Post by Souriquois on Apr 12, 2018 13:44:05 GMT -4
People are literally having panic attacks and high blood pressure after reading it...
Long read, here's the rest:
www.macleans.ca/politics/ultra-partisan-social-media-is-an-addictive-hazard-and-detox-is-a-last-resort/
Yeah and the article says ultra-partisan, but let's be real, it's the right, just if they said that a few more right-wingers might drop dead of heart attacks). There is hyper-partisan left-wing media in Canada too, but it's not panic attack inducing (actually, more the opposite, it'll put you to sleep).
Ultra-partisan social media is an addictive hazard—and detox is a last resort
When one user suffered a panic attack after a night of online raging, his doctor urged him to cut out political Facebook usage. He did unplug, for a while at least.
It was a before-bed habit for Regina paint store owner Don Skaar, and one he yielded to at other times during the day: a trip through his Facebook news feed and his favourite political groups. Scrolling, scanning, clicking. Scrolling, typing, liking, scanning.
On one Friday night, thoughts of carbon taxes, recession and Justin Trudeau kept rolling through his mind, as did his news feed: scrolling, scanning, typing, liking. Scanning, liking, clicking. Scanning, scrolling, liking, scanning, scanning, scrolling-scanning-scrolling-scrollingscrollingscrollingscrollingscanning—stop.
“I woke up late Saturday morning just paralyzed with fear,” Skaar recalls. He’d gotten wound up before from the conservative outrage and news he was reading. But this time, Skaar’s brain overdosed on this unfiltered intoxicant. He found himself succumbing to the near-apocalyptic vitriol being shared with him on social media—like, really, was the state of politics, the economy, the country really this bad? It gave the single father of two a full-blown anxiety attack. “I was terrified the world was going to end.”
Skaar’s doctor put the 45-year-old on new medication and urged him to detox from political Facebook usage, getting off several pages he’d frequent and avoiding the partisan debates. For his mental health, he did unplug, for a while at least.
At the time of Skaar’s personal reckoning, Saskatchewan’s economic downturn had begun, but his paint store seemed to be pulling through, despite the normal seasonal slump. His fears were stirred by the messages flooding his daily stream of information: a mess of hyperbolic panic over federal tax hikes, environmental policies and the paranoia that Canada’s Greece-like economic collapse was imminent.
When one user suffered a panic attack after a night of online raging, his doctor urged him to cut out political Facebook usage. He did unplug, for a while at least.
It was a before-bed habit for Regina paint store owner Don Skaar, and one he yielded to at other times during the day: a trip through his Facebook news feed and his favourite political groups. Scrolling, scanning, clicking. Scrolling, typing, liking, scanning.
On one Friday night, thoughts of carbon taxes, recession and Justin Trudeau kept rolling through his mind, as did his news feed: scrolling, scanning, typing, liking. Scanning, liking, clicking. Scanning, scrolling, liking, scanning, scanning, scrolling-scanning-scrolling-scrollingscrollingscrollingscrollingscanning—stop.
“I woke up late Saturday morning just paralyzed with fear,” Skaar recalls. He’d gotten wound up before from the conservative outrage and news he was reading. But this time, Skaar’s brain overdosed on this unfiltered intoxicant. He found himself succumbing to the near-apocalyptic vitriol being shared with him on social media—like, really, was the state of politics, the economy, the country really this bad? It gave the single father of two a full-blown anxiety attack. “I was terrified the world was going to end.”
Skaar’s doctor put the 45-year-old on new medication and urged him to detox from political Facebook usage, getting off several pages he’d frequent and avoiding the partisan debates. For his mental health, he did unplug, for a while at least.
At the time of Skaar’s personal reckoning, Saskatchewan’s economic downturn had begun, but his paint store seemed to be pulling through, despite the normal seasonal slump. His fears were stirred by the messages flooding his daily stream of information: a mess of hyperbolic panic over federal tax hikes, environmental policies and the paranoia that Canada’s Greece-like economic collapse was imminent.
www.macleans.ca/politics/ultra-partisan-social-media-is-an-addictive-hazard-and-detox-is-a-last-resort/
Yeah and the article says ultra-partisan, but let's be real, it's the right, just if they said that a few more right-wingers might drop dead of heart attacks). There is hyper-partisan left-wing media in Canada too, but it's not panic attack inducing (actually, more the opposite, it'll put you to sleep).