It's been tough to look at Bluski lately. It feels like I'm visiting a friend who I like but who's constantly telling me about all the horrible things going on in the world and with them personally, just a constant stream of Very Bad Stuff.
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I've been muting a lot of words. I still see some stuff but I don't feel like I'm getting hit in the head with a sledgehammer every time I look at my feed SO often anymore, the rest I check on my own terms.
At least doing this temporarily, when I need the break, it's just too much otherwise. 😵
I know what you mean.
The allotment / vegetable growing feeds provide a bit of an antidote with people sharing good stuff they are doing or getting excited about sweet pea seedlings.
I'm just glad I have curated my feed to similar artists like You, Faith, and other illustrators, it gives peace seeing good content, and not bad all the time. 🤍💙
#ThankYou
I have muted or (sadly) blocked everyone who brings up politics, with exception of Book Bans. I stick to my #Booksky feed and stay away from journalists, with the exception of Tara Dublin because I like her a lot.
Been having mixed feelings too. Like...I wanna know what's going on because I don't want to be in the dark, but...I also don't wanna know what horrible thing's going on 24/7. Deeply appreciate the hopeful posts, the art, the comics to balance them out, and using the mute on incendiary words for now.
Be of good cheer. We are far from the first people to face dark and uncertain times. Our ancestors got past them, and so can we. That which is good and beautiful can endure.
I think you can manage your feeds & mute certain words. No expert myself, just trying to get the hang of it. I open on #booksky first - it seems gentler. We come here to connect not to suffer. I'm happy to like a photo of brown ale, its weirdly comforting - or a strange squid - & I limit my visits.
I’m with you, and I apologize for contributing to the general gloom and doom. If it helps at all, I find your work helps me feel much better about things, so do take care of yourself and nurture your hope. I’ll do the same, and thank you for introducing me to Rainbow Rowell’s writing! That brings 😊
I’m in the same position - I find myself tuning out the regular flow of BAD and I’m now “looking for the helpers” the ones who are actually doing something I can get behind - if you follow all the court cases that have popped up, you will see they are NOT winning
Customize your feed. Post what you like and gain those type of followers. We are just posting how we feel about the current political situation. Its gonna take years for the orange stain to leave our lives, unless someone takes it upon themselves to rectify the situation.
I'm definitely having to judiciously feel out when I give myself time to check on news, and when I use feeds like "Mutuals" or even one that filters out reblogs; specific topics that are very non-political for the most part; etc. And also try to repost some of those with the news.
I understand, I have done some things to help, I limit my time on here, and I try to post nice things in between the wholly Cr💙p stuff because I like to be informed but like to keep my anxiety and anger at a minimum. Mostly because if they cancel medicaid no more BP or seizure med for me
Post how you want, but for me I find the deluge of Very Bad Stuff just leaves me feeling hopeless and empathy fatigued. I'm grateful when people talk actively about small things they've done in their community to help, instead of screaming into the void.
Anyway. I'm not really sure how to cope with social media anymore. I want to see my friends that I'm not able to see IRL, but not at the cost of being tossed in a pit of despair.
I'm actually starting to look more into how feeds work on this site and how to build personal ones. I got one just for image posts but I want to curate it more to be artist only, and leave politics to just one feed so I can look when I'm good and ready, but get light stuff for after and laugh.
I was talking to my therapist about this, the ratio of Doom to normal stuff on this site has been hard to handle. I’m in a few discords where there’s a specific channel for the Doom and that helps.
Channels for different post types would be great. When I built my old social media platform with Netomat we had multi-channeled accounts so you could do like teaberryblue.politics or teaberryblue.toddler or whatever and people could subscribe to your whole feed or just the ones they wanted.
Right!? And it’s not like I want to ignore it, I just want to follow people who have constructive suggestions for how to deal with it or journalists reporting on the news, I don’t want wall to wall Wilhelm Scream about it!
I feel all of this. Ive taken major breaks from Bluesky. And I understand this is all happening, and Ive done what I can, all in the midst of looking for new employment. And trying to find the small joys with my small family. Its hard.
It's so tricky. I've been kinda alternating between 'democracy is being eradicated' stuff because it feels wrong somehow to pretend it's not happening, but also trying to do an equal amount of everyday 'people might get a charge out of seeing this' content. I'm not sure of the right ratio anymore.
I do know this tho: cynicism and dark doomsday vibes isn't really helping anyone mobilize or stay engaged. Trying my best to stay away from putting that out there.
On main, I've somehow lucked into almost no accounts that dunk post, and instead ones that mainly offer news with ways to actually help or get engaged with things.
My alt is my happily little sunshine place where it's all just wonderful art follows so I've got a respite as needed.
And this lil' essay is something of a must-read that really backs up what you're writing in this post. How posting about it online can only do so much, and at a certain point just debilitates us. Grassroots organization is what is needed, not memes n' hot takes https://www.404media.co/you-cant-post-your-way-out-of-fascism/
I mute a lot of stuff and stay out of the Discovery feed unless I want to see news and Very Bad Stuff. are you following feeds and people that produce content you want to see?
I feel this too, and I hope it's because we're in a period of more troubling events than usual (I think it is?), and I hope even more that we can pass through this soon (I'm so in the dark with my expectations on this, bc I have no reference points)
I have around 20 different feeds that I follow & I have two lists of creators that I like, so in my downtime, I look through my lists and only two feeds. I scroll through the top 10 refreshed feeds & then I set my phone down and walk away. I got my library card yesterday & I have started a workout 2
I’m trying to get most of my updates from the CBC. It’s a fair amount of doom but they temper it with like news about a cougar spooking people in a hot tub ya know?
Comments
At least doing this temporarily, when I need the break, it's just too much otherwise. 😵
The allotment / vegetable growing feeds provide a bit of an antidote with people sharing good stuff they are doing or getting excited about sweet pea seedlings.
https://bsky.app/profile/uspol.bluesky.bot
#ThankYou
Basically I relate to this too much.
Peoples houses burned down and now they are being hunted by Nazis.
But lets all stop and listen to this dudes feels!
I do my part to stay informed but I don't come here for hard news. If I'm to be a part of social media, I've gotta protect my mental health.
This is another reason I want channels for my post types.
My alt is my happily little sunshine place where it's all just wonderful art follows so I've got a respite as needed.