I’m starting to get what, for lack of a better term, I’ll call “concern fatigue”.
I mean, it seems like every time I turn around, someone is making a more or less valid demand that I be concerned about something- the environment, global warming, plastics in the ocean, palm oil farming, poor working conditions in the 3rd world, income inequity here at home, low wages for the poor, racism, structural inequity, white privilege, animals without homes, sustainable seafood, ethically raised livestock, pesticide residues, child laborers in Bangladesh, etc…
It’s exhausting to try and keep up- it seems like every decision we make these days has to be an informed one- even stupid ones like which pair of pants to buy, or whether you’re going to have a hamburger or hot dog for lunch.
It’s not a matter of prioritization, but rather overload. I’m tired of feeling like I should have to consider everything so deeply or feel like some kind of modern day Philistine.
There are certainly a lot of interests out there vying for our attention, our devotion, and our money. But the reason you feel fatigue that you feel the obligation to carefully consider each one. You don’t. Don’t let other people decide what you should have to consider deeply. Instead, decide what is most important to you that you have the bandwidth to do something about (or maybe it’s nothing), do that, and utterly ignore the rest.
But yes. I used to be an optimist, a believer that technology advances would solve more problems than they create. But now I realize these problems are political and cultural, not technological and politics/culture the world over is fucked up because people are by nature fucked up.
I have no idea whatll happen. I try to console myself with knowledge that in the past people had bigger problems and they survived (starvation, pandemics, no health care, war, etc) which are bigger than our problems.
Or I console myself that other places may get better even if my country does not. True universal Health care won’t happen in America anytime soon no matter which party is in control. But it may happen in china. It may happen in India.
I’ve come to the realization that I can’t control what others do, other than by exercising my right to vote. Other than that, I can only control what I do. Coming to this conclusion eases a lot of the stress of today’s news and of everyday life.
What I’m talking about isn’t really outrage or frustration that more good stuff isn’t happening, or that it’s not happening fast enough, or even that various flavors of bad stuff are happening.
It’s more that, as I perceive it anyway, today’s mundane choices come with a lot more baggage than they used to, at least in a moral/ethical sense. I mean, the underlying issues have always been there, but nobody worried about that stuff in the past. I mean, in 1999, I didn’t even consider whether my coffee was fair trade, or monoculture, or any of that business. I just bought coffee and drank it.
It seems like every decision these days isn’t really as simple as they used to be- part of that is becoming a bit more personally aware, but a lot seems to be that between the Internet and a LOT of activists, there’s a lot more stuff being pushed at us than there used to be.
Yes, bump, I know exactly what you mean, and i sometimes feel it, too. I protect myself by just not caring about a lot of it most of the time. If i have the spare energy, I’ll buy the fair trade coffee. If I don’t, I just grab a cup and don’t worry about it.
I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s impossible to live a fully moral, ethically pure life in today’s world. Maybe it has actually always been that way; I don’t know. But I don’t try to be a good person any more, or make decisions based on morality. I just go with how I feel. I don’t like hurting people, or taking advantage of people, so I try to avoid that. But I know I am gonna do a hundred things today that negatively impact the world around me, and that’s just how it is.
I already know the world is fucked up, so when someone shares some bad news with me, it just confirms what I already know.
No, I don’t feel concern fatigue. For one thing, I’m kind of detached emotionally from the vast majority of fucked-up-ness. Like, I’m an environmental scientist, so you’d think I’d be in a constant state of outrage. But I’m not. I can’t do my job if I’m outraged. The bad news I hear wrt the environment just motivates me to work harder.
I donate to charity when I hear certain stories. I’m pretty stingy with my charitable donations tbh, but I do give something. And by doing so, I’m unburdened by feelings. I also vote and sign petitions and raise awareness when I’m exposed to ignorance. I try to do what I can so I don’t have to spend any energy on feeling.
Ah, I know what you mean. Like every decision is permeated with global consequences and knowledge of how it affects global events whereas in the past people just focused on what was happening locally.
I mean, ‘ideally’ that is what government is for. to enforce agreed upon morals (like a global minimum wage or global environment regulations). But sadly that isn’t a priority right now. But yeah I know what you mean.
The problem I see is that every news story must declare that the sky is falling. That’s it.
So, I open my USA Today app every morning and see twenty front page stories all screaming that the sky is falling, and to some extent it is. But they all have a vested interest in convincing you that their particular issue is really important, so they all end up sounding just as terrible and pessimistic.
The question one must ask is “Why was this piece written? How are they trying to persuade me?”
In the end, they are all trying to persuade me of something, and they usually resort to hyperbole in order to be heard.
I am also fatigued with this, and eventually tune out more than I ought to, simply because of the difficulty of finding signal in the noise.
You can and should ignore most of these problems! When you buy clothing, do you carefully check the Made in ____ label? Even if you do, the best buy isn’t clear: The poorest country might have the worst working conditions, but without American consumers the country would be poorer still.
If it’s too big an aggravation to carry paper bags to avoid plastic, then don’t! Your time and mental health are part of the trade-off, and your personal behavior will be a drop in the bucket in the march toward calamity.
This is not to say you should be unconcerned about these problems. Change will come through political action; find a group of politicians whom you trust and who have similar values to your own. Devote your surplus time, energy and money to promoting those politics. Or campaign on specific issues. Study specific issues only if you find them interesting.
This is assuming a given danger does not directly affect you personally. In a country like U.S. consumer dangers might be rare, but not so in some countries. (I frequently eat Pangasius fish and was concerned when I read the fish were badly raised and unhealthy to eat. I spent some minutes Googling and concluded they were OK. I hope.)
Hey, if being concerned with that stuff has got you bummed out, I’d venture that you weren’t all that concerned in the first place. Nothing personal, but no, I’m not getting “concern fatigue”. As long as the motherfuckers want o push bullshit into my world, I’ll be, at the minimum, concerned.
Fatigue? No. There’s only so much you can do and you just have to accept that. Must folks who worry so much about the world and such haven’t even fixed themselves. So the rational thing to do is work on self improvement and participate a prudent amount in the broader world to make the change you want. Don’t take it too personally when it doesn’t go the way you wish.
This.
I am working on getting my world as strong as possible. I figure I am in the middle class, have food to eat, a roof over my head (in a non flood plain) and viable work/experience then I am not going to be OK.
Of course I am in my 50s and I don’t have any kids…