IT鈥橲 hard not to feel that July brought an unusual dump of bad headlines. Recent weeks have seen the televised deaths of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling at the hands of the US authorities, police being killed in Dallas and Baton Rouge, terror attacks in Istanbul, Baghdad, Nice and Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray, and other acts of violence in Germany and Japan.
I watched these incidents unfold against a backdrop of heightened tension around the world, with deep divisions exposed by the UK鈥檚 EU referendum, an attempted military coup in Turkey, and the US presidential election. No surprise that it鈥檚 been an in an . But are things as bad as they feel?
, who studies decision-making at City University in London, says we should be wary of the idea there鈥檚 something in the water. 鈥淭his is an attempt at induction: grouping events on the idea that some force or influence may be engineering the shape of the days.鈥� This doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean I鈥檓 wrong to think we have hit a rough patch. Even if news stories are random, statistically we should still expect to see runs of more upsetting headlines.
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We are also predisposed to focus on the bad stuff. , while positive news activates the reward system, for obvious evolutionary reasons,鈥� says Elaine Fox at the University of Oxford. The fear system is stronger, and works to shut down the rational part of our brain. Once we are in a fearful state, we鈥檙e conditioned to seek out more bad news.
鈥淭he sense of immediacy of 24-hour rolling news means the brain is saying 鈥榯his is a threat to me鈥欌��
As a voracious consumer of news, I鈥檓 particularly vulnerable. 鈥淭he sense of immediacy provided by 24-hour rolling news means the brain is saying 鈥榯his is a real threat to me鈥�,鈥� says Fox. This explains why I feel so personally affected even though my chances of being caught up in a shooting or a terrorist attack are vanishingly small. The . For example, in October 2014, after from West Africa, a Gallup poll found that , despite only six people in the country being infected and none picking it up on home soil.
My mental state aside, does it really matter that I feel so pessimistic about the world right now? Well, yes. Stress can prompt people to behave in ways that feel safe but are actually riskier. For example, in the year after 9/11, there was an increase in the number of people driving rather than flying around the US. This is thought to have .
There is some good news. People misjudge the impact that momentous events like Brexit will have on them, says Ayton. 鈥淲hat we think are world-changing events become humdrum as we adapt.鈥� When considering the impact of an event, we think of all the changes it will mean, but not what will stay the same. We also underestimate our ability to adapt to huge changes. Ayton cites a 1978 study that showed that after two years, people paralysed in accidents and , instead habituating to their new state. The finding has been replicated many times. Ayton admits that he feels gloomy about the recent spate of bad news but he remains sanguine. 鈥淧robably I鈥檓 going to adapt, and the world will keep turning.鈥�
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淲hy does everything seem so terrible?鈥�
