The Global Positive News page has over a million followers on Instagram and has been spreading positivity on the platform since 2015. Their mission is simple: to help people find and enjoy the wholesome things in life without giving in to daily negativity.
Media organization Good Good Good has a similar goal: to report positive news and create helpful resources about how their readers can make a positive impact. So, we decided to have a chat with them about why we need positive news so much currently and what it's like being the bringer of wholesome, heartwarming news.
On social media, we're often bombarded with negative news. While it's important to keep informed about what's happening in the world, it can be hard not to fall down the rabbit hole of negativity. Good Good Good does its part to help people see that it's not just bad stuff that's happening out there.
"There are so many benefits to reading — and sharing — good news," the managing editor at Good Good Good, Kamrin Baker, tells Bored Panda. "We know that our brains are hardwired to pay attention to the 'bad' stuff, or the information we feel is vital to keeping us alive. This means that finding good news is not an easy task, but it is an important one!"
Kamrin says that seeking out good news helps us balance out the bad news we might keep seeing online. "[It helps us] reduce feelings of stress and anxiety, stay engaged with the things and stories we care about, build empathy and compassion, and inspire us to do more good, too," she adds.
"Since our standard media landscape is heavily dominated by negative stories, finding good news requires us all to intentionally seek it out. Good Good Good exists to make that a little bit easier."
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But one family opened their doors - the Thompsons. Gus and Emma Thompson, a black couple, chose to rent their house to the Dongs, defying the racial barriers of the time. In 1955, the Dongs purchased the home and made it their own.
Now, decades later, the Dongs are paying it forward. They’ve decided to sell their family home and donate two-thirds of the proceeds (around $5 million) to the Black Resource Center at San Diego State University. The center will be renamed in honor of Gus and Emma Thompson.
“They did a lot for us,” Ron commented. “In that one little act … it did a lot for our family.”
Engaging with negative news too much causes stress and anxiety. If we regularly read these types of news stories, it keeps our cortisol levels elevated. While it can save us from dangerous situations, having this kind of fight-or-flight response every day wears us out mentally and physically over time. "Slowing down, looking for solutions, and considering nuance in the face of constant news feeds helps take us out of our immediate stress response," Kamrin wrote once.
Engaging with good news, on the other hand, can inspire us to do more good. One study found that solutions-focused reporting increased people's problem-solving skills by 20%. "Opening the mind to the fact that others have overcome similar challenges and been successful is an effective way to catalyze positive change, as it creates a greater sense of hope and optimism," the authors explained.
When we ask Kamrin where she thinks positive news reporting is headed, she says it's hard to guess what any media platform will look like in the next few years. "It's hard to know what kinds of stories and resources our audience will want in the next few minutes," she comments on the ever-changing demand of the public.
"What I do know is that people need good news more than ever to help them stay engaged with the world, connect with other people, and believe that solutions continue to exist — especially amid a constant bombardment of headlines that tell us otherwise," Baker adds on a more positive note.
