There’s a saying in media… “If it bleeds, it leads.” This is why you will see a constant barrage of bad news that is negative, upsetting, and scary. The headlines, social media posts, and top news stories tend to be about disasters, corruption, and violence. This negativity leaves us feeling depressed, anxious, and scared. So, why is so much of the news negative? And why do we continue to subject ourselves to it?
As humans, we are likely wired to perk up and pay attention to negative stimuli, scary situations, and alerting news, as our survival depended on it. Our ancestors had to be on high alert for rival tribes, be acutely aware of dangerous animals, and needed to act quickly if threatening situations arose. Big business marketing firms and today’s media know this… and capitalize on it.
That saying… if it bleeds, it leads… dates back as far as the 1890s. They’ve known for a long time that our attention gets drawn to, and held by, bad news. So, we should not be surprised that most of the news we see and hear is loaded with scandal, corruption, and violence. But this is where we have to be careful. Because if all we see is negativity and crisis, it is easy to believe that we are doomed. Those feelings lead to anxiety, depression, and angst.
There are a few steps we can take to minimize the negative news impact on our lives. The first, and most obvious, would be to shut it off. Avoiding the news all together is one way to ensure that we get less stressful stimuli in our lives. Taking a break from reading the breaking headlines has been scientifically proven to lower stress hormones, reduce anxiety, ease depression, and improve sleep. That is very significant. Imagine boosting your overall health significantly by simply avoiding the news all-together. We know food corporations put more fat, salt, and sugar in our food so that we consume more of it, so we do our best to read labels and avoid the bad stuff. Well, we know all media companies load up our feeds with violence, crime, and crises so we consume more of that, so we have to tread more lightly, be more cautious, and make better choices.
A second step would be to minimize screen time and social media. Remember, the powers at hand know what we are attracted to, and powerful algorithms are at work to put images and stories in front of our faces that keep us on those pages, keep us scrolling, and hold our attention longer. Think of it as you versus them. Eliminating social media time completely isn’t super realistic, but the amount of time spent flipping through the negative news and stories is something we can control. And the less you look at the negative, violent, harsh content, the more likely the algorithm will feed less of it to you. So, go ahead and spend some time on social media, but spend less time, and swipe immediately when you realize it’s a breaking news headline, a violent crime or murder story, or anything you know that they are using to trigger your fear response.
Thirdly, since negative news is simply impossible to avoid completely, know that life is loaded with crisis. Crimes will continue to get committed, politicians will remain corrupt and inept at making significant and needed change, and hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes will always be reported. So, let’s stop being so surprised. Bad stuff happens. Bad stuff will continue happening. Most people believe that we are living in the scariest and most violent time, but the truth is that according to many historical metrics, the times we are currently living are the least violent in human history. Did you get that??? The LEAST violent in human history.
Another thing to consider is that we were never meant to know all of the world’s problems. The number of crises has not increased (it’s likely gone down), it’s just that we are more aware of what is going on all over the world than ever before. And if we cannot have an impact on a crisis that is being reported from Africa, what good is it for us to have that added to our already over-taxed attention and emotions.
Our lives have been loaded with bad stuff. Our lives will always be loaded with bad stuff. But our lives have been, and always will be, loaded with very good stuff as well. So, let’s shift more of our attention away from the crises, and put more of it on all the blessing that have been bestowed on us, and we’ll have less fear, less anxiety, and less depression… and more joy, more relaxation, and more happiness.
