I saw Warren Ellis write in his weekly newsletter the other week that people should turn off their Twitter and Facebook accounts in these times to end “doomscrolling,” a catchy term that is immediately understandable without the need for further instruction — to read it is to know what he’s talking about, and probably feel just a little bit guilty for taking part even unintentionally at some point or another. This past couple of weeks has been full of doomscrolling.
In our defense, it’s been hard to know what else to do. It feels as if there are only three options available to anyone in the US at this particular moment in history: Protest, donate, or speak out. (The latter translating, for me as a white man, as shutting up and promoting voices of Black people speaking out; I literally can’t add anything of value to the conversation personally other than saying I agree!, so…) Everything else? Everything else is doomscrolling. What is the alternate? To pretend everything is fine?
And there’s been so much to scroll through — if the last few years have seemed like an endless torrent of shitty news, the last couple of weeks has turned that up to near unthinkable levels. Every night, the country is filled with protests turned into police-led riots; every day features politicians responding in ways that either fall short of what’s needed or, worse, seem designed to heighten tensions and inflame anger even more. There’s no end to it, it feels like.
(And all of this is happening even as we’re still in the middle of a pandemic, with the police using tear gas in the middle of a pandemic, really doubling down on that whole “this is inhuman and unthinkable” thing because cruelty and control is the entire point, of course.)
I was emailing with a friend yesterday, both of us checking in and essentially asking, what are you doing, donating, protesting, something else…? Because, in a way, that feels like the only conversation to have right now. What are you doing? There has to be more than doomscrolling. That isn’t anywhere near enough.