DBT Skills for Media Consumption

So you're going to kick us off with the first skill, Kate.

So we're each going to start with naming a skill from the mindfulness module that we thought would be helpful.

So what are you thinking of here from mindfulness?

Yeah, absolutely.

So the one I thought about is mindfulness of emotion.

I guess, frankly, a little bit sort of still intro, but tied to this skill, too, is that I think, Michelle, you were speaking mostly to the idea of like, I don't know, just how to deal with the reactivity when it's confronted.

And I was also thinking about how we could use skills, though, to... uh determine how much media consumption we want to be engaging in at any given time in our lives or in what circumstances right what media sources we want to go towards right and which ones we want to i don't know shun uh and you know instead of just the oh fuck there it is and you know dealing with the specific news items but just how much do you even want to engage with it at all And in what circumstances and forms, et cetera.

And so I really thought that mindfulness of emotion was a good support in that arena, because the first place to notice that maybe this is not where you want to be is feeling good.

I know I'm going to be super specific here and say feeling icky because it's going to depend on the person.

Anything in that realm.

It could feel angry making.

It could feel literally nauseating.

It could feel just anxiety provoking or tremendous fear.

Like, I don't know exactly what the emotional response is going to be for you.

but it's important to be able to tune into what emotional response you are having, both to media consumption and the like specific items, like we've been speaking to a little bit already, but also just, if you think about like, you're like, oh my God, the idea of watching the news and what comes up for you, like, what does your body feel like in response to the idea of media exposure? Do you notice that you get more hyped up consuming from one source or another? Um, for me, I tend to consume most of my news intentionally through comedy, through comedians, uh, because that's how I can handle it best.

Right.

So just noticing, just noticing how you feel literally and allowing that to be, yeah, a guide in there, which I think feeds really well into what you're about to talk about, Michelle.

I was just thinking that same thing.

I'm like, wow, she is really queuing me up to talk about the mindfulness skill I chose, which is using your wise mind here.

Because that, what you just named, is a wise mind choice for yourself.

Yes.

Of, hey, I've learned that the best way for me to hear about world events is to have it filtered through a comedian experience.

You know, like, say, John Oliver.

Yeah.

Seth Meyers.