The article discusses the detrimental impact of negative news on mental health, highlighting that even brief exposure (14 minutes) can heighten anxiety levels. The phenomenon is exacerbated by incidental exposure to distressing content on social media. It describes a 'negativity bias' evident in headlines, where positive words correspond to lower engagement rates, contrary to negative words which attract more clicks. The historical perspective reveals that newsrooms prioritize shocking content for survival instinct engagement, underscoring the urgent need for interventions like disabling news alerts to foster better mental health.
For decades, newsrooms have operated under the premise that 'if it bleeds, it leads'. While grim, it is a clever approach: fMRI brains scans appear to confirm the neurological draw of bad news.
This negativity bias is reflected in a recent study of 105,000 headlines... each negative word increased the CTR by 2.3%. What's more, the word 'joy' lowered CTR's, while 'sadness' increased them.
A similar slogan often cited in newsrooms is 'if it burns, it earns,' a recognition that imminent threats promote our survival instinct and can be considered a form of attentional bias.
Easy interventions like switching off news notifications can help to protect our mental health from unnecessary stress and anxiety induced by negative news content.
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