Why do people read negative news?

"Have you heard, our neighbors split up?" "Hey, dude there was a hell of a fight on the street last night." "Fires looting all over holiday destinations." "Earthquakes splitting the core of the planet.

"People dying of hunger."A Terrible car crash on the highway." 

These are the most of the news you will hear once you turn on the TV  and this is the kind of talk you will have later on with your neighbors, friends, relatives. They soon take shape of News of The Day as people unconsciously wallow inside the net the news channels so cleverly and patiently knit, a net where the common folk, thus us, fall in right away like flies. 

Let's imagine for a moment that there weren't any TVs, no news channels, no radios no newspapers, no computers, no social networks. No outside lead to any information whatsoever. The news is now spreading from word to mouth. Now, what would the conversation between two regular people look like, I wonder? Again, quite the same: "Hey did you see the way the neighbors' kid fell off the stairs, hilarious?" "Hey, did you hear our next door neighbors fighting last night?' "Have you heard, the next door house caught on fire?" Even in this situation, bad news will find curious ears. 

What is it with this uncanny attraction or need many people have to mindlessly consume negative news? What good does it do? What's the benefit from this way of closely paying attention to the troubles of fellow humans? We all have taken part in these kinds of conversations, like it or not.

Now let's take a closer look, let's find the core reason for this unnecessary "necessity", let's try and analyze ourselves more thoroughly. 

We hear or witness a certain negative event in our nearby environment. A word of caution though, this event doesn't affect us directly, we are now just mere observers. 

Moving on. We witness a burglary in the nearest shop, per se'. What's is our first instinct? Some weird sparkle lights up below our diaphragm, above our belly button, our face muscles stretch up in a startled expression, eyes, and mouths open wide. We stand there motionless, on the metaphorical observant tower for a bit. There is a floating mixture of empathy and relief at the same time. Another question, baffles me now: Why this relief? Well sadly for our neighbors but luckily for us, because it wasn't our property that got the short end of the stick. The second instinct is driven by that pesky sparkle I mentioned before, that now spreads through the most parts of our bodies, causing a reaction of movement.

So, we step out of the previous motionless state, taking up the new "vibrant" role of the neighborhood's messenger. The bad news fire spreads out very fast and it can't bear to stay solely in our knowledge, it needs to leap out and find new recipients, light up new torches. It would be like we are carrying a large rock on our backs for days if we don't throw it on someone else's feet or head :). The news must be shared, it is too vast of a burden for our minds and it is like a prisoner that wants to break free. And finally, it is done, the relay baton is passed on and soon it will hit the breaking news on the local channel. 

Quite funny for such social beings, who supposedly care deeply for one another, we swallow bad news so easily like it is a bittersweet treat. Yes, this is a time when we are addicted to information more than ever, but the urge for retelling, giving more life to negative stories isn't exactly news.It seems like we are hypnotized, led to behave that way by the media, but I think there is much more to this. For example, every movie, every reality show has a dramatic plot that thickens and when the story unravels and all the pieces of the puzzle come together, there is a  happy end. Why isn't there a happy beginning, a happy plot, there always has to be a struggle. And why is it so hard to meet a person who would like to see beyond that happy end, to continue this end in another happy episode, happy sequel, without expecting that something bad will happen. But, no, the happily ever after is imposed, we almost automatically suppose that after the happy end there isn't much more to be seen. In conclusion, most of us are basically attracted to the concept of struggle and fight. We don't seem to notice the regular people who claim to be happy and content with their lives as they are and we always suggest that something is off, or at least their joyfulness is either boring or unreal. Some studies suggest that the negative triggers in the brain are more sensitive rather than the positive due to the ancient inherited hunter - gatherer's instinct for a flight or fight response. That means that our brains are more quick to fire up from bad news, which is a defense mechanism in a way.

Unfortunately, the media is using this knowledge to serve us this drama-spiced dishes, making us more hardwired to anxiety and depression and transforming us into more passive and obedient consumers.   It seems like the news channels and overall movie industry is very well aware of this fact, around which they build and grow their multi billion businesses. Are we allowing to be hypnotized by our own petty urges, just like that? One story wouldn't take flight if there weren't passengers on the info plane. Yet we keep waiting in the eternal airport of negativity and recklessly buy negative news tickets. 

But you know what, we are still in charge and we are gaining consciousness little by little. We can easily flip the switch. At least now, it is very easy to turn our attention away from this nonsense and indulge in more creative ways. There are so many networks, so many online courses, so many teachings that can benefit our well being so deeply, we wouldn't be able to recognize our hard wired and negatively charged being from the past. There will always be tricky and sticky situations, but we have the choice to prepare our reaction (or non-reaction). We can easily turn off the television, shut down the computers and smart phones and turn on our inner channel of blissfulness and harmony. Here, you will see a void, a peaceful meadow without drama, where the only newscaster is serenity. May peace and prosperity be with you!