Doomerism

 Anne Laurie collects some thoughts on "doomerism" or the belief that everything everywhere is awful. In it, there's a discussion of depression as a manifestation of doomerism. It's clear that they are linked, but it goes back to my post the other day about how everything is pathologized. 

If you are a depressive person, then doomerism is going to find an easy home in your head and heart. However, there are things that make depression worse: drinking, too much time on your hands, a lost sense of purpose. 

For doomerism, I'd add one more: watching the news on TV. 

Social media is bad for kids, but I'd argue that CNN et al are terrible for a certain type of adult. My wife watches that shit as background noise when she's cooking, and when I hear it from the other room, I want to tear the TV off the wall. We all know "If it bleeds, it leads" as a mantra for sensational news practices, but TV news does something more, as TV is more immediate than print. Because it seems to activate emotions more than print, TV can amplify negativity.

Again, as a historian, this is a remarkable period to be alive in. There are challenges today as there are challenges in every age, and it's our responsibility to be fucking grown ups about it and do the work necessary to meet those challenges. That does not mean the world is doomed, but it is in the interest of cable news and people who fundraise off doom to make you think so.