Doomscrolling
The act of consuming an endless procession of negative online news.
I’m told in the original mass observation project, someone recorded the barometric pressure and weather everyday. I don’t check the weather anymore, it is so rare that I leave the house. But what I have checked everyday is the New York Times tracker of new cases. Everyday, ten times a day, it has become an obsession.
Currently, we are planning how to bring students safely back to campus in February. For two consecutive semesters, we have emptied campus and sent all of our students home. It is hard to imagine how returning to campus will be possible when you compare what the national picture looked like when we sent students home in the Spring or Fall semesters when we sent students home in the fall.
Today I went to Panera to pick up takeout orders. The mall parking lot was full, and people were going about their everyday lives. Although the infection today is at a similar level to March, the attitudes of everyone around is so different. There are masks hanging from rear view mirrors, hand sanitizer in the cup rests, but we go out when we need to now. We’ve become accustomed to a certain level of danger.