Opinion: When the internet gets you down, here's what to do

"It's hard to know what to expect from my TikTok For You Page. A dog in a bear costume for Halloween. Scroll. Model Nara Smith making boba from scratch in high heels and a dress. Scroll. Footage of a child dying in Gaza. The whiplash of the internet is endless - the world's issues nestled between brain rot and TikTok dances, a dose of disinformation amid grim news and Russian bots."

"As a kid growing up with the internet, it felt like a new frontier to me, filled with endless possibilities for exploration and change. For years, it was my way of learning about the world. The internet taught me about fourth-wave feminism and the #MeToo movement, about the Black Panther Party and police brutality, about politics and global wars. Everyone has once entertained the idea that they could change the world."

"Yet, I recently started to feel like the world has turned into a dumpster fire - a feeling shaped by the internet. Every time I open my phone something new and worse is happening: first, it was an impending recession. Then, it was a war between Israel and Iran. Though the internet once felt like it held endless possibilities for change, now it's exhausting just to keep up with the news."

"However, feeling burned out just from trying to care about the world isn't conducive to solving its problems. Truthfully, the internet is not built to foster activism or change. Reposting stories or tweeting a shocking statistic is not a substitute for real, grassroots action that brings about change."

The TikTok feed mixes trivial, entertaining clips with horrific footage, creating relentless cognitive whiplash. The internet once felt like a frontier for learning about social movements and global issues, inspiring belief in individual capacity to effect change. Constant exposure to worsening events and crises now produces exhaustion and a sense the world is collapsing. Social-media sharing and reposting do not substitute for organized, grassroots action. Continuous streams of information overwhelm cognitive capacity and contribute to burnout. The design and incentives of online platforms prioritize attention and virality over sustained activism, weakening collective ability to address complex problems.

Read at The Mercury News