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I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “No news is good news.” This saying has been around since the early 20th century, and it’s still popular today.
But have you ever wondered why we believe this? Is this just a philosophical idea or does it have any scientific basis? Does avoiding bad news actually help us feel happier and more content?
The answer is yes, but only if you know what to avoid. In this article I’ll explain why bad news makes us feel bad—and then show you how to avoid feeling down about it!
The news is not just bad, it is also negative.
The first thing to realize is that the media is not just bad, it is also negative. The second thing to realize is that the news media has an inherent bias towards bad news and sensationalist reporting. Thirdly, you should avoid letting the media be your only source of information—it’s important to get your facts from multiple sources and make your own decisions about what’s true and false. Finally, remember that every story on every website starts with a writer trying to sell something—whether it’s ad space on their site or eyeballs on their page (or both).
Even if you have perfect faith in our beloved Fourth Estate and its noble mission of informing us all about world events so we can make informed decisions as citizens in a democracy (and I do not), this still means that when you read any article online or watch any news report on TV or even listen to NPR—which used to be my favorite because it was always so unbiased and objective until recently when they started sounding exactly like Fox News—you will have been exposed either directly or indirectly through advertising dollars spent by someone who wants something from you: whether it’s money or support for some pet project like putting up toll booths between your state line and another state; or maybe they want people like yourself tricked into thinking there are aliens living among us so they can sell books/movies/TV shows/etcetera based off those ideas (no offense meant toward conspiracy theorists here! We all need hobbies.)
Bad does not equal negative.
You can be a part of the solution, not the problem.
People are always saying that negative news is bad for us. That’s not true! Bad does not equal negative. The news is full of good and bad—you just have to find the good in it! There are many positive things going on in the world: people inventing new technologies or coming up with innovative solutions to current problems, people raising funds for good causes, and so much more! We should focus on all these things instead of being afraid of what’s happening around us.
There are two ways to handle the bad news: avoid it or learn about it.
Of the two options, avoidance is probably the less effective path. You’re going to hear about bad news eventually—whether it’s a story of government corruption, an airline crash, or a terrorist attack. If you’ve been avoiding these topics, you’ll feel like everything has happened out of the blue.
And that’s not exactly true: if you had been living your life and learning more about these issues and their effects on our world, then maybe you would have been able to take some kind of action instead of feeling powerless in the face of such huge problems.
So what should we do instead? The first thing is to stop avoiding bad news altogether and start learning about it. That way when something happens that impacts your life (as it inevitably will), you’ll already know what it means for other people and how it could affect your community in a positive way too!
News about violence, negative economic trends and natural disasters are more likely to make you feel bad.
- Natural disasters are tragic, but there is nothing you can do about them.
- Violence is a problem that needs to be solved.
- Economic trends aren’t always negative.
The media has always been biased in favor of bad news.
The media has always been biased in favor of bad news.
The media has always been biased toward bad news, and the reason is simple: bad news sells more papers than good news does. Remember when you were a kid and your mom would tell you not to read the paper because it had nothing but “bad” stories? She was right, but as we’ve grown older, she’s let us know that no one reads the paper anymore anyway.
Excessive use of adjectives can make the news seem even worse than it actually is.
The media can exaggerate or even make up the news. Adjectives are used to describe nouns and make them seem more dramatic. “Dangerous” is an adjective, for example; it makes the person being described seem scarier than they actually are. The media uses adjectives like this all the time—and in excessive amounts!
While there’s nothing wrong with that on its own, adjectives tend to be used in a way that makes everything seem scarier than it actually is. For example:
- The news will talk about something bad happening as though it were much worse than other similar things that have happened before (e.g., “Today’s news was so depressing!”)
- When there is no real reason why something should be considered “good” or “bad,” people will often use adjectives anyway (“This new smartphone has such amazing features!”).
The media should practice responsible journalism and avoid sensationalist reports.
The media should practice responsible journalism and avoid sensationalist reports.
The media can do more to report on the good things happening in the world. The media should take a page from those who have done this well, such as our friends at BuzzFeed and Upworthy.
Avoiding the news won’t help you keep yourself safe, but being aware of what’s going on will help you take control of your own life.
Avoiding the news won’t help you keep yourself safe, but being aware of what’s going on will help you take control of your own life.
The news is everywhere. It’s hard to avoid it. You can’t just unplug from society because there are too many ways that people can find out about current events and they’ll come looking for you if they want to know what’s going on in the world or how things affect them personally.
You need to be aware of what’s going on in order to keep yourself safe and healthy, but also so that you can respond appropriately when something happens around you (or even online). This isn’t about getting angry at someone else; this is about recognizing that sometimes bad things happen because there are bad people who do bad things, not all men are monsters who attack women at random!
Conclusion
In the end, the best way to deal with the negative media is to keep in mind that you don’t have to let it control your life. While it’s tempting to avoid negative news altogether, this can be dangerous because we need to be aware of what’s going on around us so that we can take control of our own lives and make them better for ourselves and those around us.
The next time you hear something distressing from someone else, ask yourself: “How can I use this information wisely?” Or even just ask yourself “What does this mean for me?” You might find out something surprising about yourself!
