EDITOR’S COMMENT

Doomscrolling, FOMO and where have all the flowers gone?

In his article ‘Doomscrolling: The impact of negative news and disaster reporting on mental well-being’, Malibongwe Tyilo addresses the importance of taking breaks from the ‘constant loop of violence’ on TV, phone and computer screens.

Written first in July 2021, and recently updated, the article refers to a study titled Covid-19 and the 24/7 News Cycle: Does Covid-19 News Exposure Affect Mental Health?. Interestingly, it found that people don’t need to be personally affected by an event to suffer psychological distress. “Instead, news media consumption may be one pathway by which the event becomes distressing”, especially when it’s repeatedly viewed, he writes. On top of daily news feeds on the pandemic, crime, and natural disasters, we are now also witnessing the horror of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, hour by hour.

Tyilo shares the World Health Organization’s (WHO) guidelines on how to cope with the never-ending barrage of bad news. These include only watching, reading, or listening to news at specific times of the day, and making sure that information comes from trusted sources only. This article on the Mayo Clinic website has a lot of good advice, too.

Opting out of 24/7 news scrolling is going to take some serious self-discipline for those of us who suffer from the fear of missing out (FOMO), a phenomenon first identified in 1996 by marketing strategist Dr Dan Herman, according to Wikipedia. “Before the Internet, a related phenomenon, ‘keeping up with the Joneses’’, was widely experienced. FOMO generalised and intensified this experience because so much more of people’s lives became publicly documented and easily accessed,” it explains, adding: “Studies have found that the likelihood of experiencing fear of missing out has been linked to anxiety or depression.” As does over-exposure to bad news. Somewhere in the middle lies the solution: balance.

While writing this article, I’m listening to American songwriter and social activist Pete Seeger’s heart-breakingly beautiful anti-war song: “Where have all the flowers gone?”. My thoughts are with Ukraine — how could we, as a world, have allowed this to happen? “Oh, When will [we] ever learn?”

Kyiv, Ukraine, 24 February 2022.

In a media statement dated 24 February 2022, the South African Government said it was dismayed at the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, which would likely result in human suffering and destruction, and that the effects would not only be felt by Ukraine but throughout the rest of the world. “No country is immune to the effects of this conflict. As the UN Secretary-General has indicated, the conflict will have a huge impact on the global economy – in a moment when we are emerging from the Covid pandemic – and so many developing countries need to have space for the recovery.”

Calling on Russia to withdraw its forces from Ukraine, in line with the United Nations Charter, which enjoins all member states to settle their international disputes by peaceful means, the media release also emphasised South Africa’s respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states, and international law. It called for the protection of human rights and for the UN Security Council to play its role in the ‘search for peace – though so far, nobody is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Ukraine’, say the authors of Under siege: SA residents caught up in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine speak of panic and terror.

In sunny South Africa, our battle against crime wages on. Following the release of the police crime stats for 2021/2022 by Police Minister General Bheki Cele on 18 February 2022, the ‘good’ news is that common robbery, sexual assault, attempted sexual offences and contact sexual offences have recorded three-to-four-digit decreases. Murder, however, ‘remains worryingly stubborn’ at 8.9 percent. Out of the 6,859 people killed in the country – 902 of them were women – 352 were children and 27 were SAPS (South African Police Service) officers, both on and off duty. Other crimes that increased during October to December 2021 were arson (963 cases), carjacking (13.8 percent), truckjacking (2.8 percent), bank robbery (six counts higher), and kidnapping, in all but two provinces: in all, 2,605 kidnapping cases were opened with the police, 686 more cases year-on-year.

The January 2022 signing of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Act, and the Domestic Violence Amendment Act, will hopefully add to the reduction in sexual offences, which – despite a nine percent decrease – translated to 11,315 victims between October and December 2021.

It’s also heartening that more than 380 police stations throughout South Africa now have dedicated GBV (gender-based violence) desks, that 91,489 police officers have been trained in victim empowerment, domestic violence, and sexual offences -related programmes, and that there are now 185 FCS (Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences) units on the ground.

Stay safe.

Ingrid Olivier, Editor

ingridolivier@idotwrite.co.za