Negate The Negative
If you grew up sometime after the fun loving decade of the 1980s, then you have never known a time that didn’t consist of twenty-four hour news. In June of 1980, a little-known cable network called CNN completely changed the landscape of broadcasting when they began airing news twenty-four hours a day. Before hen, who could have ever guessed that we needed, wanted, or even would be able to fill back to back unending time slots with news? Now, not only do we have a twenty-four hour news network, we have so many of them most of us have lost count. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not blasting CNN, FOX, MSNBC, or any of your personal favorite news networks. I’m simply saying that since all the way back to the early eighties, we’ve had non-stop news pouring into our homes and our brains.
You don’t need to know much about the news business to know that negative news is the news that sells. Viewers and advertisers alike are drawn like moths to the flame when there’s bad news to be covered. Our brains like the negative. They are more easily drawn to it than the positive. Some scientists say this is part of our evolutionary make up, used to defend us against danger and predators. Advertisers have done tons of research in this field. That is why they intentionally shock you with bold and fear based statements that get your attention. If you watch late night television you may begin to believe that you are already at deaths door and need big Pharma’s latest solution to have anything close to a chance at survival. Your brain wants to run along negative tracks. It has to be trained and re-trained to embrace the positive. I’m not suggesting we bury our heads in the sand and become oblivious to bad things happening in the world. I’m just suggesting that you take a critical look at how much voluntary negative information you are allowing into your brain on a daily basis. I have family members that watch news like many people watch sports. The news is on in their homes for hours and hours each day.
Social media often provides the same type of input as the news networks. I’m not a big current news guy, however, I can scroll Instagram and TikTok with the best of them. Social media platforms have algorithms that feed you the kind of content you view most often. How much of what you search, like, and share is content that takes your brain in a negative direction? There are lots and lots of positive-shaping media out there to be had. You must make this positive media part your daily viewing diet if you want it to continue to show up in your feed.
-Jim