Protecting One's Mental Health When Monitoring News Outlets and Social Media

[Various Artist]

I'm glad we were all able to help, pebble. I remember how concerned we all were over in the X11 thread and it was a relief you pulled through the TB OK. Some good strategy there mate I feel.

Snake speaks wisely too there. To be honest I'm getting my updates first and foremost from OTF of late. I trust the community here to filter the 'news' down to what's needing to be read, and frankly I feel better informed than some of my family who are mostly taking offical pronouncements at face value.

[Snake Plissken]

Must confess, I'm getting my updates from here too. The thread on the other place I am a member of is running at around 50 posts per hour and trying to keep up is overwhelming. If the Government announce something major, it is going to be here anyway, so no need to keep TV, radio or other websites open.

[San Bernardhinault]

I'm beginning to slow down on reading the coronavirus news, but I'm staying online even more than before just to remain sociable without so much physical interaction. My facebook is still 50%+ coronavirus, but it's good to know how friends in other places are dealing with it, and to stay in touch. But I think before long, the time I used to spend reading news might be spent doing jigsaws or reading paper books, something that's not electronic at all so loses the temptation to drift over. My mental health is historically pretty sturdy, but I've noticed that even I am getting pretty impacted by all this and am beginning to have to apply the filter. OTF is a particularly good social interaction with people who're mostly not trolly arseholes and who have fairly wide ranging interests.

[Flynnie]

The thing that I've been doing recently is turning all notifications off, whether they be on laptop or phone. Nothing needs to be read immediately or responded to straightaway. So no live blogs, no minute by minutes. Flick the Graun on in the morning, C4 news in the evening and that will do fine.

The BBC News app is pretty good for not sending specious notifications, you normally only get something from them when something important has happened.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

There was a local support group set up on Facebook yesterday - one of about 250 I think I saw reported somewhere - which I was invited onto and accepted, wanting to do my bit if called upon. However it has quickly turned into a stream of paranoia and rumour, and I've had to snooze it so it doesn't flood my feed. I'll turn it back on when things calm down and there are actual positive practical things being arranged/discussed.

[Hot Pepsi]

I had to unfollow somebody I know from high school. I think she's a yoga teacher/ski instructor now and her husband is a musician who plays bars in Baltimore. She was complaining about the CDC's recommendation to limit gatherings to 50 people because it's going to possibly "Make her children starve" (it won't, I don't think. Her parents have money) and generally having a freak out. I made the mistake of trying to explain to her the facts about social distancing etc, and she responded that it was all bullshit and unnecessary because people could just exercise more etc to improve their immune system, etc.

I felt bad because she's clearly having a meltdown - she's done that on SM several times before - and I understand that there needs to be relief for people in the hospitality industry, but she was definitely making it all about her and I just didn't see the point of going down that road. I really worry about the hospitality business. It's noteworthy that the mayor of Philadelphia is not following the Governor's recommendation to shut it all down.

A lot of people on social media are making this all about them. Like all the students bitching that they might not get to walk across the stage at graduation in May which is a tragedy because they worked so hard. As if the university is taking all of these extraordinary measures just to screw them. FFFFFS. Read the room.

[ursus arctos]

We need social distancing influencers to become a thing

[Hot Pepsi]

A lot of celebrities on Instagram are doing that, but of course it may not be a good look since they can all afford to just sit at home with their kids.

[Third rate Leszno]

Thankfully I'm not on social media, I don't buy a newspaper and I don't watch TV news. However I've stopped reading the Covid-19 thread on here too because that was beginning to make me more anxious than I feel I need to be.

As a Government employee I get told the latest advice, which I obviously need to know (I.e. work from home from tomorrow), and I'll check BBC and Guardian news pages a couple of times a day - but otherwise I think I'm best off not spending much time reading it.

Pebble's advice is excellent - I need to stop fretting about the lack of live sports to watch (not easy, my whole life outside of work is based around that) and stuff that's months away, I'm not very good at dealing with anticipation of bad or stressful things so the sooner I stop doing that, the better I'll handle the next few months.

