Over the last two decades, news has become drastically more negative, fearful, and angry, with data confirming that the average news headline leans overwhelmingly toward doom. (ref)
With increased use of digital devices, social media, and news running on a 24-hour cycle, the average person is continually subjected to these negative headlines, likely leading to a negative worldview or helplessness.
To take control of our thoughts and environment, in thought literacy, we use the solution shift, a reframing technique that moves thinking from a doom-focused to a solution-focused perspective increasing hope and reducing anxiety.
How the Solution Shift Works
A lot of news reports negativity and doom without a solution, leaving the average media consumer weighed down with thoughts about what’s going wrong instead of focusing on who is accountable for fixing the issue.
With the solution shift, instead of getting stuck in a loop of hopelessness and anxiety, you remind yourself that problems have solutions, and if it’s a large-scale global issue, someone is accountable for the solution. Then you ask:
- Who is working on this?
- What metric are they using to make sure it’s successful?
- How did it get this bad?
- Who is going to be held accountable?
- How are we making sure we limit risk and damage?
Why the Solution Shift Works
Solution-based news isn’t a new idea. It’s referred to as solutions journalism, and research shows that including solutions alongside problems positively impacts how people interpret and respond to news. This research has also found that solution-based stories shift audience emotions leaving viewers feeling less fatigued and more informed. (ref)
The solution shift doesn’t ignore the severity or existence of a problem, but shifts the focus from repetitive doom scenarios to solutions and accountability, using a type of journalism that already exists and has been proven to improve moods.
How I Came Up With This Reframe
Whenever I read doom headlines I would feel a sense of anxiety and hopelessness. Then one day, after seeing the fifth headline about AI “ending humanity,” I angrily wondered: Who’s fixing this?
From there, I realized I was tired of feeling like the manager of underperforming employees and news media who constantly came to me with a crisis that was out of my control, with no proposed solution. I wanted the actual news of who was fixing the problem, how they were monitoring progress, and who was accountable.
Then I considered how important a worldview is for general life fulfillment and happiness, and how millions of people, like me, were being constantly fed a negative world outlook. Taking agency and control into consideration, I realized that the most helpful response to this doom was to focus on solutions and accountability.
I also started thinking about what could happen if more people made this shift. Instead of simply absorbing doom, a large populace would ask questions about accountability and solutions. Over time, changing what people expect from the news they consume.
How to Use the Solution Shift
Start by focusing on something you’re worried about right now that you heard in the news. Considering the news is hyper-focused on doom, this should be relatively easy. Is it climate impact, AI, reading scores, or something else?
Then make the shift by asking:
- Who’s accountable?
- Who’s working on a solution?
- What are they doing?
- What metric are they using?
- Is there anything I can do to help?
If you find a news story that doesn’t answer these questions, you can look for the answers yourself, or ask these questions in the comment section.
If someone responds with more doom, such as “no one is working on it” or “nothing will help,” realize their doom-based perspective and ask: Why is no one working on it? How do we get someone working on it?
Going Forward
It’s past time we demand more from the news and start to create an world that’s healthier for the average person’s mental wellness and thought focus. While asking questions of accountability will not cause immediate change, it will shift the focus from doom to a more action-oriented and action-focused population, one that will demand more solutions and less negativity in their environment.
Thoughts?