Positive/Negative: what are you consuming?

(2-minute read)

Okay, this is a working title but you get the point…

I had a thought recently about how negativity spreads like wildfire while positive people doing positive things takes so long to catch a spark.

Why does degrading content get the most shares, likes, and laughing emojis but stories about people doing good for themselves or their communities garner no more than a few seconds of our attention and hardly any engagement?

Consider the number of positive images/content of Black men graduating from higher education institutions vs. Black men walking down prison walkways. Or weigh the number of times the media broadcasts women partnering to form LLCs against clips of women physically throwing down in public over a man. Or the frequency of videos of children twerking on TikTok vs. children excelling in school and inventing the “next big thing”. When is too much, too much? And when do we realize it? When do we take inventory of how much negativity we consume on a daily basis?

Don’t get me wrong, I like a good laugh as much as the next person, but when did consistent negativity become something to celebrate? Why are others’ misfortunes fodder for our amusement?

More to consider: you, as a consumer of online content, from social media to your browser history, are force-fed curated content that you engage with regularly. It’s called the algorithm! So, what are you consuming? Just food for thought…

What is one positive thing you will commit to sharing this week? Let me know in the comments.