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Kindle Notes & Highlights
At the centre of this broken picture is the media – perpetuating a damaging and misguided view of our world and ourselves.
The lens through which we view the world changes how we operate in it.
the world we wish our children could see exists right now. We want them to always have a resilient mindset that is solutions-focused when challenges strike, and see the potential for positive change in every moment.
Every positive step you take to transform your relationship with the news, and every conversation you have about that with others, sparks a positive ripple effect that will transform your family, community and the world for the better.
the information we consume through the news becomes our basis for understanding the world. This then creates a filter through which we see things and influences how we feel, talk about and respond to global, local and even personal challenges.
The idea that the news tells us not only what to think about but how to think about it will set in motion the national narrative and a shared feeling on an issue. In sociology, this phenomenon is known as agenda-setting theory.
This is because the mind tricks us into thinking that the more we hear about something, the more prevalent it is. In psychology, this is known as the availability theory.
Erving Goffman, arguably one of the most influential sociologists of the twentieth century, called this the ‘schemata of interpretation’, which is a framework used to transform meaningless information into something meaningful.
‘What the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.’
it is important to note that we are presented with a version of reality that is created to sell newspapers. It is up to us to remain vigilant in our own personal search for the truth, including both problems and solutions, actively seeking our news rather than passively accepting only what is put in front of us. It is important that we pick our sources of news carefully and deliberately to remain informed about the world.
If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re misinformed. — Mark Twain
retractions or corrections of inaccuracies are relatively ineffective.3 This is because our brain is biased towards the first piece of information we are presented with; this is known in psychology as the anchoring effect.
Slow journalism is a growing movement developed in response to this fast-paced media environment; it takes a longer-term view on issues to include depth, analysis and reflection rather than simply breaking news. This could include news magazines like The Correspondent, Delayed Gratification or The Week.
We can take responsibility for what information we allow into our minds because if we don’t, the industry will decide for us and they may not have our best interests at heart; they may have their own.
By continuously giving us information that it has learned we will like, social media creates an information bubble, narrowing our perception of the world and depriving us of the opportunity to learn, be challenged and think differently. Instead we develop a preference for reinforcing our existing beliefs, which just perpetuates our current understanding of the world.
Our information consumption is much more invisible; we cannot instantly see the effects of our consumption on our mental health. It is difficult to know what information is good for us in the long term when we are bombarded with so much information that appears to be enjoyable in the short term.
Once you make the decision to change your media diet to include solutions, you will experience for yourself the powerful change in your opinions, beliefs, mood and behaviour, and feel an increased sense of personal value.
Once you take a more deliberate approach to creating a more balanced media diet that includes solutions as well as problems, you will become aware that the world is filled with incredible people, doing incredible things. It is up to us to find them, learn from them, be inspired by them. If we can find these stories that inspire us to create change, we can change not just the media – we can also potentially change the world.
