I do not have to get into the details of how the month of January 2020 has been a tad sad for the connected parts of the planet.
The thing is, most of us agree with the saying “You are what you eat”, I think this should also apply to our minds. We feed a variety of things into our heads daily, ranging from things related to our profession(for instance I try to consume my weight in design content weekly) to things we find fascinating(been thinking about woodwork lately) and then the news and social media (which seems to be fused at this point).
I have noticed that the more I come in contact with negative information, the number I become. It makes me look at the world through a shitty lense. Walking around thinking that this world is the worst thing that could ever happen to the universe and that all humans are in one way or the other monsters. This affects my overall productivity for some strange reason. Then I have discovered that when I get to see/experience a series of good news, I am happier and see the good parts of people only, become more trusting and even a bit more lively.
I think the problem is the speed at which I can access information since it seems like I have no control over the type of information, I can either vertically scroll myself into a bad mood or a lovely evening.
Also, it turns out the world is not going all to shit. A good number of things are way better now than they were a century or two ago, life expectancy for instance. That is not what this article is about anyway. Although you should really check out this article.
So here is what I think we should do, a design challenge for our collective good. We need to collectively design platforms and channels that give us access to realistic good news, information controlled to only give positive vibes and news in endless vertical scrolls, news that makes us feel good about humanity and ourselves. It should be a space where we just come to talk about positive things and how to maintain that space of positivity.
Hold up! I am not saying we should put our heads in the sand and pretend like that the evil bits of the world is no more, but we need a place to rest. The mental weight we carry from all the negative crap we consume has to be done away with somehow and this is my suggestion on a possible way to go about it.
If this never gets built than find a way to create this for yourself.
Have a wonderful day/evening.
P.S, check out this article.
http://theconversation.com/seven-charts-that-show-the-world-is-actually-becoming-a-better-place-109307
Thanks, Wiza.