After so much trauma, Uvalde shooting hit many hard. Part of the reason is in your pocket | Opinion
Did the Uvalde news feel like it hit harder than other recent tragedies?
Many of you are probably nodding. It’s undoubtedly because such young children lost their lives, and so many of them. Texans feel a kinship with each other, too.
But it’s also because it’s come on top of so much bad news: war, pandemic, inflation, other shootings. It feels like the world is spinning out.
Journalists sometimes don’t know where real people are on the trauma meter because we see so much of it. Every fire, tornado, shooting, airline crash — reporters are there.
But lately, all of you are, too. A friend recently suggested that this shooting gave him the feeling that his phone was toxic, and it is.
We evolved as tribal creatures, and it was centuries before almost anyone traveled more than a few miles from their homes in their lifetimes. Our neighborhoods, maybe our cities and regions, won all of our attention.
We were never meant to ingest all the world’s sorrows. Now, we carry them in our pockets.
This is not an anti-technology screed. We also carry every picture we have of our kids, every recipe we love and want to share, every goofy video that brings a moment of joy.
But we have to make sure the trade-offs are worth it. First, stop doomscrolling. You don’t need to know every detail of every tragedy. And you certainly don’t need to see what all those strangers on the internet think about it.
Second, stop worrying about the lack of a solution. Big problems don’t have easy fixes.
Third, take care of yourself first. Take a walk, talk to a friend, read great literature — remind yourself of what’s good in the world and how much of it there is.
This won’t mean you don’t care about the suffering. It positions you for the long haul. It gives you the energy to start making things a little better.
Do so by doing what you can for those around you. Improve your little corner of the world.
Eventually, that will add up to meaningful change. Maybe not the kind you’ll get an alert on your phone about — but the kind you’ll feel and see around you.
Editor’s note: A version of this column originally appeared in our opinion newsletter, Worth Discussion. It’s delivered every Wednesday with a fresh take on the news and a roundup of our best editorials, columns and other opinion content. Sign up here.
This story was originally published June 1, 2022 at 12:30 PM.
