I did the same and would absolutely recommend this.
Don't look for news on social media (best to not be on social media if that's possible). Get news and content via RSS and get an app that allows you to blacklist keywords.
What device are you going to use it on? I'll presume Android is most likely.
Best app for FOSS in my opinion is Read You (on f-droid), but this doesnt allow blacklisting words.
Best for easy setup + setting up filters is Pluma (free on Play store). Once you're in it, you press + to add content and can search for whatever you want.
Most sites support RSS and if you candidate find it from within the app then you can go get the RSS link from the webpage.... But if you're just getting into it then try what I've suggested above first and take it from there.
I think you’re describing an important step of online mental hygiene. The reality is that humans have not evolved with the daily emotional bandwidth necessary for one to handle a planet’s worth of grief responsibly and without inuring oneself to others’ suffering.
I’ve seen people criticize this as head-in-sand, that you should remain available to amplify voices and causes in online discourse (especially theirs). I see that criticism as unthoughtful, bordering on unkind, and a critical problem with how we do online advocacy.
(Aside: “conflict” appears twice in keyword list, which has no effect now but can cause unexpected behavior later)
I've experienced that criticism. To that I say I already know where I stand on these political issues and I'll amplify (and have amplified) voices I want amplified. Regardless of how much I filter out, the dust on the upper crust of world news still makes its way to me in some way or another so I'll always have a general idea of what's going on. I just don't need to know every tiny detail about the trillionth example of the dregs of human nature.
Living out from under that black cloud is truly liberating and I highly recommend anyone reading this to establish a filter list and block any communities that regularly kill your mood.
To give you a minor update, you're gonna need to add 'nuke' and 'nuclear' to your blocklist... as well as 'housing crash', 'housing values' and 'prices' and 'debt' and 'default'.
Add in those words and you'll remain blissfully ignorant for at least another couple months.
I also dont watch news and havent for a decade. Its not like im missing something important, since I get to hear about anything actually important anyway. It would be hard to miss things like covid where we actually need to take action. Even here on Lemmy, people seem to be discussing a lot of current events in the news, so... Dont need to watch TV news.
I don't filter at all, I don't like the chance of false positives. Like I'm sick of content about a particular EV company, but I wouldn't want to miss news about them dumping their CEO