Bad news is not the only news out there and just because there can be bad news does not mean it always needs to be presented like it is the end of the world.

When I went to university, I stopped watching television and it was wonderful. 

No longer was I being exposed to toxic negativity of the 24-hour news cycle and, you know what, my outlook on the world massively improved. No longer did I feel like I had to be trapped in a cycle of dread and despair about life. This had such a profound effect on me that I even stopped consuming news online and in print.

The downside, however, was that I fell out of the loop of current affairs. Paradoxically, I had gained a more positive outlook on the planet, but I became very ignorant towards the larger political narrative of the planet… a larger political narrative that always has a huge influence over my life course.

I think ignorance towards current affairs creates more problems further down the line because the voting public can more easily be duped by bad choices (look at the Brexit Catastrophe). Certainly, I felt like I had lost touch with political decisions were shaping my life and how I could myself influence the shape of those larger political decisions. 

Then I discovered the concept of constructive journalism, via outlets like Positive News and The Bristol Cable.

Not only was I given a critical mental framework through which I could very easily reframe negative journalism into a positive outcome, but I began to see a much more socially beneficial form of news reporting that can increasingly become the norm if more journalists adopt the principles and practices of constructive journalism.