Why do we Doom Surf? š¤³š½
What is the likely long-term impact? I asked Tarot...
Hi Substack šš¼
Wellā¦ itās been a week, and more, hasnāt it?
This question has been on my mind for a little while now. Mainly, because I do thisā¦ yes, I doom surf1, or doom scrollā¦ I am an ex-Pat Brit living in Spain, feeling politically alienated by world events right now, watching extreme right-wing support growing across Europe, the UK, and especially in the USA.
I am not excessively left-wing. Noā¦ truly, Iām not. Iām watching the apparent normalisation of criminality in the endless pursuit of obscene wealth, paedophilia without consequences, murder on the streets by government agencies, and rape victims exposed whilst their attackers are protected.
I believe in human dignity, fair justice, and equal opportunities for all to build a life free from fear, striving for the best version of themselves. Those are my left-wing beliefs. Every day, those beliefs are challenged, because I canāt scroll past the sheer stomach-wrenching horror I read in endless social media postsā¦
I am a addict of the algorithm.
Back in the dayā¦
Before there was an algorithm, in the prehistoric era of my youth, there was the good old BBC. Radio 2 news at breakfast-time, hourly interrupting the endless banality of the late-lamented Terry Wogan2 for a couple of minutes. There was BBC news on TV; quality newspapers offering commentary on how my world was tearing itself to pieces, becauseā¦ āBad news sellsāā¦
Waitā¦ there was an agenda? š§
YEP.
It is apparently well-known (sorry, I donāt have, and canāt cite referencesā¦ if you can, please let me know in the comments šš¼) that we are all hard-wired to pay more attention to bad news, than good, because it helps us to identify threatsā¦
Ahhh, ri-i-i-i-i-ghtā¦ got it!
Soā¦ if weāre hardwired to focus on bad news, and the media on profitability, this all makes perfect sense. The good news is that the press/media can both warn us of danger, and build profitable businesses doing exactly that, <phew> I think they call this a WIN-WIN āŗļø
H-a-a-a-a-ang on, thoughā¦ do we all see bad news the same way? š§ I mean BREXIT was bad news for me and half of the UK voters, but great news for the other halfā¦ then. Does the media offer a balanced perspective on this, or do they have an agenda? What do they want me to believe?
Part of growing-up was realising that the media takes a position, and that it is exactly that, and should be openly questionedā¦ As I write this final draft, serendipitously this popped-up on my Facebook feed this morning, from Jodie Fosterā¦
āPeople tell you the world looks a certain way. Parents tell you how to think. Schools tell you how to think. TV. Religion. And then at a certain point, if youāre lucky, you realize you can make up your own mind. Nobody sets the rules but you. You can design your own life.ā
ā¦ š¤ then at a certain point, if youāre lucky, you realize you can make up your own mindā¦ š¤š¤š¤
In order to facilitate that, we need balanced media. My realisation came watching this brilliant, ahead-of-its-time, 30-second TV ad for the Guardian newspaper first broadcast in 1987. š²
Thenā¦
Eventually, a new-fangled thing called the interweb arrived, and wow! did that offer a lot of new perspectivesā¦ how exciting!!!
Then someone called out the accuracy of the information presented there; but nonetheless, it was free, exciting, and being in print must be right, yes? A boon for the lazy, or overworkedā¦ they could simply take what they needed (or enjoyed!) and make it their own truthā¦ especially when it was bad newsā¦
Nowā¦
When 78 million Americans (and thatās a lot of people!) voted to return a narcissistic, misogynistic, xenophobic, suspected paedophile, serial liar, and convicted felon to the White House; I was caught up in, and truly sickened by the news. Iād like to say disbelief, too, but oddly enoughā¦ I wasnāt hugely surprised.
78 million Americans CHEERED ON, and elected, a man full of hate, who evidently only cares about himself, and money-according to everything I was reading at the time-so, what were those 78 million reading? They werenāt seeing what I was, for sure, or were they??? I canāt, and donāt want, to believe thatā¦ š«£
I hold these views because I doom surf. Iām not alone.
Donāt worryā¦ weāll get to the Tarot soonā¦ honest! Trust me, Iām a Tarot Reader! š
I spend HOURS late at night doom surfing video after video detailing the latest horrors thrust on both Americans and the world at large. Some are light entertainment (Jimmy Kimmel, et al.) whilst others offer serious journalism (e.g. Heather Delaney Reese) recording the horrors of our time in the hope of holding those concerned responsible in (hopefully!) the near future.
