At some point in life, we all have come across the message to “Be Positive”. Quotes, captions, speeches, books and entire course loads have been devoted to it. And to a large extent, it is wise to remain NET positive in the way we deal with life, to look at a glass half full. Slogans like “Just Do It” and “Impossible Is Nothing” are all manifestations of a positive and risk-friendly state of mind. Every successful entrepreneur’s story has its own fair share of examples of a positive attitude, where they were pitched against the odds, they dreamt big and never took a “No” for an answer….et Cetera. Hell, have you ever heard of a successful entrepreneur with a negative approach to life? Sulking, complaining and living in denial? Probably not.
Stories that inspire sell because we are in awe of the person, their resilience and positive thinking, which they harnessed en route to their goals.
But despite the acclaim and monetary benefit (literally) of possessing a positive attitude, No idea, story or narrative spreads and stirs the minds of an audience the way Negative News does.
IF IT BLEEDS, IT LEADS. News stories of violence, corruption, and dysfunction are proven to get your attention in a way no other type of story can. Stuart Soroka, a psychologist at the University of Michigan pointed out that newsstand magazine sales rise by nearly 30% when the cover of the magazine has a headline with a negative tone to it. Negative news, he says, increases both the feeling of arousal and attentiveness in a person. The cognitive bias of Loss Aversion kicks in because we, as a species, are predisposed biologically to focus more on the potential implications of negative information, than on the benefits of positive information.
Agreed, that as long as the facts of the story are accurate, and that the broadcast is meant for an audience who’s life might benefit from getting the news, then one must focus on the matter and not its tone. But that is far from the reality in these dystopian times. News agencies and media houses, despite considered as the watchdogs of our community, at the end of the day are for-profit organizations. Revenues eventually boil down to the number of eyeballs they can keep glued. Switch to a local or international news network at the end of the day or open a local publisher’s mobile application and spend a few minutes going through the headlines, and experience the negativity first hand.
As a result, the reality of the situation begins to distort. For the sake of keeping the stream of content flowing, mountains are made out of molehills, and negative stories are stretched beyond limits.
One from my personal experience. The narrative that a global recession was just around the corner had been a favorite of economists and pundits across the globe. It has been four years since I’ve been following this topic, during which, the Yield Curve inverted, the Trade War peaked and troughed, populism rose, Brexit and Hong Kong, to name a few. The media exaggerated the imminence of the R-word as every day passed by. And as I write this in Apr ’20, with a heavy heart let me tell you that it is finally going to happen. After nearly half a decade of ‘Just being around the corner’, the global economy is going to spiral down the drain. But guess what? No pundit could have even dreamed of what is actually causing the recession today #GoCorona.
Look, I’m not trying to mock experts or pundits or demean their understanding of global economic currents. Sure, their gut, as well as their models, did show red flags. But framing them in a way to instill a constant stream of fear in the reader’s mind, that too for such an extended period of time, must make us question the authenticity and practicality of such news.
Such a barrage of negativity is likely to distort people’s view of the world because of a cognitive bias that Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman labeled the Availability heuristic: People estimate the chances of an event or the frequency of a happening by the ease with which instances come to mind. As a result, when I mention refugees to you, the first things that come to mind are upsetting and gloomy news of suffering from different parts of the world, because that is what you’ve been fed.
The kind of information we are exposed to has a significant impact on our health, as well. Ingesting so much pessimism interferes with our cognitive biases, drives our focus on everything that is going wrong while shadowing the good things around us.
“The more that we hear about events and suffering and trauma that pull at our proverbial heartstrings, the more likely that some of us just withdraw and no longer have that strong motivation to help” — Lisa Williams, Psychologist at UNSW.
In the grand scheme of things, our fight does not stop at reducing the creation of, and our exposure to, negative news. Rather, the focus needs to be on how, we as people, undergo drastic behavioral changes upon consuming copious amounts of headlines and tweets. Exposure to a constant barrage of negative news and Twitter outrages can lead a person to become a chronic skeptic, disengaging him from reality. Such behavior, both initiates and encourages, racist and xenophobic thoughts that have pretty much caused the entire political landscape of the world to change in the last decade.
