Focusing on the bad news and meaningless distractions is nothing new and not unique to social media. For example, these same concerns appeared when televisions were first becoming popular.
But you're right that it is hard to get people to see positive change. A lot of it is slow and steady and doesn't make breaking news or popular social media posts. In my experience, it helps to get people to take a longer view of the future. A lot of people who feel like the world is going downhill fast would still agree that we're generally better off than we were 100 years ago. Remind people of the compounding effects of small changes. Conversely, a lot of things that seem earth-shattering might not be that important in a few weeks or months.
herfnturf t1_jaf3446 wrote
Reply to Popularization of Optimism by Electron_genius
Focusing on the bad news and meaningless distractions is nothing new and not unique to social media. For example, these same concerns appeared when televisions were first becoming popular.
But you're right that it is hard to get people to see positive change. A lot of it is slow and steady and doesn't make breaking news or popular social media posts. In my experience, it helps to get people to take a longer view of the future. A lot of people who feel like the world is going downhill fast would still agree that we're generally better off than we were 100 years ago. Remind people of the compounding effects of small changes. Conversely, a lot of things that seem earth-shattering might not be that important in a few weeks or months.