"Here’s what I want to escape. To me, **one of the most troubling ways social media has been used in recent years is to foment waves of hysteria and fear**, both by news media and by users themselves. Whipped into a permanent state of frenzy, people create and subject themselves to news cycles, complaining of anxiety at the same time that they check back ever more diligently. The logic of advertising and clicks dictates the media experience, which is exploitative by design. **Media companies trying to keep up with each other create a kind of “arms race” of urgency that abuses our attention and leaves us no time to think**. The result is something like the sleep-deprivation tactics the military uses on detainees, but on a larger scale. The years 2017 and 2018 were when I heard so many people say, “It’s just something new every day.”" ([Location 1197](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B07RHWKD7N&location=1197)) --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]], [[dealing-with-social-media]], [[social-media]], [[attention]], [[mindfulness]], [[fear]], [[anxiety]], [[fud]], **Source** -- [[20251230081807 - B - How to Do Nothing]]