[ad hoc]

I went off everything from Friday to Sunday. It was really good. I'd not been sleeping and being off Facebook in particular really helped. I've been trying to find a happy medium today, staying off fb for the most part and off the news sites. I've just come back here and have started reading from the forum front pages so I can avoid the pandemic thread (and not see the opening lines of posts as in the ursus hack).

I'm lucky though. I'm not alone, I can work (and I have plenty to do) and we have a garden. I sat outside for two hours working today (it was cold, around 5°,but sunny)

[delicatemoth]

I've been doing this for 3+ years due to the relentless transphobia of the UK media. You get a feel for how much you can take, for when it's time to log off or look at fluffy animals. Personally I never watch news clips - actually seeing and hearing someone like Boris Johnson is far more stressful than reading what they said.

I'd agree that social media can be very stressful - I had to get off Faceache a couple of years ago - but it doesn't have to be.

My recommendations for a fulfilling Twitter experience are as follows:-

1. Read far more than you tweet.
2. Block/mute vigorously, whenever you feel like it, for any reason or none.
3. Don't engage in pointless arguments.
4. There are loads of accounts that post genuinely fascinating, funny and/or good things. Look for these accounts.

Point 2 is the big one.

[Hot Pepsi]

Good advice

[Patrick Thistle]

I've struggled today. Felt a lot of adrenaline terror. I can't post much because we've been warned not to share work stuff on social media but basically a lot of things happened that scared me. I took the decision to close my office and send the one team member who was in home. I phoned my other team member and said not to come in. I don't know when I will physically see them again. I tidied the office and packed up anything I think I could feasibly need in the next few months. I felt like a looter but I'll take it all back at some point. (I say)

My wife has a medical condition and everyone with it has been told to self isolate. We are going to co-isolate and maximise social distancing. I phoned my brother. I don't think we can go and see my mum on Mothers day this weekend or help with her house move in 3 weekends time. So that means the weekend before last is the last time I will have stayed in the house that's been the family home for 36 years. The house I grew up in from 8-18 and was always where we went for Christmas and other holidays. And I won't get to say goodbye.

And the Euros are postponed. I was going to go to Hampden with my mum, brother and brother in law. That's not going to happen this year and, honestly, is my mum going to want to go next year. Will she be well.enough to go? She has chronic heart failure, for fuck's sake.

On Thursday it will be a year since my dad died. Yesterday it was a year since the last time I saw him alive. I really wanted to see my mum this weekend. And I can't because I need to self isolate and I might have the virus and I don't want to infect her.

I feel angry about this whole situation. And scared. And tearful over lost plans.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Maximum Hug

[Third rate Leszno]

Look after yourself, PT - you're doing the right things. Don't stress about the Euro's, who knows how things will be by then.

If you've self-isolated for three weeks with no ill effects then I'd have thought you'd be ok to help your Mum with the house move though?

[Amor de Cosmos]

I called a couple old friends today. One, who I've known since we were thirteen lives in a small village in Norfolk. He has Parkinsons so is well used to being stuck indoors for lengthy periods.He has a network of friends who visit him regularly, buy groceries if necessary, and take him out on trips. He's been an artist all his life, so is extremely self motivated from an activity standpoint. His only real worry is if his visitors become isolated too. I suggested he call me should he ever get cabin fever if no one comes by. We get free calls to the UK, so it's no cost to us.

The other friend is totally opposite. He's a year older than me and has a long-term partner. A fellow photographer — we've known each other since college — like me he's out most days with a camera. Unlike me he's drawn to people and public places. He lives just south of London and reckons he'll be climbing the walls if he can't go outside for a couple of days. I can't do as much to help him, though we're capable of chatting on the phone for hours at a time. Maybe I'll suggest that we do it more often.

[Hot Pepsi]

Patrick Thistle That is very rough.
Is your mom able to FaceTime etc? Does that help? I've found it's helped communicating with my parents.

