StemCell Therapy

Social media has become a battleground, central to raising awareness and resources for the #blacklivesmatter movement and protests. Videos of protests and police violence are constantly circulating and trending.

While social media platforms like Twitter are essential to raising awareness about the injustice people of color face, it's also a place where people can share their opinions. This mixture of information and emotion can be a source of anxiety and pain for some people. As a society that spends a substantial amount of time consuming media, it's important to learn how to process the emotions that come from it and know when to take a break.

If you need a break from social media, but you still want to be informed, you might want to read one of the several books circulating right now detailing the racism, systematic oppression and the plight of black people in the U.S.

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness by Michelle Alexander exposes the racial discrimination embedded into the American legal system, designed to deny African Americans their civil rights.

Another book that examines racism is White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. This book asks an age-old question: Why is it so hard for white people to talk about racism? White Fragility discusses how the media, cultural representations and other institutions contribute to the racial insulation of white people. These topics might not be stress-relieving, but they will keep you informed and educated during a media detox.

Journaling can be a good way to combat anxiety, stress, and even depression, according to the University of Rochester Medical Center. Pouring out your thoughts about the news and what you are seeing on social media can be a personal, impactful way to handle all that's happening. For African Americans and for those who are protesting injustice, it is important to put down all of the different emotions instead of keeping them bottled inside.

Like journaling, meditation helps to clear the mind and lower stress levels. Meditation can help you understand and heal pain, and promote a more relaxed state of mind. Apps like Headspace and Calm can help you to be more intentional about taking time to meditate.

It can be hard to manage how much you use social media because our phones are always close by. Using the Screen Time function on an iPhone or downloading a similar app allows you to limit how much time you spend on certain apps. This can help to control how much time you spend on social media like Instagram or Twitter.

See the original post:
4 ways to cope with feeling overwhelmed by social media and the news - Red and Black

This entry was posted on June 4, 2020 at 10:49 am and is filed under Blindness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |