reminders against reblog bait and the like

reblog bait doesn't have to be reblogged! you are not obligated to reblog *any* post!

[posts-against-reblog-bait]

note to myself :)

when you see reblog bait, calm down and go to this blog to look at Rational Thoughts

and immunity posts if they help!

when you feel better, go back to the post and copy the trigger text, then filter them ! you won't see the same post ever again

(this blog is for myself but feel free to follow)

[directactionforhope]

Don't know who needs to hear this, but:

Consider following political and social justice tumblrs under a different login than the one you use to find cool art / cat pictures / fandom stuff / kink stuff / etc

Or like just in general, if you're getting most of your political news in the same apps where you do most of your fun / sexy shit,

pls give some thought to where and when those streams get crossed, esp if you haven't really thought about it before

[eightthreesevensix]

#wh. #why #why would it matter if the streams get crossed in the first place

[directactionforhope]

For some people it doesn't matter much, but for some people it does.

There's a concept in psychology called "overcoupling," which is basically when a person's trauma is super cross-wired, so to speak, with the present or with a certain topic

Overcoupling can both cause and worsen intrusive thoughts and depression, especially for people with a history of trauma

Or, more simply: If you're mentally whipping back and forth between cute animal, funny joke, porn, genocide psa, and hate crime footage at the speed of scrolling, that can really mess with your head, and sometimes it takes people quite a while to pin it down

Or, if the place you go to relax and look at fandom shit is also where you get all your news about ongoing global crises, that's gonna seriously mess with your ability to actually relax and rest

That sort of thing, if that makes sense. It's not "Don't do this or else!!" It's just kind of a "hey make sure you didn't accidentally frogboil your stress responses or something"

[eightthreesevensix]

#craaaaaaap. #fuck. #fuuuuuuuck. #i gotta do smth about that. # thank you twin # but WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH #CHANGING ACCOUNTS IS SUPER HAAARD WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH #how do I know if this shit is even messing with me anyway #how did YOU know this shit was messing with people #what book did you get your strange eldritch knowledge from???

[directactionforhope]

Oh! So funny story but I actually edit psychology books for a living lol

So, many books, but the knowledge isn't eldritch - it's evidence-based!

Also, before I go into it:

This isn't something anyone needs to stress over or especially panic over, especially if you don't really feel like it's affecting you personally.

I simply was having a thoughtful night and wanted to share a nudge/tip/data point to help people be more intentional

Best of luck!

But yes, further explanation!:

The concept of overcoupling specifically comes from Somatic Experiencing, which is a type of therapy and bodywork. It was invented by a psychologist and trauma survivor, Dr. Peter Levine, in the 1990s. The idea behind Somatic Experiencing, as well as other somatic ("body-based") healing practices, is that, as we know, trauma is stored not just in the mind, but also in the body - and therefore SE says, in order to heal after trauma, we must work with the body too. They have some really cool articles and theses on the org's Research page here

But the reason I know isn't specific to somatic experiencing itself, I just know a lot about trauma, psychology books, and "mind, body, spirit" publishing (kind of a genre tag for a lot of these books, especially for alternative and non-Western healing practices).

Sooooooo,

If you want specific book recs for the eldritch-evidence-based knowledge, I highly recommend:

What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

by Stephanie Foo

and

In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness

by Peter Levine

Also major publishers in psychology and healing that I really like and respect:

New Harbinger Publications (huge leader and force in evidence-based psychology publishing)

North Atlantic Books (Peter Levine's publisher, they have a lot of really awesome and innovative books, and are the main publisher for somatic experiencing) (Ironically, they're on the Mid-Pacific Coast tho lol)

(Note since I've been asked before: This is in no way an ad or an affiliate link. I have never used either of those on reasonsforhope/directactionforhope, and I never plan to bc I believe in eliminating perverse incentives in my activism, etc. I do trust both those publishers bc I've personally worked with them, but they're in no way paying me to say this (or paying me rn in general; I'm on medical leave / sabbatical); I chose to work with them because I really like and respect them and their books.)

--

On a different type of note, in terms of how I figured it out:

I figured it out because it messed with me a lot when I was in college. And I was in college during the start of the Black Lives Matter movement and the first Trump presidency - there were a LOT of horrifying things on social media.

I'd go on tumblr, or facebook, to relax and see some cute animal pictures - and then I'd end up seeing them sandwiched between genocide PSAs, and every new #MeToo announcement, and videos of unarmed Black people being murdered

It did, indeed, lowkey frogboiled my stress responses, which I noticed bc every time I ended up going on tumblr, I ended up feeling way worse than I started. And it was specifically messing with my sleep a lot bc I'd be scrolling before bed, as we all do, and then - BOOM ! DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS HORRIFIC WAR CRIME?

like every 3 posts

and I was actually in a city with that was targeted by a lot of right-wing extremists, so there wasn't like, a lot of space between "horrifying news shit" and "my life" and things like "is it safe to walk to the store right now?"

