If you read the headlines today, you probably come away feeling like the world is a scary, dangerous, hopeless place.
But in reality, many things are better now than ever.
Worldwide homicide rates have largely been dropping for centuries, for example, and global life expectancy keeps climbing.
So why all the bad news?
It's easy to put the blame on the media for running sensational, negative news stories that'll sell papers; if it bleeds, it leads, as they say.
But who's buying those papers?
Like, we are. And there's a psychological reason for that.
Even if we say we prefer good news, we are wired to pay more attention to bad news.
But here's a surprise: social media might be the antidote.
The media isn't making it up: there really is higher consumer demand for negative news.
