Shabahang Reza, Weber René
Department of Psychology, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Flinders University Institute for Mental Health and Wellbeing, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Front Psychol. 2025 Jun 18;16:1606604. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1606604. eCollection 2025.
The prevalence of negative sentiment in news content appears to have increased over time. This trend has raised concerns about the potential challenges associated with consuming negative news, particularly when it is consumed frequently. In response, two general recommendations have emerged: news organizations should strive to balance negative coverage with positive reporting, and users are advised to limit their exposure to negative news. However, these recommendations seem to not be effective in practice in many cases and may also raise moral, intellectual, informational, and societal challenges (e.g., the public's unawareness of societal issues). This Perspective aims to propound that negative news can be consumed 'mindfully' and 'harmoniously'. We propose that individuals should adopt an agentic mindset toward negative news consumption. We outline what mindful and harmonious consumption of negative news might look like and argue that recommending a fixed duration limit for exposure to negative news for all users may not be feasible, given the interpersonal and intrapersonal variability among individuals. The mindful-harmonious consumption of negative news may serve as an adaptive strategy for contemporary users, who are continuously exposed to negative news yet still require it. Conceptual and empirical investigations into the mindful and harmonious consumption of negative news warrant scholarly and public attention.
随着时间的推移,新闻内容中负面情绪的盛行率似乎有所上升。这一趋势引发了人们对消费负面新闻可能带来的潜在挑战的担忧,尤其是当频繁消费负面新闻时。作为回应,出现了两条一般性建议:新闻机构应努力在负面报道和正面报道之间取得平衡,同时建议用户限制对负面新闻的接触。然而,在许多情况下,这些建议在实践中似乎并不有效,而且还可能引发道德、智力、信息和社会方面的挑战(例如,公众对社会问题的不了解)。本观点旨在提出,可以“有意识地”和“和谐地”消费负面新闻。我们建议个人在消费负面新闻时应采取积极主动的心态。我们概述了有意识和和谐地消费负面新闻可能是什么样的,并认为鉴于个体之间的人际和个体内差异,为所有用户推荐固定的负面新闻接触时长限制可能并不可行。对负面新闻进行有意识和和谐的消费,可能是当代用户的一种适应性策略,他们不断接触负面新闻,但仍然需要它。对负面新闻进行有意识和和谐消费的概念性和实证性研究值得学术界和公众关注。