Getting Results Magazine Getting Results Magazine Fall 2018 | Page 12

BRIGHTER FUTURE Why the Future Is Brighter Than You Think BY: JIM JUBELIRER, JUBELIRER RESULTS GROUP W e are hardwired to fear. Fear is in our DNA; it’s in our nervous system. It’s an evolved defense mechanism we use to survive as a species. Our innate negativity makes negative news three times more impactful than good news. Three times more! Even if you’re an optimist and a positive thinker, it’s so easy to go into Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD). It’s just natural, and it’s who we are. 12 | FALL 2018 The news and entertainment industries and our political system are built upon their ability to prey upon our fear. It doesn’t matter where the news comes from: CNN, Fox, NBC, local news—the same negativity pervades the industry. After all, “if it bleeds, it leads.” The New York Times recently used the word crisis 30 times a day, every day, for an entire month. YouTube has become an essential channel for spreading extremist viewpoints. Given its 1 billion active users each month, YouTube may be one of the most potent radicalizing instruments of the 21st century. Furthermore, extreme content from dubious sites churns through news aggregation sites like Reddit, up into Facebook feeds, and then on to mainstream media. When we (Baby Boomers and Gen Xers) were children, our parents consumed the news just twice per day—the morning newspaper and evening TV news. Now we are bombarded 24/7 with “Breaking News,” social media, emails, and even the news