OCD, involves obsessing over morality to the point it dictates every action you make. In my own experience, watching the news can trigger this subtype, and when psychosis and hypersensitivity are added on, it is very easy to feel extreme guilt and personal ownership over world events.

It seems news, although well-intentioned, is becoming another way to guilt-trip people. What better way to get people to care about your cause than to make them feel personal responsibility for it? And even better if they feel so guilty they donate to your cause, or add numbers to that otherwise small event.

Not everyone will experience this guilt to such an extent that I do, but guilt is an emotion everyone feels. And nobody deserves to feel like they are solely responsible for all the pain in the world. This becomes more important when the number of people with mental illnesses, who are more vulnerable to this behavior, is considered. One in five people in the U.S. have at least one, and there are almost positively more who have been left undiagnosed.

Behavioral reasons for the negative impact of social media on mental health point to yet another of its causes—a lack of representation. There is very little discussion of self care in the context of participating in politics. Most people don’t even know about scrupulosity OCD, contributing to the number of people left undiagnosed and proving my point.

In the beginning of this class, we had a discussion about how objectivity doesn’t exist, but how journalists are still expected to remain objective according to the white man’s ideal of objectivity. This plays into the issue of representation, but also into the role we all play in it, whether intentional or not. The best articles are ones in which people acknowledge their bias (which will always exist), and have taken the information in, processed it, and only then spit it back out. Repetition is the enemy of journalism, and it happens when people try to remain objective instead of honoring their opinions.

News isn’t fundamentally bad, neither is the internet, but even if they were, they are here to stay. We need to adapt. Instead of blaming social media, we need to determine what we can do to lessen the burden of guilt. A problem should not be presented and all solutions shot down. That is just basic respect.

Although mirroring other people and ideas will always be the way people communicate, there is a difference between completely crushing out your own opinions and forming your opinion using pre-existing ideas as an assist. Because of neuroplasticity, the tendency of the brain to adapt, thought processes can be shifted. All we need to do is start allowing ourselves time to process what our thoughts are, start actually prioritizing our needs, and extremes are likely to lessen.

I stopped listening to mainstream news years ago, for no reason other than it triggered me. And I have still been able to keep up with current events and write informative articles. If you can find ways to make ends meet in other circumstances, you can do so for yourself. But you need to choose to do so.
Accepting your own needs puts you at a better place to recognize the needs of others, and this is what modern day news should be doing. Every person needs something different, and every aspect of society—which should cater to all parties involved, almost by definition—needs to follow that, including news.