As a farmer’s son, holidays still feel a bit like skipping school. And to think that I closed the stable door of my parents’ company behind me more than 36 years ago. In my folding chair overlooking the impressive mountains of Austria, I can also see farmers who are busy making food day in and day out. I then involuntarily feel guilty and think back to my father’s strong point of view: “Shouldn’t you be doing something useful too?”
When a farmer passes by with a brand new slop tank to spread manure above ground next to the campsite – yes, that’s allowed here in Austria – I give him a thumbs up as a sign of appreciation. The farmer looks at me pitifully. He doesn’t trust him, that’s clear. A tourist who recommends spreading compost ‘smell’? That doesn’t really seem logical.
We are all trapped in our frames and thoughts. Vacations are very beneficial in that context. In the middle of mountain massifs you realize the importance of man and you realize that you don’t need so much to live. Vacation is a synonym for putting things into perspective.
‘Negativity is the driving force behind online news consumption.’
A healthy dose of perspective is also a medicine for the harsh Netherlands, where – judging by the public media – disturbing developments and reports continue at a fast pace as in a pressure cooker.
With the rise of the Internet, the media revenue model has changed dramatically. Publishers have to fight not only for subscribers, but also for clicks. The scientific journal Nature Human Behavior researched the influence of the media under the heading ‘Negativity is the driving force behind online news consumption.’
Researchers analyzed 105,000 headlines, with 5.7 million clicks and more than 370 million views from the Upworthy.com news site. Negative keywords increase an article’s click-through rate by more than 2 percent. Positive keywords actually reduce the chance of being clicked. So compassion sells. According to the researchers, this can be explained by the fact that our brain has more risk than positive information to protect us from disaster.
The additional attention to negativity is reinforced by algorithms aimed at increasing participation. The more you click on scary headlines, the bleaker the parts you see. This is how a healthy defense mechanism turns into exaggerated fear and gloom. Young people between 18 and 34 are more aware of this; they are increasingly choosing social media as their main source of news.
‘A wake-up call to publishers to change the algorithms and give more space to good news.’
So fear becomes a bad advisor and will make publishers and online platforms take a hard look at their contribution to these false incentives.
According to recent research by the Dutch Media Authority, trust in the media is declining. A wake-up call to change the algorithms and give more space to positive news. Just by putting the smartphone aside and physically sitting down at the table without measuring each other; to regain our pride by showing each other food inventions. My late father would say, “Isn’t it time to do something useful?”
Wim Groot free
Founder of ReMarkAble Communications, Co-Founder of BoerBurgerBeweging, Founder of AT THE TABLE!
2024-08-07 07:23:34
#Column #Relativization #medicine