I know how it is when your parents move out of the house you grew up in. I didn't give it a proper goodbye when the moved in 1999, mostly because I was repressing those feelings. I'm fine with all that now, but it's better that you're actually acknowledging those feelings and trying to work through them.

I am also really struggling. I go from trying to feel the pain of everyone impacted by this to remembering to just control what I can control, which then makes me feel guilty, to then trying to figure out how it's all going to be fixed, to feeling powerless because there's not much I can do to fix it that many smarter and more qualified people are not already doing.

Dinosaur Jr earworm now.

[S. aureus]

I hold my stress in my lower back, and clearly I'm quite stressed right now as it's painful as all hell. Any tips for dealing with that would be greatly appreciated!

[pebblethefish]

My mate and colleague who gave me a lift home tonight broke down crying when he dropped me off and said goodbye. Bear in mind this is an uber-geezer, a drinking, farting, Oi! OI!!! kind of bloke, but he's scared. I didn't even know he had emotions. I made him give me his phone number, and also his wife's phone number so I can check up on him, but the point of this is to say that no one's immune to the worry. Being stressed because of something pointless is pointless, but showing that you're scared of something like this, even if you're not scared of the actual health risks, but about your and the world's lifestyle and how it is going to change, is.

Worry about you and yours for now, put anything else on the back burner for now, because you can't change it. And do watch that marble olympics thing on the other thread, because it genuinely did make me smile for the first time today.

[Patrick Thistle]

Thanks everyone.

I'm going through a process. Done denial. Onto anger.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Hang on in there. The next stage is savoury snacks, always one of my favourites.

[Various Artist]

Take care of yourself and those you can around you PT. That was a rough read, very sorry to hear it. Good luck with the "process" mate.

[Various Artist]

I hold my stress in my lower back, and clearly I'm quite stressed right now as it's painful as all hell. Any tips for dealing with that would be greatly appreciated!

Have you tried piriformis stretches? I can't help with the stress per se, but it might help relieve the physical pain possibly – I was introduced to this last summer when my lower back was in a terrible state.
I hadn't even heard of the piriformis muscles before, which go from the base of the spine via the pelvis to the top of the femur or thereabouts, but tightness there can affect the sciatic nerve etc. For me it was a really useful stretch to help lessen pain and improve my flexibility – and it's all done lying on your back so it's really easy.

1. Lie down on your back on a comfortable firm surface, with legs out straight.
2. Bend right leg to bring that knee up, i.e. so that the foot is flat on the floor alongside your left knee.
3. Lift left leg and cross your ankle over your raised right knee, i.e. like "crossing your legs like a bloke" if you were sitting in a chair, as the guy at the gym who taught it to me put it.
4. Reach out and clasp your right leg with both hands, around the back of the knee joint – the left hand will go through the gap between your legs. You may well need to raise your head and upper body to reach, and you'll probably find your right foot comes off the floor too, but you should meet in the middle somewhere!
5. Keeping your hands locked around your knee, lie your head and upper body back down flat.
6. Straighten your right leg so your toes point skyward, such that your legs will now be making an upside-down figure 4, with your left hand going through the 'window' in the 4.
7. Using your grip on your knee, pull your straight leg vertical, as far towards you as you comfortably can. You should feel the 'pull' of the piriformis muscle stretching through the back of your thigh and up into your lower back.
8. Hold this position for a slow mental count of 10 or 12.
9. Release your grip, and gently uncross your legs, then unhurriedly return both feet to the floor with knees bent, then straighten both legs out along the floor again to resume starting position.
10. Bring left knee up this time, and repeat steps 2-9 but as a mirror image, crossing your right ankle and holding your left knee this time.
11. Repeat on both sides three times.
12. (If it seems too easy, try stretching out a little further and grasp your straight leg further down the calf instead of around the knee, i.e. beyond the crossbar of the '4' rather than through the window. I would do the first go each side clasping behind my knee, the second repetition reaching over my crossed shin to hold my calf, then as I loosened up the third rep would be while holding my straightened leg's ankle.)

