Denethor and the palantir

I came across a brilliant metaphor online last week and it’s stuck with me since, so I had to share!

In The Lord of the Rings, Denethor, the Steward of Gondor had been using the palantir, a magical crystal ball that can show him events from afar. Despite warnings, he used it to keep up to date with what was happening in the world.   But what it showed him served the purposes of the enemy, slowly chipping away at his resolve.

By the time the enemy was at the walls of Minas Tirith, his spirit was already broken and he’d given in to despair, convinced the world couldn't be saved.

The post highlighted that in the parlance of the modern world, Sauron had ‘hacked the algorithm’ and made sure that the palantir only showed Denethor things that would upset him, wear him down, and act in ways that benefited the enemy. Brilliant! And so true.

While many of us are using social media to keep up to date with friends, the platforms themselves have their own agenda. News is driven by attention rather than truth, shock rather than kindness, and there are malevolent forces with a lot of money behind them pushing hate designed to poison us, to upset us, to have us giving up, just like Denethor.

How often have you found yourself "doomscrolling" and getting wound up by click-bait on social media? Something that absolutely pushes your buttons and gets you angry about the world? It’s so much more difficult now with the continued rise of A.I. slop to be able tell, at a glance anyway, whether something is real or not.

So knowing this, what can we do to look after our mental health?

Well the first thing is noticing how your social media use is affecting you. Have a go at this if you can. Does it make you feel, on balance, worse than when you opened up the app or logged in?

If you start your day scrolling through social media over breakfast, is that really getting your day off to the best start? Try no scroll mornings for a change. Instead of scrolling through news on social media, why not spend a few minutes with a book. It can make all the difference to our mood and start the day off so much more positively.

You can also set limits over the day. What are you using social media for? Is it to keep up with current events? (Are there better, less corrupted, alternatives out there?) Are there better, perhaps more analogue, ways of keeping in touch with friends and family? Don’t be afraid to limit your exposure to online sources if you find they upset you. Stay grounded and in the here and now. We can still do that and support good work and activism around the world. It’s a case of healthy boundaries and making sure we’re not overwhelmed.

So looking at your own relationship with social media, is it another corrupted palantir showing you the absolute worst of the world? How could you change your relationship with it and prioritise your mental health?

If you’d like to work with me on your mental health, you can get in touch with me via the website or drop me a message directly at mckellarcbt@gmail.com