I think the 24/7/365 news/information cycle has contributed to my mental state's decline, it's hard to avoid it-- even in public, there's television sets tuned to the news networks, radios tuned to news-talk stations, and a nonstop flow of people talking about it on every corner of the internet. I think the cycle actually makes most people depressed, angry, or at minimum uneasy. It'd probably be easier to avoid if I didn't have cable and internet, but I'm pretty sure the nonstop information stream be unavoidable in a few years' time, if it isn't already.
I've tried 'moderating' the flow of this cycle for me, I've attempted to use parental controls on my cable box to lock off all news programming, but I ultimately have to remove those locks whenever I have people over. I rarely use the internet on my cell phone, so I didn't worry about that, and I deliberately started avoiding news sites when I'm online on the computer. All that avoidance goes a long way, but oftentimes I get messages or emails from friends containing links to news articles... and being the idiot I am, I (almost) always click on them.
I even stopped listening to talk radio, as I found it was only infuriating me. I rapidly realized that talk radio largely leans right-wing, and hard-right at that, and that the viewpoints were pushed in ways meant to manipulate the listener (no different than how TV news attempts to sway the viewer, or how a used car salesman attempts to manipulate you into buying a car), and those views were making me mad at issues that simply do not pertain to me, or that drew me farther apart from friends/relatives. Ultimately, being angry gets you nowhere. Courtesy more than often gets you places, especially places you want to be.
I've noticed a sharp uptick in political polarization in the past few years, but especially in 2023. I won't take a clear stance either way, but anyone making their political views their whole personality is ultimately insufferable, regardless who they like. Everything seems to need to be about politics now, I've even gotten some vaguely hateful emails about my site being either "too far right" or "too far left." I don't intend for KONAT to enrage, sway, or polarize anyone, nor should anything I say be taken as fact, nor should anything I've written here be used as the basis for an attack against me; I've never attacked anyone or sent "hate-mail" to anyone. It's all petty.
I don't believe anyone who isn't harming anyone should have to endure any form of hate or discrimination; unfortunately, a decent amount of people in the USA believe otherwise-- largely about religion and LGBT issues at the moment, it seems. I think society would be a lot better if we, as a society, could embrace the mantra of "live and let live," since many of the issues people are enraged about do not impact them.