“Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you will start having positive results.”
–Willie Nelson
Watching the news reveals a disturbing truth, negative news sells, presenting media the ultimate opportunity to influence large groups of their audiences. Whether we like it or not, these opinions also influence us.
It’s one of the most insidious ways to push someone further into a hole; criticizing a part of their way of living especially while comparing them to others. Tabloids are particularly noxious, criticizing our idols personal lives what they wear and which schools their children attend. Their criticism is targeted towards the celebrities who can handle it, but for fans and neutral observers who identify with that person, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. We’ve put some tips to help you avoid being influenced in the future:
– Fit people into categories.You can make media a separate box. Take everything that the media is trying to tell you with a grain of salt. In future experiences the media’s influence on you will be limited by these boundaries, limiting their effects on you.
– Do your own research.It takes 10 seconds to google something. In the time you took to read this sentence you could’ve already fact-checked it, twice. Always try to get the full story, instead of the one side that the media is portraying.
– Talk about it. Media trends affect everyone. Share opinions, thoughts & insights with each other, as we’re doing here at The Visionary Leader Network. It will help you learn how to deal with these media trends.
Bonus Video Resource
In this video Traciana Graves, host of The Visionary Leader Network delivers an eye-opening speech on how the media tends to profit off society’s lack of self-worth, a tactic that can be perceived as bullying. Her message serves as a call to action for everyone to be aware of their value and self-worth and “Say no” to the mass media’s negative narratives and influence.