How Can This Be Repaired?
All Hope Is Not Lost. As with any other behavioral change in life, building towards, and maintaining, a positive mindset is all about practice and habit. And with the amount of pessimism and hatred that we are exposed to on a daily, it is high time that we get behind the wheel.
Be conscious of what you’re consuming.
As you watch the news at nine or read your morning newspaper, observe the kind of headlines and stories coming at you. Assess the tone for overt negativeness.
As you mindlessly scroll through your Twitter feed, slow down and observe the kind of opinions coming your way. Either it can be that the accounts you have been following are spreading negativity and hate, or it can be that the preference-algorithm is suggesting and putting such stories in front of you without you realizing.
Put things in perspective.
The media needs to sustain a constant flow of news to keep you glued. But, there is only so much that can happen around you in a twenty-four hour period. Thus, they either fill in gaps with stories from other parts of the world or follow up/exaggerate happenings from yesterday. It is important to weigh the importance of such news to you. People who consider themselves “Woke” (Unlike the majority, they are not asleep to the latest happenings), succumbed to anxiety and depression from the constant flow of redundant and negative news that they ingest.
Avoid falling for The Cognitive Biases
We spoke about Availability Bias before. Another kind is Confirmation Bias, wherein you trust stories and sources that pander to an existing set of beliefs you hold. Question yourself, when you come across such an instance, whether this information is adding to you positively or negatively? Whether this is an isolated data point or a larger trend? On what grounds are your opinions about this subject built?
Staying Positive, In General.
Enjoy small joys and small wins in life. They sustain a happier mood longer and always allow you to have something to look forward to. This phenomenon is also known as the Power of Anticipation.
Talk about experimental things and purchases. It adds a fair bit of excitement to your daily life and keeps your mind open to accepting new ideas and perspectives.
Learn something new, it boosts your self-confidence and keeps you occupied. This will humble you as a person and make you respect other people’s struggles.
Apart from diet and exercise, the kind of people we spend time with also has a drastic impact on our health. Pessimism is a characteristic that you might have inherited from your ancestors (Think Dwight Schrute). Thus, it may not be a product of your personality that you have developed yourself but rather baggage in disguise that has come down generations.
To End With, Some Positive News.
As Ariana Huffington writes in her blog post, “Publishers and readers must focus more on stories of innovation, creativity, ingenuity, compassion, and grace.” (Ignore these clichès, bare with me).
A research conducted in 2013 by the New York Times painted a unique picture. Jonah Berger from the University of Pennsylvania suggests that the ‘if it bleeds’ rule is applicable only to media sources that are vying for short term user attention. As for stories written with an intention to be thought-provoking and be shared, they’re more likely to have a positive tone to them, simply because senders of the story do not want the reader to think of them as a Debbie Downer.
Another discovery of this research was that people shared articles from the Science section (which are usually factual and less dogmatic) from the NYT website much more than Non-Science articles, which was due to the ability of scientific articles to arouse the feelings of awe within the readers, who are then more inclined to share the positive emotion with someone else.
Do It For The Gram? Sure. The stories you share when talking to a larger audience are much more positive in nature than those that you share when you’re talking to a smaller, and/or intimate audience.
EndNote
At the end of the day, neither can we expect print and broadcast media to change the way they report, nor can we expect the general public to demonize negative news and force the former to revise the way it publishes.
Thus, it is upon you, O’ Reader, to call ‘Bulls#*t’ and consume consciously. Keep a safe distance from stories that instigate or depress. And if you do come across one, cut through the clutter and digest it well. Refrain from sharing negativity as much as possible. Keep in mind that what you share says a lot about you as a person, and might end up misleading people who trust you and your point of view.
Always Think Twice.
Thanks.
