Hopeful Headlines: Finding Optimism with Fix the News

These days, when reading mainstream news, it feels like humanity is failing at everything. However, there is hope!?

What is positive news?

My podcast guest, Amy Rose from Fix The News ,stresses that we need to go beyond mainstream news as there are big stories of progress which show that as humans, we are also succeeding!

Amy also stresses that positive news should not be mistaken for good-hearted stories about local bake sales or dogs on surfboards!

Positive news takes decades of work, and they are reshaping the story for both people and planets. These stories show global progress in human rights, health care, poverty reduction, rewilding projects, ocean protection and more!

Tune in to episode #127 to hear uplifting stories from around the globe and learn about the science behind the benefits of positive news.

How does mainstream news impact your well-being?

Even though staying informed is essential, we need to understand the impact mainstream news has on our well-being.?

Research shows that:

• There has been a shift in the last two years, with headlines containing more negative emotions such as fear, sadness, disgust, and anger. And for every negative word included in a mainstream headline, its readership increased by 2.3%
• Fast news doesn’t leave a space for debate, decreasing our attention span and critical thinking.
• Mainstream news prolongs our distress and decreases our faith in humanity, reducing our willingness to help others.?

The opposite is true for positive news: these stories restore our faith in humanity, increasing our willingness to engage in prosocial behaviour and take constructive actions contributing to society.?

How to balance your news consumption?

Ditching the news altogether is not an answer: studies show that once we withdraw from it, we rely on our imagination (imagining worst-case scenarios) and other people (their opinions, not necessarily factual information) to provide us with the top headlines, which causes us more distress.

What we need to have a more conscious and balanced news routine.

A great place to start is to?complete a news consumption audit,?which assesses the time spent, emotional impact, source of news, type of journalism, variety of headlines, and diversity of perspectives that your current news routine contributes to your life.

If you want to learn more about news consumption audit, listen to episode #128.

Also, have a look at my personal tips on a healthy and balanced news routine and see what you could incorporate into yours:

• Critically evaluate news, especially when faced with negative, extreme headlines.
• Swap and mix it up when it comes to your usual news sources.
• Give yourself permission to take a break from the news, especially when you see it taking a toll on your mental health.
• Have strategies to ground yourself after seeing distressing news.
• Incorporate hopeful headlines and positive news into your news consumption. Visit Fix the News and sign up for their newsletter to receive regular positive news of “What’s working”.?

For my personal tips on a healthy and balanced news routine, tune into episode #129.

Let's restore our faith in humanity and reclaim some of our happiness with positive news.?