Picture this: it’s a random Thursday night. You’ve finished all your homework, your friends are busy, and you have nothing to do. So, you go on your phone and pick your outlet of choice. You’re sitting there, struck, watching your feed as it fills up with horrible news. Artificial intelligence (AI) might eradicate the human race by 2030. We’re reaching past the 1.5° C temperature increase limit for our climate. Trump makes another random decision that benefits nobody. Generation Z will own nothing and be happy. Nothing is going right. We are powerless to stop any danger that comes to us.
It’s the end of the world… Or is it?
During my time in NevadaFIT at the University of Nevada, Reno, media ethics professor Caesar Andrews gave us a powerful piece of advice: always be skeptical, and question everything.
And so I pose the question to you: Have you actually taken the time to notice the way news is presented?
The idea of “doomerism,” or an extremely pessimistic, nihilist view of the world, has been shown way too much on social media in recent months, and I’m sure many of you feel the same way. Believe me, it’s been affecting me too. The stress and anxiety of being in college is not great. The news only makes it worse. I feel hopeless, unable to think for myself, and I wonder, “Is it really the end?”
Once you understand the combination of sensationalism and information overload, you’ll realize that news outlets are simply trying to make you feel this way.
Sensationalism refers to using certain stories to get a reaction out of the viewers. The reactions sensationalist stories seek are often negative, like anger, sadness or hopelessness. I’m sure you have seen news like this, regardless of your political affiliation or views on certain topics. News outlets frequently use exaggerated verbiage and headlines to make you feel a certain way. Part of being a journalist means reporting the objective truth, but journalists are not doing their duties.
Traditional news outlets are not the only ones being sensational. Short-form creators have been making videos about how miserable their lives are, the world falling apart, and nothing going right. There was one day that I saw a reel of some guy at a playground, talking to the camera and saying, “The reason why Gen Z is locking in is because WE HAVE TO.” Jeez man, relax! (Also, why are you at a playground?)
Another component of today’s media ecosystem that makes it so easy to become negative about the world is information overload. We are living in an era with so much information at our disposal, it can be incredibly easy to fall into a “doom spiral,” or a constant, reinforced cycle of negativity.
Social media algorithms play a major part in falling into doom spirals. They’re created to hard-wire your brain into a cycle of addiction and negativity. In a lot of ways, they affect your cognitive function. With the way that information is being presented on social media, it can make this “doomer” mentality much worse.
So, why are news and social media channels being sensational and all talking about the same or similar issues? It’s simple: money.
Websites thrive on traffic: likes, shares, reposts, follows, views. And how do you get that sort of engagement? By talking about positive stuff? Pfft, no! That’s ridiculous. You want people to feel negative about the news they see so they continue clicking on related articles or videos. It’s a never-ending cycle of doomscrolling, turning you into a cynical person all while the media companies roll in the dough. I’m not just saying this for dramatic effect. I’ve experienced this more often than I would like to. It’s not a great, nor sustainable, way to live your life.
What can be done about this? Deleting social media, news apps, email subscriptions that deliver you the news (thank you “Good morning” from The New York Times for adding a sprinkle of despair when I wake up), or anything that causes stress helps a lot.
Understandably, it’s pretty challenging to go completely cold turkey on your sources for information and entertainment, so if you want to continue using them, another great option is to become more media literate. (Or, y’know, just change your feed.)
Media literacy is a skill that has been somewhat lost to time. However, there are a lot of ways you can become media literate. Here are some of my favorite pieces of advice from peers and teachers:
- Always Question Everything: Do what Professor Andrews said! Don’t immediately trust anything you hear or see online. Take everything with a grain of salt.
- Notice When Creators Are Trying to Get You: As I have already talked about, sensationalism is everywhere. Take note of what language influencers or news organizations are using to leverage your own thoughts. How are they trying to make you feel, and why?
- Do Credibility Checks: This trick was given to me by one of my English teachers in high school, and it’s known as lateral reading. The basic idea is simple: find an article about literally anything you want to get more information on. Instead of actually reading the article, go on a search engine and look up the organization that published it. (Wikipedia is a great resource for finding unbiased information.) Note any potential controversies, allegations or anything that could be considered “untrustworthy” about them. If they seem fine, look up the person who wrote the article. Again, do the same process. You can then keep going down rabbit holes of finding information until you can determine if this person and organization are trustworthy. While the whole thing can take a long time, you’ll find that it’s incredibly useful in determining the credibility of a source. This process is even easier for social media sites, since they store a significant amount of a person’s history and backstory.
- Separate Fact and Opinion: A lot of the very negative stuff I see on social media often blurs the line between facts and opinions. Consider what these people are saying. Is the tone neutral, or are there any biases? Where did they get their information from? If they aren’t disclosing it, it might not be real.
Here are a few more things that I want to bring up in regards to some thoughts you might be having.
- None of this is your fault: You didn’t create climate change, pollution, AI, or anything of the sort. It’s not your fault. Why should you have to carry the stressors of the world on your shoulders?
- Whatever is meant to be, is meant to be: Obviously, I don’t mean this in a negative way, and you should advocate for the things you believe in, but these national and global issues are way beyond your control. It’s important to control the things you can control right now, like passing your classes, making friends, keeping up with your assignments, and so many more. If you spend all your time stressing about the future, you won’t be able to enjoy the moment. So take a moment and realize how lucky you are to be in such a position. You get to go to college and get an education in the topic you’re most interested in!
- This (or something similar) has all happened before: Think back in time to previous history. How do you think people felt about the Spanish Flu, the two World Wars, the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, or any horrible events that happened in the 20th century? How do you think people felt during the COVID-19 pandemic back in 2020? The world felt like it might end and that nothing was ever going to be normal. In a lot of ways, they were right, but it worked itself out. Who is to say this situation isn’t the same?
- There are people who are actively working to fix problems: People are trying to mitigate the impacts of climate change every single day. People are working to create policies regarding AI to limit its impact on society without destroying the human race. People in politics are actually advocating to figure out what the heck to do (believe it or not)! Do you know why you don’t hear about these “imaginary” people? Negativity, of course.
In times like these, with more sensationalism and bad news than ever, it’s important to take care of yourself and your mental health. So, go read a book. Do some journaling. Go to the E. L. Wiegand Fitness Center — it’s pretty good. Hang out with friends. Learn a new skill. Play video games. Take that opportunity. Just… do anything that makes you feel good.
Living like this might seem pointless to you (the world is totally gonna end, remember?), but doing this is the best form of protest against every global issue you can do. You’re living your best and most positive life in a world of negativity, further cycled by news and social media.
And it’s not the end. In fact, it’s only the beginning.
