DOOMSCROLLING WAR NEWS? #AAH
Last few days we have seen some devastating visuals from Israel of children, women, dead bodies, buildings being blown off and these visuals have had deep impact on many people. On me as well. It gives rise to anxiety, loss of attention & sleep, loss of appetite & more. There is a lot of disinformation too videos taken from other locations attributed to this war, people fighting with one another displaying their lack of knowledge but just looking for engagement.
Then why are we compulsively scrolling for such news, we know its bad for our mental health but we just cant stop cos we are Doomscrolling.
‘Doomscrolling’ is when a person scrolls through bad news on their phone, even though that news is saddening or disheartening to see. It’s the act of spending an excessive amount of screen time devoted to the absorption of negative news.
Increased consumption of predominantly negative news may result in harmful psychophysiological responses in some cases.
Here are few suggestions:
See, its not okay to close our eyes to whats happening in the world. We should be aware, in the know, definitely have your standpoint but anything in excess is not right.
You don’t need to be hooked 24×7!
Give it a break, its ok if you don’t know minute by minute gory details of war! You can look at news every few hours, use key words and search.
If you have to mute a few words, please do it. you should have no guilt in preserving personal sanity
Many handles or accounts only spread hatred, violence, please mute them, follow handles which report without panicking you!
Follow some topics other – Health, fitness, art, music, history- YOU CAN REVERSE DOOMSCROLLING
Block time for social media, use mindful apps to monitor your time on them like digital wellness, dedicate some time for fitness workout.
Take time off tech and go for a walk, read a book, talk to a friend.
Especially be careful what & how much are elderly & children also consuming at home.
Auto suggestion puts us in loop of similar news- noticed how YouTube begins to show same kind of content or Instagram reels algorithms study your habits and keep suggesting same topic? Therefore if you are addicted to negative content, you will get served more of the same.
Don’t feel guilty taking a break, preserve your sanity. Mental health should be first priority.
Please watch this video for comprehensive safety tips.
Stay Aware, Stay Safe
Jai Hind, Jai Bharat!
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ABOUT ‘AKANCHA AGAINST HARASSMENT’
‘Akancha Against Harassment’ is India’s largest social impact initiative against cyber harassment. It was founded by Miss Akancha Srivastava in February 2017. It’s a not-for-profit Section 8 organization.
Honorary Board of advisors
Foundation’s advisory board hosts – Former Special DGP RK Vij (Chattisgarh), ADG Navniet Sekera (Uttar Pradesh), ADG Krishna Prakash (Maharashtra), Dr Poonam Verma (Principal- SSCBS, Delhi University)
Goals of this initiative
The initiative aims at Education, Empowerment & Bridging of general population with the authorities.
Support of the Indian Police for the initiative
Bridging is the most unique attribute of the initiative. We have a host of over 70+ senior police officers from across the country supporting us in content & awareness drive.
This unique strength helps us address any victim complaints that come to us as well as inform people about various measures of law enforcement across the country.
Multilingual AI Chat helpline for cyber safety
We run India’s only private national multilingual AI chat helpline for cyber safety. This helpline is currently available in Hindi & English on our website. It can be accessed from any internet enabled device. You can chat here anonymously, fearlessly.