Switched On or Switched Out?

How are you currently dealing with what can only be called a cacophonous news cycle? It is ever more apparent that we are living at a particular moment in history. Tectonic plates are shifting, old allegiances, alliances and norms are breaking down and no-one, absolutely no-one, knows where it will all end. 

Recently I have had two friends separately counsel me against too much engagement with world events because, they warn, it is potentially damaging to my mental health and wellbeing.

They both make the same argument that I am powerless to control anything that might be happening in Washington, Moscow, Kiev, Berlin, Paris, Brussels or London, so I should limit my exposure to all sources of news and analysis of current affairs, and, instead, turn my attention to what one friend described as ‘my village’ and thereby concern myself solely with my family, my business, my interests and those everyday concerns over which I have direct choice and control, like my diary for this week, or perhaps what I will buy and eat for my supper.

The Appeal of Switching Off 

I do understand the appeal of such switching off and there is precedent for this - from 1759! I first came across it many years ago when I was studying for a Humanities degree and read ‘Candide’, Voltaire’s philosophical satire. The eponymous Candide is a hapless innocent abroad and Voltaire makes it clear in the novel’s increasingly horrific episodes that he believes that we live in a blind, indifferent universe full of needless cruelty and chaos. The solution to this, however, isn’t to give in to despair but to turn away from the world in order to, in the final words of the book, “cultivate your own garden.”

This is what many people are currently attempting to do by not becoming overly involved in politics and by focussing on their own welfare. Another way to describe this is ‘inner emigration’. This response may be necessary if you cannot physically emigrate away from a country which feels at odds with your values and beliefs (as happened, say, in Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Russia) and which may even threaten your physical or mental well being. Inner emigration is more than just avoiding the news, it is a complete withdrawal from, and calculated indifference to, whatever is happening beyond your neighbourhood. 

Staying Connected and Protected

But what if, like me, you have always had an overwhelming desire to know what is going on in the wider world? Although I have my family nearby and interests like reading, the theatre, the cinema, and hobbies like drawing and painting and playing Bridge with friends every week, those enormously pleasurable activities can never fully absorb me in a way that tunes out all the noise from the outside world. 

So, let me share with you how I am approaching the challenge of staying ‘plugged in’ whilst very conscious of limiting the potential harm it could do to my state of mind. 

First, know your enemy. Hackers mobilise armies of bots to bombard sites to overwhelm them and render them useless. A similar process is called ‘strategic distraction’ combined with ‘move fast and break things’. Create a lot of noise, keep changing direction and switching things up. Say something one day and the opposite the next. Wrong foot people in order to confuse them. Irrationality is the point.

Secondly, be aware that the bombardment is intentional. Just like those bots, the chaos is designed to make it harder both to avoid the news headlines and also to really understand what is going on behind them. There is a saying in newsrooms ‘If it bleeds, it leads’ because shock, horror and indignation (aka ‘owning the libs’) is the whole point.

Thirdly, social media is designed to be addictive and to keep you swiping. Anyone who has wasted an evening doomscrolling through Facebook, X, Bluesky, TikTok or YouTube will know the feeling. All too often, according to a research paper published last year in the journal ‘Computers in Human Behaviour’, doomscrolling can lead to feelings of “hopelessness”, “helplessness” and “existential anxiety”. 

Fourthly, interrogate your news sources. This is about verifiable truth and trust in the news sources that you are using on a regular basis.Obviously we also filter everything we see and hear via our own belief system, and unfortunately, most ‘news’ is not available as primary sources but may come second, third or even fourth hand. And sometimes those sources are extremely unreliable and are designed to manipulate us to believe falsehoods like ‘climate change does not exist’ or ‘vaccines cause autism’ - despite hundreds of  reputable sources of scientifically proven evidence to the contrary - all of which will be dismissed by the conspiracy theorists as misinformation, disinformation or lies.

And, finally ask: Who owns this media and what is their agenda?

Control of the media is one of the first acts of any dictator in a totalitarian regime. Opposition to Putin in Russia once existed in the form of publications written by journalists brave enough to investigate and speak out against the regime. Over time most have been silenced, and it is estimated that at least thirteen journalists have been murdered since Putin came to power. Which means that Putin can now be confident that he is in control of everything that Russians can see via state controlled TV and what they can read and understand about the outside world. 

