Are You Drowning in Negativity? There’s a Way Out
What you read and who you hang out with matters… a lot.
Your brain, which consists of 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion synaptic connections, is a neural net, just like an LLM, and it’s trained on whatever you show it over and over again.
Train it on negative news like the “Crisis News Network” (my name for CNN) and you’ll be in a state of fight or flight, which is a terrible way to prepare for the future.
Is your newsfeed a constant barrage of doom and gloom? Do you inadvertently surround yourself with people who believe the world is spiraling out of control?
You’re not alone. And more importantly, you’re being manipulated by the news media and our default human mindset from 200,000 years ago.
Let me explain.
Our brains evolved to keep us alive on the African savanna, not to thrive in today’s information-saturated world. Our “default operating software” is optimized for fear and scarcity. It’s great for avoiding lions, but not so great for navigating the complexities of modern life.
At the center of our challenge is a portion of the brain called the amygdala — our brain’s early warning system. It’s constantly scanning for danger, but in our world of 24/7 news cycles, it’s on a perpetual high alert.
The result?
A negativity bias that causes us to pay 10 times more attention to bad news than good.
And the media? They’re not helping.
Their job is to deliver “your eyes to their advertisers” and as a result, the old adage is truer today than ever: “If it bleeds, it leads.”
But here’s the key point: this pervasive pessimism doesn’t reflect reality.
While our world today is FAR from perfect, global poverty has been declining for two centuries, and is now at an all-time low. Yet, according to a recent survey of 26,489 people across 28 countries, 52% believe it’s rising.
Or consider child mortality in developing countries. It’s halved in the last 20 years — a monumental achievement! But only 39% of people are aware of this positive trend.
Even more startling? A 2023 Pew Research Center study found that 58% of Americans believe life was better 50 years ago.
Really? Better without smartphones, without the internet, without the medical advancements that we enjoy today?
One of my favorite examples of pessimism gone wrong is how air and space travel were once considered “vain” and “wasteful.” In 1901, a high-ranking U.S. Navy engineer called manned flight a “frivolous fantasy.” The New York Times predicted it was a million years away — just weeks before the Wright brothers took to the sky.
Space travel faced similar skepticism. The Apollo Moonshot was dubbed a “moondoggle,” a waste of public funds. Yet the 1969 Moon landing captivated the world and ushered in an era of unprecedented technological advancement.
So, given that we’re hardwired for pessimism, what can you do to combat this?
How can you remain positive, optimistic, and focused on turning problems into opportunities?
In my next post, I’ll share my personal strategies for overcoming our default tendency towards negativity: how I reframe problems as opportunities and use this mindset to live a more fulfilled, positive, and productive life.
Stay tuned. The best is yet to come…
Optimistically yours,
Peter
P.S. Remember, in a world teeming with possibilities, your mindset is your most powerful asset. Don’t let ancient neural wiring hold you back from seeing — and seizing — the abundant opportunities that surround us.
