If you don't understand the opposing viewpoint, you can't discuss it with those that agree with it. You're reduced to "no, you're wrong", which is the same viewpoint they have.

Sticking to places that are skewed towards a similar bias as yourself doesn't help you understand those that have differing views to you. It can be especially important to be able to do this when those people are in your family, in order to keep your family together, rather than letting those viewpoints tear you apart.

Do you enjoy discussing these things with others? If not, I'd suggest stopping. Any good done is probably a drop lost in a rainstorm, and it's not worth any significant amount of harm to your personal happiness, IMO.

Now, local politics, where you can really make a difference, may be another matter. But again, if you're not enjoying it or making a fairly serious commitment to changing things for the better, you'll likely be happier just ignoring it.

Realizing that following national politics and policy is basically no more valuable to myself or to humanity than keeping up with soap operas was liberating. I'd suggest embracing that view if it's affecting your quality of life. It'll let you dip into it when it's interesting to you, without taking it too seriously or getting stressed out by it. Treat outcomes at anything above the county level like the weather, since it may as well be as far as you're personally concerned, unless you're rich or have the right combo of time+talent+will to make a real difference.

>rather than letting those viewpoints tear you apart.

Is that not what you're already doing?

How can you bring light into your family's life when you're full of darkness?

It's okay to let people be wrong and biased, because haven't we all been?

>Would you like to save the world from the degradation and destruction it seems destined for? Then step away from shallow mass movements and quietly go to work on your own self-awareness. If you want to awaken all of humanity, then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-transformation.

-Lao Tzu

Sorry to be pedantic, but I googled the quote because it didn't sound like Lao Tzu to me. It's a nice quote, but it sounds vaguely Buddhist. It looks like it was written in a Taoist book called the Hua Hu Ching several hundred years after Lao Tzu's death, as a Taoist response to Buddhism.

The Huahujing (Hua Hu Ching) is traditionally attributed to Lao Tzu (Laozi), though there is no real use in being pedantic about the identity or timeline of Lao Tzu -- no one knows.

Moreover, English translations of the Tao Te Ching vary immensely and are highly subjective, as ancient Chinese hardly translates onto English. The quote is but one of many different translations.

>If you don't understand the opposing viewpoint, you can't discuss it with those that agree with it. You're reduced to "no, you're wrong", which is the same viewpoint they have.

who cares? what is the purpose of exposing yourself to things that will annoy you that you have no control over, just so you can argue with people?

For many ideas, you can't really understand what your own viewpoint until you see an opposing idea and reject it. And you can't really consider why you believe what you believe until you have to defend it against criticism.

That being said, this kind of argument is only really useful in the right kind of environment, academia for example. Certainly not the vast majority of the Internet. And once you've thought about these things for a bit, there's not much value in continually exposing yourself to a toxic cesspool just to remind yourself that it's not for you.

Your attitude is what leads to echo chambers that cause the arguments to be so awful and polarizing. Your comment would make me laugh if I weren't so sad knowing it's how most people feel.

I think you're missing the point which is that "the arguments" don't matter to begin with.

I'm inclined to agree with sib comment by ashark. While I agree with everything you say here, none of that points to an actual underlying need to engage with opposition politics (except in the case you point to, when it creates familial conflict, which by the way must be the absolute worst, and my sympathies to all those struggling with pro-Trump relatives). Unless you yourself are a politician or political operative, you're not likely to get much satisfaction arguing politics with strangers.

> If you are feeling such crippling despair from consuming this information, why are you consuming it (Assuming you're not a sadist.)?

This! I stopped reading mainstream news years ago and I'm a LOT better off feeling. I'm less stressed, less angry, less fearful. I don't know "that funny/offensive thing that Trump said" and I don't know about the latest celebrity breakups but I can still form opinions about people and politics without sensational bullcrap being shoved down my throat on a daily basis!

It's like chewing gum for the mind: a sudden burst of flavour, no nutrients, followed by a rapidly diminishing return, and an overwrought jaw.

Burn your TV.

> "News" is often like fast food

And don't forget, engineered for addictiveness, not for utility.