Do you still care about the state of the world or just focus on your own life?

[tenant13]

I do read the news, like everyone else of course, but having 20–25 years left I really don’t care about anything except for what affects me directly. Global warming, Middle East, upcoming elections… my activism days are way behind me.

How about you?

 

[38Chevy454]

I follow the news and like to be informed on what's happening. But I learned to only worry about the things that are within my control. Never was into much on the activism front, so no changes there.

 

[aja8888]

I haven't watched the news in years.

 

[GenXguy]

I follow the news and do care. But I don't put too much thought into things like Global Warming and focus more on the short term, especially if it affects me.

 

[Dtail]

We do follow the news closely, but are not activists.

 

[Gumby]

I follow the news (in print only) and I have ideas that I think might help with some of the big issues facing our country and our world, even if it does not affect or benefit me personally. However, I recognize that it is futile, because no one wants to listen to me. So I concentrate my efforts on small things closer to home that help people on an individual basis.

 

[Car-Guy]

Wish I had 20 to 25 years left to worry about it but I don't. Maybe half that at best. Not even sure how much of that time I really want at this point!

Anyway, I do follow world and national news and in the last 5 years or so, I have become convinced many (not all) of the bigger problems are self induced and/or encouraged and world leaders don't want them resolved. Some problems (particular here in the US) seem so easy to fix, IMO. Regardless there's nothing I can do about them other than to shake my head. Probably should stop there!

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

I don't concern myself with the decline of the US and just enjoy today. And will do the same tomorrow.

 

[erkevin]

I am a news addict and wish I were not; does not help the mental health.

 

[Walt34]

I do read the news, and of course if I was King Of The World things would be much better all around, but I also realize that isn't going to happen so I don't worry about it much anymore.

 

[Ronstar]

I only watch the news occasionally and get depressed when I do.

If I could explain to my parents and grandparents what is going on today, they would be more shocked and appalled than I am.

 

[razztazz]

I do to the extent I want to be informed of what's going on in the larger world, altho I realize I am past doing anything about it, so I'm not fighting against the tides of time. I consider it a positive indicator. I still care and care to be. If I reach that point where I literally "don't give a damn" perhaps than will be the time to worry.

 

[DJRR]

I follow the news (in print only) and I have ideas that I think might help with some of the big issues facing our country and our world, even if it does not affect or benefit me personally. However, I recognize that it is futile, because no one wants to listen to me. So I concentrate my efforts on small things closer to home that help people on an individual basis.

+1 although I read online papers and watch TV news sometimes. Majority of people are not self aware enough to consider other opinions, so I have stopped trying (except for the unusually egregious - 9/11 conspiracists, holocaust denier etc. even if no chance the effort is meaningful to me).

Also try to do things close to home, but also help fund micro loans around the world and help people get out of poverty and get an education.

 

[Koogie]

I don't concern myself with the decline of the US and just enjoy today. And will do the same tomorrow.

It's not just the US. I think most Western democracies are in decline.

I've got enough on my plate. I stopped reading the news, I never watch tv and pretty much given up on politics and economics.

Take care of yourself, your loved ones and friends.

 

[Sunset]

It's not just the US. I think most Western democracies are in decline.

.....

Actually it's all gov'ts. The difference is dictators in whatever flavor they want to claim just kill off the complainers and censor the press so we don't hear about it so much.

Frankly I think the world is in decline, humans will continue to ruin the world and eventually kill themselves by making the world unable to support human life...

The lake at my cabin, in 1930 was so full of fish and life, my mother would row across the lake with a line in and catch 3 lake trout. She would only do this on the return trip as otherwise she'd have too many fish.
Now you can fish all day with the latest tech and be lucky to catch one.
Now they stock the lake every year as well.

People over fished it and ruined it. The Crayfish are all gone that I used to see and play with.

Same issue is happening with the Ocean, we nearly killed all the whales and many other fish stocks, and the remaining fish are no longer the same large size but much smaller due to factory fishing ships scooping up everything.

One day the oceans will be empty of fish..

In some ways, I'm glad I'll be dead before the world ends as it's not going to be pretty..

 

[Midpack]

I follow the news daily thru a small select number of sources, and I think about issues often, but I realize there’s little I can do about 99% of it. I’d rather stay informed, though I’d have less to worry about it I wasn’t. Maybe one day I’ll stop following the news. It does concern me how opinions and misinformation have taken over traditional news - objective news is very rare, and most people seems happily siloed. Sad.

