Negative Media

Why are humans attracted to bad news?

Psychologists say that we are in a state of "learned helplessness". Bad news can stimulate a state of depression and people who concentrate on this information will work themselves up emotionally. Even people who don't watch television or read newspapers are getting hit with negativity through social media.

Is the media negative? 

Media studies show that bad news far outweighs good news by as much as 17 negative news reports for every one good news report. 

Why? Because we want it.

Psychologists and neuroscientists say that humans seek out news that is dramatic and negative. These experts say that our brains evolved in a hunter environment, where anything dramatic or dangerous had to be known for survival. So we are no longer defending ourselves against saber-toothed tigers, but our brains are still in defense mode, soaking up all the negative.

Many studies have shown that we care more about the threat of bad things than we do about the prospect of good things.

Our negative brain fires MUCH more than our positive brain. We get more fearful than happy, which turns on our stress hormones more than our happy hormones. This tells the body that we need to increase the speed and capacity of our stress hormones, and doesn't grow the happy area of our brain. Now, next time there emotions, it is much easier for our brains to be negative and produce stress hormones than positive and happiness... THIS IS A HORRIBLE AND UNHEALTHY CYCLE.

WE can change our habits and WE can focus on the glass being half-full. This positive perspective can spread to other people and change the world. YOU need to reprogram YOUR brain first.

Would you rather watch this every morning:

OR THIS

 Helping each other:

Fighting obesity:

Success in this economy:

Most beautiful places in the world:

New ideas:

 Charity:

Sports victories:

Non-profit organizations savings lives:

Newest research developments against disease:

Don't get me wrong, I am not naive. I know we need to be well-informed about what is going on in this world so that we can live informed, educated, and protect ourselves. But there is a ratio that psychologists have studied that we need in our lives to be happy, negativity:positivity ratio.

It's 1:5.

Is 80% of your life positive?

I read a psychology book that was explaining how the generation before mine (baby boomers) used to be allowed to go out with their friends, hang out in the neighborhood, and ride their bikes to the grocery store without concern. My generation was lucky if they didn't have to hold onto the grocery cart as the parents picked out groceries. If we left the house, we were reminded about all of the horrible things that can happen and always told to "be careful". This, along with all the other negativity in our world, has turned this generation into a scared, fearful, and stressed out bunch of people who feel like they have no control.

Now, the real problem is, if I had children, I would do anything to protect them and I would raise them a similar way my parents raised me. This is because my generation is scared. How do we balance this out?

How would your day change if you changed what you watched or listened to every morning? 

Would you be as scared?