“Sane” is questionable in my case. I limit my news consumption to only a few trusted sources, and sparingly.
Then I go on social media and look at pictures and videos of all the puppies for emotional balance.
Not even being facetious.

To fully understand what is “real” news, I read the paper as well as listen to all of the major news casts via television. To stay “sane,” one needs to learn to mentally tune certain things out.

I am grappling with the same issue. I haven’t found a solution yet.

I’m limiting myself.
No TV (at all), no radio (at all), no (news) podcasts, and no newspapers.
I follow a few accounts on Instagram, the main one giving me objective, factual, bitesized slides of current affairs, daily.
I prefer non moving footage (that one account only provides photos).
Doesn’t always work though; I saw the footage of the Kabul aeroplane with Afghanis trying to hang on and some fall off.

I stay focused on reading the same few solid journalism mediums. I have not varied this approach for years.
I read four sources religiously. These are paper delivery for the US based ones
1) WSJ
2) BBC
3) Washington Post
4) NYTIMES

IMHO the rest are about sensationalism reporting that is self serving.

@Forever_Free But even with limiting to quality journalism as I do too, the news is so bad and the state of the world so dire, it is hard not to despair!

@janbb Agreed. I however choose what to read. As hard as some topics are, I choose to be informed as opposed to my head in the sand even if it creates a bit of despair and uncomfort.

It also helps humble me to the realities of what is going on in the world. Knowing this makes “My first world problems” trivial.

Easy:
You just accept that everything is fucked, humanity is doomed, and that you are just waiting for the sweet embrace of death.
It will all be over soon.

^Thank you Cheerful Chad! ~

I have stopped following news pages on FB for some months now.

I missed a lot of events, but I manage not to get depressed.

You lose some, you win some.

Imo, before awful polticians, there come awful voters. I stick with the New York Times and the Washington Post for headlines. And read an article or two in the course of the day. Have really no time to read as many news, opinion and human interest articles as I want to. That limitation may be the very thing that’s keeping me sane.

I ignore most of it.

I like to keep up with the news and I probably get 95% of my news from sources I trust, mainly the BBC whose reporters do a great job in covering news at home and abroad. I also like to escape the relentless horror that is news and I do this by going for walks in the hills or by cycling, or, this afternoon when I discovered a lovely quirky tea house just a mile from my home. It has a very relaxed ambience and is next door to a fabulous bookshop.

But I can’t forget that the news is real and my city has already begun taking in refugees from Afghanistan.

I used to pay more attention to current events and listen to the news on the radio every morning, but I gradually tapered off doing that during the Trump presidency, and the pandemic was the last straw. I just got sick of the fear-mongering, war-mongering media. I don’t need to be constantly reminded of how shitty the world is. I can see the orange sky and smell the smoke in the air. I know the climate is doomed and COVID is here to stay…I don’t need someone on the radio or TV or the internet telling it to me over and over, every single day.

I prefer to discuss the deeper issues and philosophical and sociological implications of current events on sites like Fluther. :)

Read
Exercise
Avoid those who do neither.

Discrimination. All information is not necessarily useful information. I don’t find most information to be useful.

“Useful” information is that which enriches my emotional, physical and spiritual well being.

Everything else is irrelevant.

I watch The Natioanl news and one local News channel..of which negativity is the only news lately…Once a day is good enough to learn what is happening in our world then I turn it off .

I watch comedys lately on Tv and/or get more involved in my creative projects that uplift for the time being.

Lately I noticed that two News channels ( local) have now ended there News casts with funny , interesting stories that uplift a viewer as the last thing that the viewer observes.

Its a good strategy but I wonder how that confuses its viewers state of mind?

Here is the negative neew, then here ia a funny story to make you forget what you just saw?

@canidmajor I’ve done that (the video thing) for a few years now, and keep particularly adorable or funny animal videos in a file. Most are baby animals, but not all. Ever watched a baby elephant try to use his trunk and not step on it? or charge the photographer? OMG

@rebbel I limit myself also, mostly to headlines that are on my Bing homepage. They’re not in-your-face, they’re at the bottom of the screen. I click the ones I want to read more about, and it takes me to a search page where I can choose what site I want to read more on, if I want to read more at all. Haven’t watched TV news in years because occasionally I was blindsided (it came on before I could change channels) by an animal abuse story, which I can’t deal with.

@smudges Re: your answer to @canidmajor;
I watch many, many, many animal videos too!

Awwww Aren’t they soothing! ;) I suspect lots of people have found this form of relaxation.

@smudges and @rebbel: Lately I have been watching a lot of videos where dogs review food. That is about all the intellect I can muster these days. :-)

LOL I love hearing the voices they give the dogs! nom nom nom

This was my introduction to talking dogs!

@Dutchess_lll. That is my All TIME favorite talking dog video! I watch it all the time.