Keeping up with the news these days isn\u2019t for the faint of heart. Just separating real, legitimate news from conjecture, as well as purely fake or AI-generated content that\u2019s been designed to mislead us, is a job in itself. <\/p>\n
Even those of us with journalism backgrounds, who pride ourselves on confirming facts in every story, are caught in the whirl of a tornado-like information cycle and confused by its content. I recently took an online quiz to \u201cspot the AI-generated photos\u201d and failed it in a spectacular way.<\/p>\n
Stoicism teaches us to evaluate every bit of information we encounter against the answer to one fundamental question: Can I do anything about this? If the answer is no, we\u2019re taught to let it go and move on with our lives. Admittedly, this is a tall order when decisions that are out of our hands have real-life implications for us or the people we love.<\/p>\n
Caring without being captivated<\/h2>\n
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The question many people ask of Stoics is, \u201cDoes this mean we\u2019re supposed to treat those things as if they don\u2019t matter?\u201d Absolutely not.<\/p>\n
Stoicism has often been mistakenly interpreted as a withdrawal of emotions, but this isn\u2019t really the case. Emotions are real, they\u2019re important, and expressing them is only human. But once the Stoic has had their moment of anger, elation or frustration, they don\u2019t allow the emotion to consume them.<\/p>\n
This is accomplished through different methods: <\/p>\n
- \n
- Bringing one\u2019s attention back from the macro to the micro level. What in your own life can you control? What needs your attention that will improve your own little part of the world?<\/li>\n
- Finding a distraction. That could be doing something creative like writing or painting, or devoting time to helping someone else. Getting outside our own world does a world of good! Giving one\u2019s time, especially to someone less fortunate, is a direct route to gratitude.<\/li>\n
- Doing something about the issue, to a point. This could mean taking part in a peaceful protest, signing a petition or calling your government representative and telling them how you feel\u2014then putting the phone down and going on with your day.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The world is what you make of it<\/h2>\n
\nStoics are also sometimes accused of avoiding reality when they don\u2019t agree that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. This is also untrue. We see the world for what it is. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s good, as well as bad. We don\u2019t expect everything to run smoothly all the time. Life is messy and unpredictable, and we accept that. But we also try to operate like a social media algorithm. Here\u2019s what I mean: <\/p>\n
Many people seem to be unaware that they get more of what they interact with on social media and the internet in general. If they\u2019re constantly clicking on negative stories, the sites\u2019 algorithms will assume that\u2019s what they want and show the person more of them, suppressing information that doesn\u2019t fit the criteria. <\/p>\n
That being said, this doesn\u2019t mean a Stoic will only click on videos of puppies and flowers. However, we do keep in mind that social media isn\u2019t the real world. It\u2019s a world the user curates through clicks and likes, and the time we spend there makes a lot of money for each platform\u2019s owners. Our eyes are wide open to its purpose.<\/p>\n
To operate like an algorithm, take in less negative information and you\u2019ll begin to see it less often. A person can know what\u2019s going on the world without doom-scrolling and launching a deep dive into every possible opinion about it. Ultimately, we control what we ingest, whether that\u2019s food, drink or news.<\/p>\n
Silencing the news cycle\u2019s delivery system<\/h2>\n
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