 

[easysurfer]

There's got to be something about seeing forests and trees here .

 

[frayne]

Just my perspective but I don't think the world is any more or less screwed up than it was 2000 years ago. Just better news coverage.

 

[5Miler]

I used to care, don't anymore. The problems faced today are the same ones we faced in my youth and my grandchildren will probably deal with them most of their lives.

Reminds me of one of my favorite lines from the Batman movie, The Dark Knight. "Some men just want to watch the world burn."

 

[W2R]

I do to the extent I want to be informed of what's going on in the larger world, altho I realize I am past doing anything about it, so I'm not fighting against the tides of time. I consider it a positive indicator. I still care and care to be. If I reach that point where I literally "don't give a damn" perhaps than will be the time to worry.

+1000

We do follow the news closely, but are not activists.

+1000

I read the news just about every day, because I'm curious and want to know what's going on out there! I do tend to skip past the constant war coverage since I think that is (and will remain) about the same forever. But I want to know about everything else. I tend to worry less about it when I know what's going on, than when I'm in a state of ignorant bliss.

I'm always looking for new news sources that might be less biased than others or might cover different stories than most. There are some interesting stories that get buried by most news coverage (which has been the case for decades IIRC).

And as for activism? Oh please. I learned my lesson on that pretty well, back in the 1960's anti-war movement. In my opinion we weren't able to accomplish anything significant at all, despite the best efforts of so many brilliant, hard working, and caring "peace-niks" (as the "hawks" called us). The war just went on and on, with more and more of our young military sadly coming home in coffins. These days, I like to think I am older and wiser. I don't try to BE the news, or change the news, I just read about it.

 

[Walt34]

Actually, according to the rare articles that talk about it, life in many respects is in better shape than ever. World hunger has never been lower, world health and human life expectancy have never been better, but that doesn't sell papers or clicks so it doesn't get reported on much. That is not to say that all is well but the trends are getting better rather than worse.

What would the King of England 300 years ago have given for central heating, central A/C, food that wasn't likely to poison you, antibiotics, surgeons who had a clue about anatomy and biology, the word "cancer" was a death sentence, slowly and painfully, and the list goes on...

But you'd never think about any of that reading the news.

 

[rodi]

I read the newspaper and watch local and national News and my car is permanently tuned to NPR... Which in my area has good local and national news. I try to get my news on TV from channels of both ends if the spectrum.

I volunteer locally.

I try to be a good steward, in general... Recycling, composting, drive as little as I can get away with. In general trying to reduce my footprint.

Will it make an impact? Probably not.

 

[braumeister]

I remember my grandfather discussing world events and even fairly sophisticated economic analysis in his 90s. He only had a fifth grade education in a rural setting at the turn of the 20th century, but he always read the papers every day and loved to talk with everyone about everything. He not only read the news, he thought about it. And he gave me the idea that keeping up with the world is a good way to stay mentally on top of things, so that's what I try to do.

 

[Nash]

The USA is in decline. And I don't care.

It makes no difference to me what political party is in charge, or what rules they make. I will examine the rules and formulate a plan to win.

I don't watch the news or consume any media. Journalism does not exist anymore- it's all propaganda.

I read nonfiction books written by brilliant people and use my knowledge and judgement to manage my own life.

Time. Health. Money. People (just a few). Nothing else matters.

 

[calmloki]

My gal likes to be informed about everything - she just has an inquisitive mind. She loves to watch shows about the weather, both local and far afield. She gets earthquake alerts from all over the world - Yup! there's a 5.4 in Guam! She also enjoys watching the dire news channels that have doom background music(?). You know the ones - Everything is BREAKING NEWS - !! the first daffodils of spring have bloomed in Nantucket and may be destroyed by a threatening bomb cyclone spring shower!!

I'm more of the stress=bad camp. I feel for the afflicted or affected. Can I, or more importantly, will I do anything for them? If no, then watching their pain is voyeuristic. If something global may affect me then I'll deal with it locally, and if enough others do likewise that may effect a global change. Or not - but i, with Candide, tend my own garden.

This does result in some mild discussions at the tv - like "what good or positive thing does bringing these negative waves and bad feelings into our livingroom do"?