I Opened Instagram. Now I’m Responsible for the Entire World.

Sorina Condon

1 minute ago

4 min read

I’m not sure how anyone manages anymore without completely shutting down, and I think that’s what a lot of people end up doing, because it’s all too much. I feel like a crazy person even writing this all out because it’s so scatterbrained, but that’s exactly what keeping up with the news feels like.

Nowadays, it is so hard to find good and enlightening conversation. Instead, we’re stuck doomscrolling through the suffering of people overseas; the political turmoil that surrounds us; the ice caps melting and destroying animals’ homes; and the impact of rising temperatures on women’s fertility. Every day, there is something new to be horrified by, something new that we’re apparently supposed to understand, have an opinion on, and somehow do something about.

But here’s what I keep coming back to: I don’t think caring means I have to consume every horrible thing that happens. Somewhere along the way, “being informed” started to feel less like being responsible and more like another form of self-destruction.

I understand why some people don’t walk to talk about politics or read the news. What is bothersome is the privilege of being able to opt out of caring simply because you can.

I don't think that makes me better than the person who doesn't want to talk about politics or read the news. I actually understand why they don't. I just know that's not the person I am. I can't see a headline, scroll past it, and pretend it didn't happen.

So when you do your best to stay informed, how do you stay positive? At what point does being informed stop being productive and start becoming another form of self-destruction? Or is it just me?

For me, it usually starts innocently. I'll open Instagram to see what my friends have posted, and before I know it, my feed is full of the world crashing down around me: the job market, failing, wildfires, politics, another crisis I didn’t know existed five minutes ago. I’ll go down a few rabbit holes and eventually shut my phone off because I just cannot take in any more information. And then I am left there wondering: where are all of the positive things?

So I come here to advise that, like I have started doing, instead of turning away from the chaos and sadness, you seek out good news. You have to. You have to choose your battles and decide when it’s worth it to interact. Not every headline deserves your emotional energy, even if the subject itself deserves your attention. I am trying to begin to understand that these two things are different.

I don't think the answer is to stop looking. I've started trying to look for something else as well.

There are accounts like Good News Movement and Good Good Good News that I personally follow. I love the Prison Yoga Project. It sounds almost stupidly simple, but sometimes you have to actively look for something that isn't terrible.

And if you’re going to care, try to care in a way that actually leads somewhere. So much of the time, it feels like you can’t make a difference and like there’s not a lot you can do as an individual, but that is not true. You can research and educate yourself. You can have uncomfortable conversations. You can vote. You can donate when you can. You can change a habit.

I make donations when I can and somehow find myself falling down online rabbit holes for every animal rescue I can find. My mom is always calling to tell me to stop giving away my money as a broke college student because I keep getting mail to support blind donkeys.

I like reading the actual news because headlines can be incredibly misleading. If I'm going to care about something, I want to understand it beyond the 30-second version designed to make me angry enough to keep scrolling. I can read the article, have the conversation, and then sometimes, actually a lot of the time, put my phone down.

At some point, you have to be alive.

You have to be living in the present and actually be in the moment. You have to give yourself time to have a hobby, watch something stupid, call a friend, go for a walk, or listen to a podcast that has absolutely nothing to do with the state of the world. I love Giggly Squad for this exact reason; sometimes I just want to hear people talk about something that makes me laugh.

You have to be with people. You have to have fun. You can spend an afternoon caring deeply about something happening across the world and then spend the evening laughing with your friends about something completely insignificant. Both things can exist at the same time.

Nothing makes sense. Maybe that’s the point.

We are expected to stay informed about politics, climate change, wars, technology, and the economy while also keeping up with our friends and families, curating an image of ourselves, maintaining impossible beauty standards, and maybe buying the things sitting in the 20 different carts we've abandoned across the Internet, gathering virtual dust bunnies. There's always something else to know, buy, fix, worry, and/or care about.

I don't want to stop caring. I just don't think caring means I have to consume every horrible thing that happens. Because if I'm so overwhelmed by everything happening in the world that I forget to actually live in it, I'm not sure what all that staying informed was for.