The algorithm has recorded me blearily grimacing over these posts; and wishing to keep me continually doom surfing, relentlessly feeds me more of the sameā¦ I think it was Teal Swan who finally crystallised this for meā¦
ā¦ ahā¦ OKā¦
I am DEFINITELY a target for the algorithm! I get it šš¼
But HANG ONā¦ non-personalised-algorithmic social media sources, such as TV News are feeding me the same news about the horrors happening in the world right now, most of them driven by the instability (it would seem) of the current US administration/leadership, confirming my biasā¦ is that an agenda too?
A media committed to igniting those ābad news sellsā negative emotions like anger and fear, surely wouldnāt mislead usā¦ would they? Really? I donāt knowā¦ I canāt prove any of itā¦ but sadly, I am addicted to itā¦
I keep telling myself reading, and watching, all of this awful news is unhealthy for me, but the algorithm continues preparing my breakfasts, and I hungrily wolf them downā¦ Every. Damn. Day. Whatās worse is I know itās unhealthy!
In the spirit of trying to find help with this problem, and some insight, or at the very least a compelling reason to switch to Muesli, I turned, as I do, to Tarotā¦ š
Letās Tarotā¦
Position 1 - Why do we doom surf?
Eight of Cups - The Lord of Abandoned Success
Sheās had enough. The woman pictured in the card is tossing her cup and leaving it all behind. She is moving on, leaving behind a rundown cabin and all of her belongings with it. Thereās no sadness in her eyes, only determination and courage. A sense of freedom grows inside her with every step she takes. Ann Tourian.
Striding confidently, purposefully, out into the World Wide Web searching for the truths hidden from us by the agenda-driven media. Taking charge of our own knowledge acquisition, looking for something deeper, something more accurate. There is so much to choose from. The ātruth is out thereā waiting for us.
The home that has served us so well to this point, can no longer contain our growing feeling that there are new experiences out there, simply waiting to be found. Finding new information on our own, feeling like an adventurer, seeking our own truths beyond those fed to everyone else, feels exhilarating.
Then, with the growing sophistication of our search, we are introduced to like-minded souls and āexpertsā in the realms we are exploring. We read their often angry, fearmongering pieces and can relate them directly to similar feelings of our ownā¦ wow! Itās not just meā¦ others feel this way, too!!!
Quietly, in the background, the algorithm smiles and makes a brief note to feed us more of the same.
Our brave new track, with the panoramic view, morphs into a rabbit hole! We start exploring a new home amidst fluffy bunnies, enjoying their energy, and the comfort of their fur; relieved to have found the higher emotional ground this card encouraged us to seek. Leaving the familiar old home, for this new one, was worth it!
8ās represent repetition, and mastery, and Cups our emotional journey. Does this mean that we will always be happy in this new warren that we have found? No, not really, somewhere down there, there will be a hare, pushing for the burrow to evolve, pointing out its short-comings, and hard-driving an agenda for changeā¦
This is the 8, the repetitionā¦ this is life.
For us, something in the message will resonate, and the burrow will very soon feel like our old home. Armed with new information, and new purpose, we will set out again for the World Wide Web, but, itās different nowā¦ the algorithm has discarded redundant exit routes, and many roads out have simply vanished.
Perhaps our time here, agreeing with a wide variety of different, but like-minded, voices proves to us that this is where we should beā¦ why leave? We settle back into our community, becoming a follower, or maybe another hare; resisting change, orā¦ pushing hard for it, knowing our message is the only truth, because our burrow is the only true one, and other truths offend us, or are simply āfakeā.
Feeling weāve now arrived at that higher ground, and the authentic truth; deeply monitoring community discussions ensures we stay up-to-dateā¦ butā¦ is it everyoneās truth? Or just our partisan view? Eventually, again we will askā¦ who, and what, can we trust? If the answer takes us outside our warren, what then? š§
We begin doom surfing in search of authenticity and independence. Ultimately, the comfort we find in the support of like-minded individuals can mire us in an algorithmically sustained position of prejudice, denial, and pain, andā¦ given thereās no news like bad newsā¦ what happens if we donāt step away?
