Whenever you turn on the news, chances are that you’ll hear about something bad happening in the world. You may hear about war, crime, politics, or something similar. If you open social media, you may see some things that are fine at first, then quickly hear about horrible news.
There’s a phenomenon called “doom scrolling, sometimes called “doom surfing.” It’s when you keep scrolling through and reading tragic news, even if it is harming your mental health. Doom scrolling can cause anxiety, depression, self-hatred, and general negative feelings. So, why do we do this? Doom scrolling is often caused by us seeing something that evokes a strong negative emotion, and then we look for more information on that topic to confirm how we feel.
All of this results in News stations only putting out negative news. These doom scrolling sessions are exactly what they want because you’re constantly clicking on their articles. And, of course, they make money from this. They make money from your anxieties and from your anger.
Because negative news is so horrible on our mental health, we need to make a conscious effort to find a good balance between negative and positive news. Although it’s important to stay educated on what’s happening in the world, it’s also important to watch out for your own well being sometimes. There are some websites that focus specifically on happy things happening around the world, and I have a few personal favorites.
Positive.news, is a website that, hence the name, focuses on the happier side of the world. They have a few articles about what went right that week, and they have covered things like a malaria vaccine, and breakthroughs with research on brain cancer. They are always good to go to when you need a nice lift-me-up.
Another news network I like is goodnewsnetwork.org, and they have many articles that are extremely interesting. They have some articles about science, sports, earth, horoscopes, and more! I personally find myself reading about scientific events going on, like the newly released photos of spiral galaxies that were put out by NASA.
Today.com, is a website that, like the others, also releases happy news regularly. I read one about Gaia the cat, who belongs to one of the deadliest species of cats which I enjoyed. They have another one about a 104 year old who tried to break a record for world’s oldest skydiver, and both were very interesting to read about.
Although all of these websites are helpful for finding uplifting stories, you may still come across stuff on social media. Some people will purposefully not interact with posts about horrible things happening around the world, so that way the algorithm will stop recommending it to them. Avoiding negative news completely isn’t the answer, of course, but during times where you are struggling mentally and find that these things are completely ruining your outlook on life, it’s best to take a step back and take a deep breath.
