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To lower the risks of availability bias, try to put negative information into context. Consider this: bad things happen every day, but this doesn’t mean that life is necessarily bad or getting worse.

"When you hear a negative statistic ... about some recent disaster, you shouldn’t just write it off, but instead try to consider whether this is an isolated data point or actually part of a larger trend. The idea is that if you store new information in a more objective manner, it will give you a more balanced perspective when you later use it as a reference," Perlmutter said.

Finally, there's the confirmation bias. With so many opinions and data points floating both online and in real life, it’s easy to find a detail that supports virtually any opinion. But Perlmutter believes this makes it all the more important to create strategies to lower the negative impact of this bias on our thinking.

"One powerful way to start lowering the effects of confirmation bias is to question your beliefs periodically," he said. "What are the facts on which your opinions are built? For example, after seeing multiple horrific articles on recent crime, you may think your hometown has become ... a more dangerous place to live, but have you actually examined any real data to support this idea?"

Challenging your perspective can be difficult but it's well worth it, dear Pandas.