Tarot offers usā¦
Position 2 - What is the likely long-term impact of doom surfing?
Five of Pentacles - The Lord of Material Trouble
5ās for change and disruption, and Pentacles for material well-being. Material well-being in the context of this reading, for me, relates to healthā¦ especially mental healthā¦
ā¦ make sure youāre also paying attention to your physical well-being. Just as you take care of the house that shelters you, your body also needs to be maintained and cared for. Ann Tourian.
Which figure are we in this card?
Are we the angry house-owner? The sad comforter? The desperate victim? What are the implications for each of these?
The angry house-owner
It is our house, our new house, established through huge investments of time and effort since our innocent, confident departure from our old home in search of the truth. We have found it now, are fully invested in it, and ready to forcefully defend it, expelling any dissenters, or people we feel donāt fit into our world view.
A year ago now, I engaged in a fascinating exchange with an online friend, on our differences following the re-election of the USA President (see, A MAGA Difference of Opinionā¦), and this exact card came up then, too; I notedā¦
The first two things that drew my attention in this image were the distress of the people expelled from their lodging, and the stars on the five lodging house Pentacles, which whispered Stars and Stripes to me.
This has been such a powerful image for me, that they were the first things I saw again when this card reappeared in this reading. In my current warren, I share the anger of a great many people when I doom surf about the USAā¦ ICE brutality and enforcementā¦ images going way beyond this one, which is already awful enoughā¦
BUTā¦ thatās my algorithmically nourished anger, isnāt it? Watching Renee Good and Alex Pretti getting murdered by ICE thugs is how I see a legal process supported by those on the other side of my algorithm. I canāt prove murderā¦ butā¦ I can be angryā¦ and as anger builds, I ask myself, āis this improving my health?ā
The sad comforter
Alternatively, we can try to comfort those facing expulsion, knowing that really is the absolute limit of our powers in the angry house-ownerās home. I am painfully aware that as their anger builds, the burrowās tunnel walls will be increasingly reinforced, ultimately concretised3, then adorned with posters shouting the āonly truthā in a world of āfake newsā.
Looking at this in the context of the Eight of Cups above, I can see that our position will become increasingly weak, likely leading to our own expulsion. The angry house-owner, with their moral high-ground, will CANCEL us as threats, whether true, or not, ensuring that their truth cannot be contested.
The sad comforter is powerless to change the situation, and can feel their anxiety building as they strive to maintain their empathy for others in a world of constant change and new horrors. For me, personally, this focusses on seeing the distress amongst my friends and readers in the USA. The more I readā¦ š
When I finally leave, or am angrily expelled from, this warren, will the anxiety fade? I believe it willā¦ eventuallyā¦ but, in the meantime, I ask myself, āis this improving my health?ā
The desperate victim
Reliant on those about them to do the right thing, and finding that their āright thingā is no longer welcome in a warren pursuing alternate agendas. Theyāre not natural shouters, more natural sobbers, their cries buried beneath the cacophony of an armed majority suddenly, and unexpectedly, wishing them harm.
The warm community they found on their own Eight of Cups journey has evolved and morphed into something much more strident, because, as we knowā¦ everything changes. The rules they signed up for, and respected, no longer apply. They are lost, only finding support from the sad comforter, who is as lost, and unwelcome, as they are. The new rules have un-homed them, too!
Ultimately, their powerlessness descends into the sheer horror of seeing their lives destroyed around them, with everything they have known and taken comfort from, stripped away. Homeless, helpless, unable to let go of a belief in their āright thingā; their alternatives algorithmically ignored, or deleted.
Without going into personal details (I may someday, but right now itās all a little raw) I understand a little of that powerlessness, and the obsessive belief that the world shouldnāt be this wayā¦ despite the fact that, of course, it generally isā¦ and in the meantime, I ask myself, āis this improving my health?ā
Soā¦
I have felt a considerable amount of despair, especially over the last year, but also longer than that; probably dating back to the seismic changes that Covid-19 introduced, one way or another, into all of our lives. I have doom surfed for truth and confirmation that I am not alone, and it led me, accidentally, to Canada š®
Reading about one of his regular hate-filled tirades directed towards others (who probably also live on my algorithm!) and feeling that now very familiar anger, and sadness, that follows doom surfing these outbursts, I was surprised, and wonderfully shaken-up, by this from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carneyā¦
āWe take the world as it is, not as we wish it to beā
ā¦ and went straight back to the 8 of Cups!
