Current Events > I had no idea the war in Ukraine was affecting people this much...

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm not talking about people in the war, because of course they're the ones suffering terribly and that's no surprise at all.

What came as a surprise to me is that I have a friend (from the US) who is currently on heavy meds. The reason being is that she almost lost her mind because of the all the Ukraine news, and she was starting to have hallucinations about nuclear war.

Now don't get me wrong, I know people have been anxious about this war (I definitely have been and still kind of am) but I had no idea it was having *this* kind of effect on people across the globe. It's just awful to hear. I hope she gets the help she needs. Do you know anyone who is in the same boat?

All the fear mongering the media does can take its toll on some people. Constantly being told everyone sucks and death is imminent.

This is why you shouldn't watch the news 24/7 >_>

Duncan is scared

Chadwick69 posted...

All the fear mongering the media does can take its toll on some people. Constantly being told everyone sucks and death is imminent.

Ya 24/7 news coverage was a bad thing. Back when you could only get the news with the paper and the morning/evening news it was better. With the news being 24/7 and so many competing organizations they have to make the stories scarier and scarier. Because fear sells

Dreepapult posted...

Ya 24/7 news coverage was a bad thing. Back when you could only get the news with the paper and the morning/evening news it was better. With the news being 24/7 and so many competing organizations they have to make the stories scarier and scarier. Because fear sells

Yep.

If all this Ukraine war stuff was happening in the 80s or 90s, you'd really only see it on the morning and evening news. But with the technology we have now, world events have been turned into a glorified video game horror simulator.

I myself don't even check news about the war anymore, and it seems like some friends I've spoken with recently have done the same as well. All of them have stopped reading about what's happening and have said something along the lines of "I don't want to turn a blind eye to what's happening, but it's all just so depressing and hopeless, so I avoid it now and don't check".

One of my streamer friends from Belgium was like - "Back in Feb/March, I used to check the war news everyday. But now, I don't even want to know what's happening over there anymore". I can't even blame her.

Ironic, but I can't even google her streamer name anymore because it's so close to the word "Ukraine". War news will pop up if I try to put her streamer name in a search engine, lol.

Annnnd this is why I dont doomscroll / watch / post.

Its good to care, but theres also a point where you have to realize theres not much you may be able to do, and getting yourself worked up over something you cant control isnt good for anybody.

if i spent my days constantly reading and listening to all this fear mongering crap, i would probably lose my shit as well...

there are actual millions of people who could do nothing better for their mental health than shutting the tv off permanently.

stillwinninggam posted...

there are actual millions of people who could do nothing better for their mental health than shutting the tv off permanently.

Social media too

That's pretty wild, TC. I can't say I know anybody like that.
My dad has asked me once or twice if we should really be concerned ourselves, but he's skeptical to begin with, so is fine.

i was concerned at the first few months, now it is what it is and it feels the same as before it even happened

It's not like we can really do anything about it anyway >_> Only worry about the stuff we actually have the power to change. Have her look for places that send supplies over there if she's so bent up about it.

Nukazie posted...

i was concerned at the first few months, now it is what it is and it feels the same as before it even happened

Pretty much this. Whatever the outcome of this war will be, we have zero control over it anyway.

Nukazie posted...

now it is what it is and it feels the same as before it even happened

This is how I feel about everything.

I'm sorry about your friend but they sound paranoid as hell. You should tell them to stop watching the news 24/7. Unlike your friend, I actually have a associates who has relatives that live in Ukraine when the war happened and hasn't heard much from them other than they successfully moved out of Ukraine before it got too bad. So in that sense, it would make way more sense for my associate to be effected on the war than people who just watch/read the news all day.