Isaac Morehouse has already covered this topic, and 7 years before me, but I think it’s fitting to revisit the topic.
Spreading Negativism
The Crisis News Network (CNN for short), as coined by Peter Diamandis, exists to spread negative news. The psychology is explained in this video, which explains why news makes you angry. The basic premise is we react to angry/negative news the most. That negativity grows like the flu and becomes a massive virus, and then gets spread across news outlets and social media sites. Then another flu comes in and takes the opposing view. This creates “symbiotic anger germs” which work together in pitting “you” against “them” and creating a cycle of negativity.
Selectively Following the News
How I do get the news? Following blogs I have purposefully selected, seeing what (my actual) Facebook friends have posted, and sometimes a dose of Google News that’s been hand-crafted by the genius in my phone (for the record, Google thinks I love blockchain/bitcoin, go figure…).
My Advice
Try James Altucher’s 10-Day News Diet as outlined here:
For ten days don’t read any news. Whenever you feel the temptation to be “aware” of the outside world, try to be aware first of something inside of you. Instead of feeling sorry for some situation you have no control over, try to be grateful for a situation happening to you right now. Don’t give more power to the multi-billion dollar media corporations that are exploiting your evolutionary tendency to fear predators. If you really want to, then fine. But wait ten days.
You won’t be defeated by predators in those ten days. You don’t have anything to be scared of. The media companies are scared and they want company.
Optimism Wins
What do all of these have in common? The spreading of negativism across the masses. Instead of giving into the news cycle, reading every headline, and every post about starving kids and climate change, actively make a change in your life and the community around you. Being optimistic about the world we live in and making strides every day to achieve a better tomorrow is what will lead us to a more peaceful world. We don’t need negativity from the masses dragging us into a burning debate that keeps us from doing.
“Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you’re already in heaven now.” – Jack Kerouac