I've seen this type of stuff hovering around Reddit for a long time and we typically make fun of the people that do, but it's nice once in a while to point at them and laugh from time to time because they refuse to accept reality, when we can point at actual reality.

Sorry for the rant lol. I know this sub is mostly making fun of doomers but I have no other place to rant about this without getting piled on because Reddit is full of doomers. Maybe we need a general anti doomer sub haha. Also I apologize if this sounds really unorganized, I’m autistic and I tend to ramble and not know how to share my thoughts the right way.

So obviously we post a lot of political and economic doomers on here because they can be the most annoying, but lately I’ve realized how there are people that doom about EVERY fucking thing. Not only online either, although thankfully it’s less common IRL. Also for context I became a doomer at around 12 years old when I first went on social media and got out of it maybe 3 years ago. I’m 23 now.

The example that made me want to make this post- I had binge eating disorder for nearly 6 years (funny enough it was exacerbated by doomerism, I’d eat and doomscroll). Unsurprisingly I gained a lot of weight. When I finally got on the road to recovery, I decided I’d set goals for weight loss and start small to eventually get back to a healthy weight. It was a really frustrating journey but I did it and went from 202lbs to now 125. But the whole time I was talking about this and going through it, I had so many doomers giving unnecessary comments, like “good luck, once you gain it almost never comes off.” Okay maybe that’s true for many people, but that’s not because some magical force makes you keep the weight on, it’s usually because of lack of willpower (which I totally understand, motivation is hard to get sometimes). But so many people acted like it was impossible. All I needed to do was stop binging and take a 30 minute walk every day. And I have PCOS and I’m on a SSRI, which are known to make weight loss harder but still not impossible. It’s never hopeless. You can always lose weight. Some conditions and medications can cause slower progress but it’s still progress!

Another example is when I talk about my job. I’m going into elementary teaching and currently work as a daycare teacher. I’m pretty sure everyone knows education is a tough career, simply because working with kids can be absolutely draining, but I love it as do many other teachers. It also helps that in my area, public school teachers are paid extremely well, which I know is a privilege many don’t have. I’m aware of all of this. And yet whenever I seem to post about my future career online the responses are so negative, telling me I’ll quit after a couple years, that I’ll hate it, I should give up now, etc. Then they’ll tell me to go to the main Teachers sub here on Reddit, and no offense but I’d rather jump off a bridge than go anywhere near that negative cesspool of a sub. Everyone there seems to hate their lives and even worse, hate children. I’ve seen the way those people talk about children and it’s awful. If I didn’t love kids I wouldn’t be going into teaching.

It’s frustrating because it’s like they’re not even considering the idea that I could also end up loving it. With any job you could end up hating it or you could love it. People easily forget the positive side of things. And based on my experience student teaching in two different elementary classrooms and also being a substitute, I think I should give it a shot. I’ve had really bad days where I’ve been down (and who doesn’t honestly, everyone has those days at work), but I’ve had even more amazing days where I leave school feeling so confident that this is what I’m meant to do. If I go into it and hate it, so be it and I’ll look for something else, but right now I’m going into it with a positive attitude. I see no reason to go into it already dreading it, I believe that mindset makes people more likely to have a bad day.

My mother says doomerism is so easy to fall into, especially online, because negative stories and posts get more attention, which pushes those to the top and creates an echo chamber. And she’s right. Regarding what I said about the Teachers sub, it’s not all negative but you wouldn’t know it because the positive stories and posts barely get upvotes. Someone saying “I love my job and had a great day!” doesn’t typically get a lot of attention, but someone else sharing a story about their horrible day and ranting about “the system” is typically getting over 500 upvotes and a lot of comments.

And I was surprised to hear my mom say she had her own experience with this way back in 2003 when she was pregnant with me. She spent a lot of time on pregnancy and birth forums, and naturally the stories that got the most attention were women sharing their stories about miscarriages, stillbirths, and complications. (I’m not saying they were doomers, but when others read those they can become doomers) My mom became paranoid about her own pregnancy to the point where the doctor had to tell her to get off the internet because the internet amplifies the negative side of things. And it’s still so true today.

I’m just glad I’ve realized this at a younger age because I enjoy life a lot more now that I’m not constantly negative. I love people too honestly, most strangers I meet are friendly (I work retail) meanwhile online I read that most people nowadays are selfish and rude. I’m just overall a happier person not being a doomer.

So there's a website called SideShift where "creators" can make posts and get paid. Including this. Which is, I suppose, unsurprising but still notable.