Maybe people should utilize social media for things they enjoy instead of solely sources of news. Of course people you follow will end up posting news anyway but it won’t be solely stream of ‘doom and gloom’.
On the second thought, it seems like that's a very good question, for these two processes are maybe in a positive feedback loop. This year we pay more attention to news, and this makes us both more susceptible and more exposed to things like "the moment to act is now".
At those times it’s a bit more important to stay at least partially informed than when the biggest crisis is a new highway project going over budget or a political leader’s extramarital affairs.
I agree, stay informed. But really.... How many times a day do you need to be updated on the recent developments and the current status?
In the past people would get their news once a day in the paper and then later at certain times on the radio and early TV. Is that enough to stay informed?
What has happened in the last 12 hours that I must know now instead of just catching a summary tomorrow morning?
Boy, did you miss the point of the article and discussion
Sometimes anxiety (fear, rage) is well justified. Sometimes large-scale threats are real.
Like another comment here mentioned, the diversity of content (and maybe slightly less political news) is why people like HN, so maybe I've just been lucky to be able to 'curate' my Twitter similarly.