One Minute Wiser Part 6 “Good News About Good News!” (Traditional)

Do you ever find yourself hoping to hear good news but spending a great deal of time and energy bracing yourself for bad news? I notice myself in that spot more often than I would like. Our favorite daily news providers know this about us. There is a lot of good news out there, but the bad news is what gets our attention.

I try my best to avoid obsessively scrolling through the traps of social media clickbait headlines because they are filled with sensationalism and spin. But they pop up everywhere, because bad news still gets more attention, more clicks, and ultimately leads to more revenue for news publications. There is a term for this: negativity bias.

Negativity bias is our tendency to pay more attention to, and give more weight to, negative news. It is a fundamental human process that, for our ancestors, was a lifesaving mechanism that helped them survive and thrive by alerting them to potential dangers and threats. However, for us, this negativity bias can cause feelings of anxiety, depression, stress and hopelessness.

The good news is that we don’t have to be held hostage by bad news. God sent Jesus to change the headlines for us!