It wasn't great for me!! I ended up quitting tumblr for like 6 years, until the COVID pandemic started and I was hella bored in lockdown, and in all that time I continued to be glad I left tumblr. Honestly, if I didn't run reasonsforhope on here, I would've deleted my account on here again a couple years ago lol

I will say tumblr is actually in many ways far MORE chill about politics and social justice than it used to be. But that's because the bar was subterranean!!!!

But yeah, at the time, what I did was start by filtering things a lot better and blocking tags and using social media less.

It helped, but ultimately I decided I just didn't want to deal with any of that shit anymore. So I quit tumblr for years, and I deleted Facebook off my phone and just kept Messenger (this was like 2016; young ppl still used facebook), and it helped my mental health a lot

So I went "Great, awesome, clearly that worked, keep it up." And now I periodically just reassess to make sure that I engage with politics and triggering shit in a more intentional way

So, if you want to check if it's messing with you, you could try things like:

making a new account for a few days, and curating a new dashboard, and see how using that feels / start there

take a break from tumblr or switch to like exclusively social media playlists of cat videos for a few days, and see how that feels

filter a bunch of tags or unfollow a couple blogs for a week or two, and see if that makes a difference

take a few days to make a conscious effort to use different social media for fun than you do for serious shit / news / triggering shit. see if that feels like it's worth exploring more

And, psa just in general. Not because I think people can't take care of themselves or can't make their own decisions, but because sometimes these things really can frogboil you before you realize:

If you see a post that makes you spiral or triggers you, please take at least one step to make sure you won't see the post again

e.g., block the tag, filter a term, unfollow the blog that posted it, click "no interest in this post" on the dropdown. you can also go to tumblr settings and tell it to show you fewer posts from people you don't follow and communities you're not in, which can help a lot, esp since posts with a lot of engagement are often more controversial or upsetting

Anyway, yeah - this isn't something to panic over, especially if you don't think it's affecting you just a data point to help people be more intentional

Best of luck!

[privatejoker]

if you have OCD that moralistic post it not about you. keep scrolling. i love you

[privatejoker]

yeah even the one that gave you that sinking terror and has you planning your penance behavior and going through your whole life trying to identify when you did whatever it said about prejudice or abuse or whatever. it's not about you they don't know you and they certainly don't care about you

[audible-smiles]

the social norm of “its your ethical responsibility to be constantly aware of, and angry about, every bad thing happening in the world at all times, even if you can’t possibly do anything about it” is possibly the best way I can imagine to create burnout and cynicism and depression in a population, so good job guys

[notjusthespongenextdoor]

Ok now that the boops are gone and i can be grumpy again

"yeah the boops are fun but don't let them distract you from--" PLEASE let them distract you. Please take one goddamn day off from thinking about the world's problems. And if you can't figure out how to do that, for the love of god don't insist that everyone else be stuck in "I'm not allowed to be happy about anything ever" hell with you

If you insist that everyone be focusing on "the problems" at all times that is at best performative and at worst actively harmful to the cause you're trying to support. Taking real action uses up energy, often times a LOT of it. Insisting that no one ever takes a break means insisting that no one ever take time to rest and begin to gather more energy for another actual action. Being "on" all the time isn't your duty, it's an impossibility.

Take a fucking break. And remind everyone that they need to take breaks too.

[astraltrickster]

This post is your reminder that you are not obligated to blog about current events.

Things are bad. Really bad. Do not let people guilt trip you into tormenting yourself even further over the fact that things are bad. Doomscrolling is not activism.

If you're just on tumblr to blorbopost or reblog pretty pictures, you are not harming people by inaction.

You are not a bad person for not dedicating every aspect of your life and leisure space to whatever disgusting mask-off attack on human life and dignity some government has decided to enact.

Take action where you can, but don't confuse doomscrolling and digital self harm for action.

If you need to lose yourself in blorboposting, go for it.

If you need to log off for the day, whether it's to take irl action or to protect what little sanity any of us have left over the past 7 years, then by all means, do.

Morale is important. Hope is important. Small joys keep us from burning out completely in times like this. Do not let any "if you don't reblog this I'm judging you" guilt trip convince you otherwise.

[primarybufferpanel]

and conversely, if you DO want to post about those things, please tag them with their most obvious tags!

[aro-rambles]

"reblog this right now, I see you scrolling past this" well fuck you too! I wasn't gonna reblog it before but now I definitely won't :)

[aro-rambles]

also "if you don't reblog this you're a bad person" at least I'm a better person than you could ever dream of being since you think that shit is okay to say

[redshoes-blues]

Goddd nothing gets me fuming faster than those fake accounts that harass you for personal donations in your dms with a sob story to try and guilt you into giving them money. I have ocd and any sort of guilt-tripping online (i.e. “if you don’t do this you’re an evil/hateful/etc. person”) fucks me up so badly. Or the chain type of posts that tell you to reblog OR ELSE. Seeing it is completely unavoidable. It’s present on every app and triggers my moral ocd every time I see it. And it sucks because I’m a very empathetic person (probably too much for my own good, at times), so I always feel like an asshole when I ignore those posts. Even though I know they’re usually just scams and reblog bait. But the internet has been this way for as long as I remember, so I don’t see it ever going away.