I have lived too many months now in my dark warren, feeling increasingly angry, sad, and desperate for the fate of our world; believing that massively ill-considered, not to mention illegal, profit-chasing global warmongering features in all of our futures, and is inevitable, because that is the writing on the wallā¦ š«
Mark Carney reminded me that thereās a world beyond the warren feeding us the usual confirmation bias junk food, and it can still be found by those with open eyes and hearts. Perhapsā¦ just perhapsā¦ the painful eviction from our old house will allow us to fully rediscover a Worldwide perspective once again? šŗļø
Elementals and Arythmancyā¦
Eight of Cups š Water and Five of Pentacles š Earth, both correspond to passive energy, strengthening, amplifying and empowering each other. As we might expect during doom surfing. The only active energy here is the silent LED screen glow projecting endless opportunities to be shocked, appalled, or offended.
Unlessā¦ we DO somethingā¦ but that would mean putting down the tablet/phoneā¦ which is an entirely different post! š
Looking at the numbersā¦
8C - 48/3; 5P - 73/1; 1+3=4
I see this reading as delivering the less positive aspects of IVĀ·Emperor. The dogmatism, the āmy way, or the highwayā approach that takes root and then very rapidly ferments during doom surfing. The single-minded Aries Fire energy that admits no alternatives, making our passive doom surfer into the fiercest of keyboard warriors, index finger pointing straight down at that CANCEL keyā¦
I hate to admit that I often feel like this person when I doom surf, do you? ā¦ but, this post has formulated and prompted this questionā¦
I have to ask myself, āis this improving my health?ā
Conclusionsā¦
This reading has gone through numerous drafts and formats over this past year. The draft before this one became an extended rant on the political mismanagement of the USA, as I see it (yepā¦ IMHO), and I had to ask myself what this post is aboutā¦ it is about a two-card Tarot reading, not politics.
I edited, and ākilled my darlingsā but retained the postās political opinions as they are absolutely germane to answering the question, and getting to the heart of why I pulled these cards and posted this reading. The more time I have spent with these answers, the more I have realised how truly unhealthy they are.
Whatās to be done?
I am looking at two Minor Arcana cards, suggesting that we have choices. To doom surf, or not to doom surfā¦ we have some control over whether, or not, we do this. I am convinced that it is unhealthy, but am also aware that I often gravitate towards rabbit holes. This, for me, is about making different choices.
Sometimes, I will. Sometimes, I wonātā¦ Iām only human, after allā¦
But one thing I am absolutely sure about, doom surfing is in no way improving my health. My Eight of Cups search inevitably leads me to unsubstantiated, AI driven content filtered by the algorithm to keep me angry, sad, or desperate.
Actually, I am a grown up (yeahā¦ I knowā¦ steady! š) and need to fundamentally understand that, algorithmic doom surfing doesnāt help me, and I need to adjust my position toā¦
āWe take the world as it is, not as we wish it to beā
Nowā¦ where did I leave that Eight of Cups? š¤
I welcome your thoughts on the above, and how this post resonates (or not!) for you... please feel free to comment below (I am very open to respectful disagreement and discussion, and always reply to comments, unless they are hateful - as I recognise may be a consequence for this particular post - in which case they will be summarily deleted).
If you enjoyed this post, a ālikeā really lifts my day, and moraleā¦ if you would? šš¼
You are very welcome to share this free post if you feel it might interest others, thanks... š
Love, light, and laughter... always,
tarotbyphil šÆļø
Doom surfing (or doomscrolling) refers to the often compulsive, habit of continuously scanning through, reading, or surfing negative, pessimistic, or catastrophic news on social media and the internet. This behaviour, driven by a human tendency to monitor for danger, can lead to anxiety, depression, and significant stress. Google AI Summary.
For my American Readers, Terry Wogan (later Sir Terry Wogan) was a Radio DJ, and later a TV Chat Show host specialising in Irish whimsy and general sillinessā¦ my parents loved him, perhaps thatās why I didnātā¦ š¤
I have always hated this word, considering it one of the ugliest corporate-speak expressions my ears have ever bled toā¦ but here, it feels right š