Media positivity filter

Background

On a daily basis humans receive all kinds of news from the media. From informative and education to entertainment and politics. Each news item can be classed into one of the three types.

– Good news
– Neutral news
– Bad news

Bad news is primarily dominant on mass-media around the world. It’s unfortunate that mass-media takes advantage of humanity’s natural heavier response towards bad news thus keeping them engaged for longer with (social) media.

The Problem

Even though most media (all sorts of news) is generally accepted, not everyone can handle all of it and this leads to fallout situations like;

– Innocent photoshop models that young girls compare themselves to, 
– Media consumption should be declared a public health issue, 
– Influencers utilizing social media platforms to create political polarization, 
– Economic polarization contributing to antisocial behavior 
– The ‘idolized’ ideal life everybody is supposed to have but can’t.

All these small pieces of ‘reminders’ throughout the day create subconsciously undesirable feelings which are mentally draining. If humans get bombarded enough with media they can’t nor want to filter it will modify their behavior in a potentially dangerous direction. 

Though each person perceives each news item differently, the connection, as well as balance between the types of news, is gone. Media can push people over the edge.

The solution

Media is thrown out in the public space and it is for each individual to grab what he likes. For some, this is not good enough as they require more pre-filtering options. They do not wish to worry about what to read and what not. We advocate for a software tool where the user has in-depth control over what media is selected to be brought up on screen. 

The output of bad news can’t be stopped. But what can be stopped is if it arrives in front of the senses of the individual by pre-filtering done by software that the user can set themselves. Based on ‘white-list-first’ approach the user has to actively think about what they consider good news for themselves. 

Conclusion

Media is thrown out in the public space and it is for each individual to grab what he likes. For some, this is not good enough as they require more pre-filtering options. They do not wish to worry about what to read and what not. We advocate for a software tool where the user has in-depth control over what media is selected to be brought up on screen. The output of bad news can’t be stopped. But what can be stopped is if it arrives in front of the senses of the individual by pre-filtering done by software that the user can set themselves. Based on ‘white-list-first’ approach the user has to actively think about what they consider good news for themselves.

Credits

Time: 8 hours
Written by: Mariëlle Pax & Robert Velhorst