Doomers & Talking Less

Are you a "Doomer"? Dangerous Dave talks about how social media, online news and doomscrolling have made people more pessimistic. Plus, we are talking less than ever before and technology may be to blame.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Please step deeper in the den with dangerous day. Are
you a duomer or do you have any dumers in
your life? And I said dooomer with a D, not boomer.
It's a kind of person who always sends bad news
or tends to be overly pessimistic. Here's what a therapist
had to say about doomer rism. It's a mindset that's
rooted in chronic pessimism, worst case scenario thinking. Does that

(00:21):
mean the glass is half empty instead of half full?
It's that feeling that nothing will get better and nothing
to you matters. Unfortunately, social media is playing a big role.
You've heard of the phrase doom scrolling before. The negative
content you engage with, the more you see it creates
a false feeling of your reality and it's full of despair.
It's just what your algorithm is feeding you. Here's a

(00:42):
problem dumerism. Can they do? Anxiety burnout in isolation also
makes people stop taking ownership of their own lives. What
can you do to break the cycle? Limit your news
intake First of all, stop doom scrolling and focus on
small actions you can control. As one expert put it,
the agency is the antidote to helplessness. Guess you want
to get rid of the doumerism. Listen to this, you

(01:04):
think for yourself after listening to me, things can't be
so bad for you. For in the two you know,
something can sound surprising and not shocking all at the
same time. Here's an example. According to research from the
University of Missouri, Kansas and the University of Arizona, in
two thousand and five, we spoke about sixteen thousand, six
hundred and thirty two words a day. In twenty nineteen,

(01:24):
that number had fallen to eleven thy, nine hundred and
twenty eight percent decrease. For some reason, the study didn't
have data any more recent than that. But they're thinking now.
Experts think post pandemic, we're speaking even fewer words. Obviously,
the biggest reason is a shift in technology, particularly in
text messaging also emails. Social lives are treading into online

(01:45):
spaces and readily information and services that require less interaction.
Some experts are concerned about the trend, saying that talking
requires you to pay attention to what the other person
is saying, formulate a response, and control your physical reaction,
all within two hundred seconds. These interpersonal skills are important
to learn, develop, and master. It's slightly more important among

(02:06):
young people because it's becoming more common. Each year, people
under twenty five lost four hundred and fifty one words
a day. Older people lost three hundred and fourteen words
a day. It could be because older adults more used
to talking in certain situations and using less technology. Some
experts say that our shortened attention spans might also make
it harder to hold conversations that could eat into itself

(02:29):
if you consider the intention spans could decrease because we're
having fewer conversations. I guess I'm kind of guilty of
it myself. I sure I get my words in every
day because I'm on the radio, but I don't know
how many times I've been in a meeting and I thought, hmm,
this whole meeting could have been sent out in an
email and not wasted my time. So, and I know

(02:50):
what you're thinking. This whole conversation I'm giving you right
now could have been included just on my blog online
to me, they can for another episode of Deeper in
the Den with Danger is daved right here