[psychology-department]

just saw a post guilt-tripping me to rb. If your message is so important you shouldn't be making others (ESPECIALLY THOSE STRUGGLING WITH ANXIETY) feel forced to reblog it. I don't care how much meaning you think it is for someone to reblog. I don't care if I sound REALLY BAD. Just. urgh. Stop.

[ziggyplayedd]

hey guys unpopular opinion but you’re not a bad person if you don’t care about every bad thing happening in the world all the time, or if you do care but you’re not constantly reblogging posts spreading awareness and information

it’s okay if you’re just on tumblr to have fun and reblog things you like or that make you happy.

humans aren’t made to process trauma and suffering on a worldwide scale without any breaks whatsoever & the internet has created an unprecedented access to bad news so please never feel guilty for scrolling past it because you can’t process it! and you’re not doing anything wrong & there’s no need to feel guilty

[i-am-a-fish]

cool tip for online

you never have to reblog a post

is the post making you feel guilty for not reblogging it? probably a bad post

reblog button is your button, you choose when to press

[valleyvulpes]

Wow people on tumblr and tiktok hate people with ocd huh

[valleyvulpes]

This is about people who say "if you don't reblog this I'm blocking you" or "if you don't reblog this you're a bad person" or a million other things I've seen

[valleyvulpes]

Btw this includes fundraising posts.

[scallioncreamcheesebagel]

avoiding ocd unsafe posts on tumblr

so i've been experimenting a while with filtering phrases, and here is a list i've come up with that i use to get posts that trigger my ocd / have compulsive language off my dash! this ends up taking out about 95% of these posts. i'm sharing it here so anyone who also wants to blacklist this stuff can as well.

it is helpful to me as someone with ocd to blacklist these phrases and makes tumblr much more accessible, so i hope it can also help others with ocd and similar mental illnesses (or people who just find this stuff aggravating)

phrases to blacklist that are usually used in compulsive statements related to tumblr actions:

asking for reblog

follows>likes

follows > likes

hit that reblog

ignore for

i know you see this

keep reblogging

must reblog

obligated to reblog

obligated to vote

people can reblog

people reblog

please rb

please reblog

please share

rb after voting

rb for

rb if u vote

rb if you vote

rbs > likes

rbs>likes

rb this

reblog after voting

reblog bait (people use this one as a trigger tag, so this one is better under filtered tags instead of filtered post content)

reblog for (this one tends to catch a lot of non-compulsive posts, but leaving it out allows a lot of compulsive posts onto the dash, so it's a tossup if you want to include it)

reblog for exposure

reblog if u vote

reblog if you vote

reblog it every time

reblogs > likes

reblogs>likes

reblog this

remember to reblog

required by law to

sample size

you will reblog

just filtering the word "reblog" will also work as a catchall for most of these, but will also catch a lot of non-compulsive posts, so this list is meant to minimize that effect.

how to blacklist post content

on desktop/web: settings > account > filtered post content (should be right under filtered tags), at this url

on mobile/app: settings > account settings > content you see > filtered post content (again will be right under filtered tags)

how you can make tumblr more accessible for people with ocd and similar mental illnesses

tag posts with compulsive statements as "#reblog bait"

avoid using compulsive statements in posts - according to polls, this makes people less likely to reblog anyway! (poll 1) (poll 2)

if you are able to, avoiding sharing posts with aggressively compulsive statements would help. for example, those "reblog for good luck ignore and you'll never have good luck again" type posts, or things with "rules". i saw a lighthearted tournament with "From now on, if you see a matchup post - even accidentally - you are immediately morally obligated to vote one way or the other. Refusing to vote is strictly forbidden" in the pinned post. this is an example of an ocd unsafe statement. (op of that poll is not malicious though and removed that when told it was inaccessible).

avoid implying that reblogging, following, voting, etc or not doing so carries a moral value.

while reblogging a post may be very small stakes in itself, things like this can trigger compulsions that spiral into more than just reblogging a post. this is why this stuff is important even if it's small-stakes by itself.

you are under no obligation to share this.

[identitty-dickruption]

someone tell the tumblerinas that you can raise an issue without deliberately guilt-tripping everyone about it

[identitty-dickruption]

okay, I take it back. I don’t think everyone is doing this deliberately. some of it is so deeply entrenched in tumblr culture that you probably don’t always notice you’re doing it

“nobody’s talking about this” -> you can just delete this phrase

“if you can’t reblog this, unfollow me” -> you can also delete this one

“x group can, and should, reblog this” -> remove the “should”. or you know. delete the entire sentence

your post will still spread all the important information without the guilt-tripping parts, I promise

[trudemaethien]

if an otherwise valid post tries to guilt trip me it’s a pass on the rb, sry.

[horaitos]

this site really hates people with ocd

[horaitos]

“reblog this or you don’t support minorities!” “if you don’t reblog this then all of your followers should hate you!” “if you have a bad thought then you actually think that way and you’re a horrible person!” “you can only like ‘good’ things and if you like something ‘bad’ then you’re awful!” i am going to throttle you with my bare hands

[mothheart]

'Reblog if you think-' no. Blowing you up with my mind

[butchhatred]

OCDers should be able to assassinate people who make reblog baiting posts actually