I was doing this as part of a 10-15 minute warmup at the gym, which I was referred to by the physio I initially saw. The warmup would precede some weights work on a few of the machines to strengthen my lower back and core, followed by 20 minutes on the cross-trainer, but it's a good little routine just on its own.
If it's any help, I preceded the above stretch with a simpler beginning stretch, starting with the same two opening steps:

1. Lie down on your back on a comfortable firm surface, with legs out straight.
2. Bend right leg to bring that knee up, i.e. so that the foot is flat on the floor alongside your left knee.
3. Lift left leg and cross it over your right leg "like a woman", as my instructor put it, if you were sitting in a chair – i.e. with the back of the left knee crossing over the right knee and your thighs together.
4. Reach out and clasp your hands around your left (top) knee.
5. Keeping your hands around your kneecap, lie your head and upper body back down flat.
6. Pull your left knee up towards the right side of your chest, as far as is comfortable, but keeping it crossed over. Let your right leg come up with it so it stays pressed into the back of your left knee joint. You should feel the 'pull' around the outer side of your left hip and thigh.
7. Hold this position for a slow mental count of 10 or 12.
8. Release your grip, and gently uncross your legs, then unhurriedly return both feet to the floor with knees bent, then straighten both legs out along the floor again to resume starting position.
9. Bring left knee up this time, and repeat steps 2-8 but as a mirror image, crossing your right leg over the left and holding your right kneecap this time.
10. Repeat on both sides three times.

This then segues nicely into the slightly more advanced piriformis stretch above.


He would subsequently have me move onto 'deadbugs', where you act vaguely like an upturned beetle: from the same prone starting position as above, raise one foot and the opposite arm vertically and, keeping the limbs straight, touch the hand to the toes then return to prone; then repeat with the opposite leg and other arm, and keep alternating 12-15 times each way, i.e. 24-30 total touches.

At this point I'd actually have to get off my back for the pike stretches: starting on hands and knees, with hands shoulder-width apart on the mat and feet more or less together, you come onto tiptoe and straighten your arms and legs, raising your hips as far as possible until you're in an inverted-V with bum in the air and head down. Again, one holds for a slow count of 10 or 12, and you feel the stretch through the back of the pelvis and lower back (and calves!) until it's time to bend the knees and gently return to the starting position. I think I was doing maybe half a dozen repetitions of this.


That then segued very easily into the last bit of my routine. From the hands and knees position, sit back against your heels, lean down onto your thighs and stretch out your arms in front of you along the floor until your forehead is on the ground. From here I was doing an additional stretch, but one I think was for my (also bad) neck: crossing the right arm laterally under my chest and out under the left upper arm figure-4 style, so that my right hand was sticking out sideways to my left with fingers curling upwards; turning my head to also look to the left, I would lower my right shoulder to the mat and hold this pose (peeking out through the gap under my left arm) for the count of 12, then untangle and repeat once on the other side before returning to the starting position.

Ignoring that bit or not, that starting position – kneeling down, stomach to thighs, arms outstretched along floor, forehead down – is what's known in yoga as the Child's Pose, and it's a lovely chilled way to end the stretches. You just hold that pose for your count of 10 or 12, or for 30 seconds or whatever it is you like. In yoga, the idea is you take long slow breaths, stretching out through the fingers, and each time you breathe out you try to pull your pelvis back a little further towards your heels, lengthening out the spine.

Like I say, it's a pleasant little routine of 15 minutes or so, even for the athletically-inept and gym-averse such as myself. The piriformis stretch was the most revelatory though, so if you've only got time or inclination for one thing I'd give that a try perhaps. Hope it's some use, anyway.

[Femme Folle]

Massive hugs to everyone on here who is struggling.

[S. aureus]

Thanks, VA. I'll give that a go.