News reports in the media tend to show more drawbacks and downsides rather than upsides and advantages, which can be harmful to residents as it makes them stressed and focused only on the negative aspects. From this perspective, focusing on problems affects people’s mental health, which sometimes could lead to depression.
First of all, we know that social media is a place where news spreads quickly and mostly focuses on emergencies and negative sides, which easily get individuals’ attention. In people’s psychology, they might be interested in problems more, such as fights, emergencies, and problems which go viral and rapidly spread. Especially on TV, adults or elderly people watch TV programs and usually it spreads so fast.
On the other hand, journalists get people’s attention and enhance the popularity of their programs. When people see this kind of negative news, especially about their family, it can lead to depression and anxiety. Moreover, it has a big impact on people’s lives and mental health, which usually ends terribly. Because residents, mostly teenagers, when they see themselves on TV in bad news, they might harm themselves out of shame or become introverted, not even liking themselves.
I altogether agree with this idea. It is something that residents do not want to claim. A reasonable interpretation for that is people are afraid of being laughed at and bullied. From my perspective, I can describe my neighbor whose son died in an accident. After a day, I saw her and her son’s body on TV and social media, after which she moved to another country because of shame. I have heard that she is still depressed because of social media, since he was her only son.
In contrast, journalists should focus on positive aspects, which makes people’s lives pleasant, not ashamed. This is harmful, which could destroy individuals’ lives, or by showing upsides of life, people become happier.