findingfeather:

sunlit-skycat:

astraltrickster:

This post is your reminder that you are not obligated to blog about current events.

Things are bad. Really bad. Do not let people guilt trip you into tormenting yourself even further over the fact that things are bad. Doomscrolling is not activism.

If you’re just on tumblr to blorbopost or reblog pretty pictures, you are not harming people by inaction.

You are not a bad person for not dedicating every aspect of your life and leisure space to whatever disgusting mask-off attack on human life and dignity some government has decided to enact.

Take action where you can, but don’t confuse doomscrolling and digital self harm for action.

If you need to lose yourself in blorboposting, go for it.

If you need to log off for the day, whether it’s to take irl action or to protect what little sanity any of us have left over the past 7 years, then by all means, do.

Morale is important. Hope is important. Small joys keep us from burning out completely in times like this. Do not let any “if you don’t reblog this I’m judging you” guilt trip convince you otherwise.

Even investigative open source journalists at places like Bellingcat, who make a living sifting through this type of information, take breaks while dealing with this and make sure they have downtime. There are specific methods for reducing the amount of vicarious trauma that people get from seeing imagery of violence, and mixing that stuff in with the fun little escapist hobbies of one’s tumblr is not on the recommended list.

Two links I have been sending around lately:

Bellingcat, on the risks of open source research: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2022/11/23/how-to-maintain-mental-hygiene-as-an-open-source-researcher/

Synecdochic on how to block out seeing things related to current events, or on mitigating the trauma of seeing it if you feel you must stay informed: https://synecdochic.dreamwidth.org/803314.html

Oh my gods I want to double triple score underline that Bellingcat link as incredibly smart about vicarious trauma. Reposting it: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2022/11/23/how-to-maintain-mental-hygiene-as-an-open-source-researcher/

Thank you very much @sunlit-skycat for posting it; it was written about the war in Ukraine but goes absolutely just as much for current conflicts and everything else.

Remember that you don’t help by breaking yourself to no purpose. If anything, you literally make things worse; you create someone else that needs help.