In the West, from the beginning of print journalism, television and radio, mass media has mostly been controlled by rich white men like Randolph Hearst, who have always understood that along with wealth, political power would flow their way if they could influence what people were able to read, hear and see. A notable exception to this in the UK is the BBC which has from the beginning been an independent public service broadcaster funded by a license fee which is paid by all those who own a TV set. And despite some concerted moves to discredit it (I wonder why?) the BBC remains one of the most trusted and recognised sources for accurate and unbiased news reporting in the world.

These are some of the people (mostly billionaires) who currently own media and social media outlets in various parts of the world: Rupert Murdoch owns The Times, Sunday Times, The Sun, Sky News, Fox News, Viscount Rothermere owns The Daily Mail, Sunday Mail, Mail Online, Paul Marshall owns GB News, UnHerd, The Spectator, Elon Musk owns Twitter or ‘X’ as we now have to call it, Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post and Mark Zuckerberg owns Facebook and Instagram.

Not an exhaustive list by any means, but combined, these men control a vast amount of the media that we consume. In the UK Murdoch and Rothermere titles alone account for 75% of the national newspaper market. All of which are reasons why I no longer read, subscribe to or watch any of the newspapers, television programmes or social media platforms I have mentioned above. I deleted my Twitter account about six months ago, and only use Facebook to access Super Troopers. I can honestly say that I feel better for it! 

So where do I go to find out what is happening in the world? I am obviously aware of echo chambers and confirmation bias and the fact that we tend to seek out people and opinions which chime most closely with our own, but the media that I currently use feels as near to trustworthy as I can find, although I am sure some of you may not agree!

I currently have paid subscriptions to The Financial Times, The New Statesman and The Atlantic for informed, erudite journalism and interesting articles on a wide variety of subjects. Every week I listen to various podcasts (listed below) and seek out and read the various Substack articles by journalists that I rate and whose writing I enjoy, which include Ian Dunt: ‘Striking Thirteen’, Helen Lewis: ‘The Bluestocking’ and Tina Brown in the USA: ‘Fresh Hell’. 

As to podcasts, the following is a summary of those that I listen to whenever they are available. All are free apart from one which I choose to subscribe to for about a fiver each month:

The Rest is Politics with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart. A couple of ‘centrist dads’, one slightly centre-left and one more centre-right, but always intelligent, well informed, wide-ranging, knowledgeable, thoughtful and thought provoking.

The Rest is Politics USA with Anthony Scaramucci and Katy Kay. An ex-Trump Communications Director and a British Washington based political journalist who chew the fat over the latest developments in Trumpland.

Oh God What Now? Formerly known as ‘Remainiacs’ which gave me comfort through the horror (to me) of the Brexit years. I subscribe to this on Patreon and enjoy contributions about current affairs from journalists like Hannah Fearn, Rachel Cunliffe, Dorian Lynskey, Seth Thevoz and very especially, Rafael Behr.

Quiet Riot. Another spin-off from OGWN (above). Hosts are Naomi Smith, CEO of Best of Britain and Alex Andreou who is perhaps the wisest and most erudite and most interesting of all the political commentators that I rate.

The News Agents: Three excellent ex BBC journalists - Emily Maitlis, Jon Sopel (both very knowledgeable about the USA) and Lewis Goodall give a daily update of all the important stuff.

Not Another One: Steve Richards, a left-leaning journalist, Miranda Green, a Lib Dem, Ian Martin, a Conservative, Tim Montogomerie, a member of Reform, good naturedly debate the issues of the day and disagree, agreeably.

These are the media that punctuate my week and I enjoy and look forward to reading and listening to them all. They help me to make sense of all the madness in the world and the end result is not despair, but a feeling of being as switched on and well informed as I need and want to be. All of which helps me to feel more, not less in control and, believe it or not, it also helps me to feel optimistic rather than despairing about the future. 

So, to my dear friends, thank you for your concern, sorry if I come over as a tad obsessive, but please don’t worry about my mental health. I’m doing just fine despite all the mayhem and madness.

Please leave your comments below - I read and enjoy all (most!) of them and feel that they add considerable value to my weekly post.

Tricia x

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